Are you interested in improving your physical and aerobic fitness, relieving stress, expanding your circle of friends, and possibly earning a college scholarship, while having fun? Then Goffstown High School Fencing Club may be for you.

Sport fencing has been in Goffstown for many years. The Fencing Club at the high school began in 1999, with the arrival of Sue Tipton to the faculty. Fencing at the high school is open to all students, and each year about 10 to 15 boys and girls take up the sport.

Fencing imparts fitness, confidence, physical awareness, concentration, positive social skills, holistic self-awareness and creative problem solving.

The Fencing Club holds a training camp at the Goffstown Odd Fellows hall each summer, and the students spend the week learning to fence under the watchful eye of Tipton. They learn the same techniques and rules that govern the Olympic fencers.

The Odd Fellows have sponsored the club several times, letting them host the monthly fundraising breakfast at the Odd Fellows Hall on Mountain Road this past September. It is mostly through the donation of the facility and the financial help of the Odd Fellows and Rebecca’s that the Fencing Club is able to continue sport fencing at the high school level.

The sport of fencing involves three different weapons – foil, epee and sabre. The best-known weapon is the foil, the modern version of the dueling rapier – a long, thin sword with a plastic button on the end to prevent injury. The epee (pronounced epp-pay) is similar to the foil but heavier, with a bowl-shaped guard and a long, narrow blade that has no cutting edge. The sabre, heavier than the foil, is the modern version of a horseman’s weapon and is used with a slashing as well as thrusting movement. The foil is used in the Goffstown program.

The Fencing Club meets and trains weekly at the high school after school. The club supplies all the equipment that you need.

If you would like to learn more about fencing and find out if this is the sport for you, contact Tipton at the high school at 497-4841.