A new sports season has settled in and the Bethel Park High School Fencing Team has started up their season.

The team competes against several schools. The schools in the PIFA (Pittsburgh Interscholastic Fencing Association) league include, Oakland Catholic, Fox Chapel, Pine Richland, Winchester Turston, Mt. Lebanon, Peters Township, Seton-La Salle, and Upper St. Claire.

Most schools, like Bethel Park, have a girls’ team and a boys’ team.

The Bethel Park team practices twice a week with competitions on most Thursdays during the season. They hold their practices and some events at The Bethel Park Community Center.

The captains of the team are senior Randi Fedela, and senior Sam Wojnarowski.

Not many people know how the sport of fencing really works, so here are the basics. The sport consists of three weapons; foil, epee, and saber. A foil is a light, but quick weapon and most commonly used on the Bethel Park team. The epee is a larger weapon that uses different strategies due to the change in rules, such as where the legal target area is. The saber looks like a cavalry sword and uses swiping motions to attack.

Fencing is one of the fastest sports, requiring a very high athleticism and mental ability.

When asked about why someone would start fencing, captain Randi Fedela said, “It was unique and interesting; life on the edge…” Fencing is often referred to as Physical Chess because of how mentally strenuous it can be. Trying to outsmart your opponent is half the sport and the other half is outdoing your opponent through technique.

If you would like to find out more about Bethel Park Fencing Club, their website is here. http://www.bpfencing.org/