The Daily Collegian

Issue date: 5/12/08 Section: Arts & Living

Media Credit: Caitlin Coughlan/Collegian [Click to enlarge]

Media Credit: Caitlin Coughlan/Collegian

The first order of business before practice begins is to roll up the pads in Boyden's wrestling room. The team works together to push the two large mats across the room and rest them along the far walls. A good hand washing and a couple of laps around the room later, the team gets warmed up with stretches and footwork then splits off to its individual groups of novices, foilists, epeeists and sabrists. The novices are taught their teammates while everyone else gets suited up in and begin to fence.

Alyson Cotton started fencing at Westford Fencing Club in 9th grade and liked the individual aspect of the sport because, she said "in fencing, if I screwed up, the only one blaming me is me." When choosing colleges "I made sure that the colleges I applied to all had fencing programs."

Her weapon is called an Epee, one that is a descendent of the rapier or what you see the Three Musketeers use. With the Epee, one can hit his opponent on any part of the body, but the catch is that if both you and your opponent get hit at the same time, both get a point or touch. With the other two weapons, foil and sabre, only one opponent can get a touch at a time, while only being able to hit certain areas on the body.

"I really like Epee because it does not have right of way, and it is all about point control. People say that Epee is really easy because you can hit the entire body, but it's not because even though the entire body is a target, you really go for the wrist, the arm and right here [points to her collarbone and chest area]," said Cotton.

At UMass, fencers must take a novice program to see what fencing they know and where they can improve by attending two two-hour practices per week for eight weeks. After finishing the program, you can join the varsity team.

"I enjoy it," said Cotton about becoming apart of the team. "I have made a lot of close acquaintances, and I enjoy hanging out with them.

"When I first started fencing novice, they were really intimidating. But once you get to know them, it's kind of like you can just brush it off, and they're ok. Novices shouldn't be scared away. The whole novice practice is a tough experience. It's not a bad experience, but they do strain you. They push you, and you're just going to have to get used to it because it is definitely worth it," said Cotton.

The most difficult part about being on the UMass fencing team said Cotton "is probably practice from 7 to 10 p.m. three nights a week. Not that I mind it because you need all that practice time to get good. It's not like you can do an hour a day or an hour two days a week and get good. It doesn't work that way; you do need all that practice time."

Cotton only participated in one competition prior to joining the UMass team and said she doesn't mind representing UMass. "Although I'm fencing for a team and on the Epee squad, it was still an individual thing."

At the team's year-end banquet, Cotton was awarded Most Improved Fencer and will be the team's treasurer next year. She has her eyes set on fencing for three more years and looks forward to the possibility of becoming an Epee captain.

Caitlin Coughlan can be reached at ccoughla@student.umass.edu.

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