Students at AHP Matthew Elementary in Surrey had a chance to experience the art of fencing at their school last week.
"Despite its rather foreboding nature," said teacher and sponsor Philip Wong, "fencing is one of the safer sports."
That's as long as participants use all the protective equipment, including stainless steel masks and kevlar jackets.
Wong is aiming to expose his students to the ancient Olympic sport with the idea of starting a club at his school and others throughout the city.
Using equipment donated by the B.C. Fencing Association (fencing.bc.ca), Wong and fellow fencer David Shorey, a Kwantlen Park Secondary grad and current SFU physics student, spent a day demonstrating the sports three disciplines, Sabre, Foil and Epee, each distinguished by body targets and style.
For Wong, the sport has many positive attributes including speed, balance, coordination, concentration and emotional stability.
"I've been fencing for eight years," said Shorey, "I really love passing on what I have learned to others. It's like chess with the body."
Wong is hoping there will be enough interest from students to form an active fencing club.