“En guarde,” Sam Linarducci ’16 shouts, his arm poised, ready to tap his opponent with his sword. That’s right, Staples has a fencing club. There is a considerable number of competitive sports teams at Staples, but many are unaware that a lot of their peers partake in fencing. It is a club — not a team, or a class– and there are about 15 regular members spanning all grade levels.

“What I love most about fencing club is that any person of any age or skill level can be part of the team,” Linarducci explained. “Even though I was a beginner when I joined and fenced with some very experienced fencers, I always felt valuable to the team.”

Linarducci was previously fencing at Fairfield Fencing Academy which is where the Staples fencing club practices now. He couldn’t find many people from Staples to fence with him. He immediately wanted to join after hearing about this club from his friends, such as Lucas Wetmore with whom Linarducci co-founded the club. His goals were to become closer with more people from Staples as well as to improve as a fencer.

Rebecca Oestreicher ’16 is a very committed member of the fencing team as well and explained that the average fencing practice starts off with carpooling to Fairfield Fencing Academy. Members do continuous drills, and practice foot and arm work as well as stretching to prepare for fencing against an opponent.

“We may be small, but we have some of the most committed and talented competitors in this club,” said Oestreicher.