Fabled Sport Fencing Scores Touche With New Popularity

Peter Westbrook remembers the days when his fellow New Yorkers misunderstood what he was doing in fencing.

Westbrook had to explain that he wasn’t buying and selling stolen goods.

Things are different now, Westbrook said. “Now they say, ‘What kind of weapon do you fence with? Saber or epee?’ ” Westbrook, who claimed a bronze medal in the 1984 Summer Games and two golds in the Pan American games, uses the saber, which is larger and heavier than the flexible epee.

Fencing is getting more attention these days--partly because of Olympic coverage--and more people are taking it up, Westbrook said.

It’s hard, however, to tell exactly how many. The United States Fencing Assn., the sport’s governing body, lists about 10,000 members who can compete in sanctioned events. No one knows how many more fence but don’t take part in those tournaments.

Schools are opening around the nation and equipment sales are up. Fencers say their sport has a lot to offer.

Parents enroll their children in fencing classes because the sport teaches discipline and the ability to follow rules, participants say. But children don’t need much encouragement to try fencing.

“All kids like to pick up sticks or those long rolls left over from Christmas wrapping and start fencing,” Westbrook said. “The joy and the fun they get out of fencing is unbelievable.”

Westbrook runs a foundation that promotes fencing among inner-city young people in New York City. They learn that success in fencing builds self-esteem and perseverance that carries over into other areas, he said.

Fencing is not as expensive as, say, skiing. But it does require equipment. A mask, weapon, glove and jacket could cost up to $230.

And judging from equipment sales, fencing is having a slow but steady growth, said Matthew Porter, owner and manager of American Fencing Supply in San Francisco. The company, which does most of its business in mail order, has more than $1 million in gross sales per year and is growing at “a few percent a year,” he said.