In America, when people dueled, they would use pistols. We didn't have fencing schools where gentlemen went to learn the sword. In Europe they had that, and those schools became the basis of the fencing clubs they still have today.
More Quotes from Dion Shively:
We don't require that people compete here. I'm here for the people who want to get really, really good at this and compete in it, but we're also here for the people who just want to come in and get some exercise, blow off some steam, or just come in and have a really good time.Dion Shively
We still have a long way to go. The average person, when told that fencing is an Olympic sport, asks, 'Is that still in the Olympics' It's been in every Olympics there has ever been in the modern age. There's fencing in every summer Olympics and it never gets televised. There's no fencer who is a household name. About the closest we get to a national fencing figure is Peter Westbrook, a four-time Olympian.
Dion Shively
The best thing about this sport is that you can do it all your life. I know people who started fencing when they were 70 years old. This is a sport where using your head really counts. 'Physical chess' is a term that's been frequently applied to fencing. Really, the mind is the most important weapon you have in this sport.
Dion Shively
What appealed to me is what hooks most people, and that's Hollywood. 'Zorro,' 'The Three Musketeers,' even the sword-fighting stuff from 'Star Wars.' It hits the fantasy button in all of us. Every boy at some point grabs a stick and tries to sword-fight his friends with it in the back yard. We all have that kid inside of us who dreams of knights and sword fighters.
Dion Shively
Sport fencing is very different from what you see in movies. In fencing, the moves are small and tricky. In the movies, the moves are big and flashy. They're meant to show well before the camera. Actors are trying to look good and not hit somebody. Fencers are trying to hide what we're doing and hit somebody. We try to look good at what we do, but we don't want to telegraph any big, flashy moves because that makes it easier for your opponent to hit you. There has to be a certain subtlety to it.
Dion Shively
We attract a different crowd than mainstream sports. We tend to get the people who never exercised, or thought of themselves as athletes, or ever considered taking up any sport. It appeals to the romantic as well as the intellectual side in a lot of us. We get a decent cross mixture of people, a lot of dreamers, gamers and other types.
Dion Shively
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