In 1977, MSU students and faculty organized the MSU Fencing Club. It is a member of the United States Fencing Association (USFA), USFA Great Lakes Section, and USFA Kentucky District.

It is not necessary to be a USFA member in order to join the club, but it is necessary in order to fence in USFA tournaments. The club owns and maintains fencing equipment equipment which can be checked out by club members. Beginners are welcome.

The club has never enjoyed the benefit of a full-time, professional fencing instructor. Fortunately, talented, well-trained USFA fencers and amateur instructors have always stepped in to fill this void. Chief of these is the honorable Tim Elder, an elegant fencer who served in numerous and varied teaching capacities for most of the club's existance. Few have fenced at MSU without knowing the influence of this man.

The club meets on campus in MSU's Carr Health building, pictured here. The club utilizes the gymnastics rooms and sometimes — depending on the night's activites and the number of members who attend — one or more raquetball courts.

The Carr Health building is expected to undergo renovation in the near future. Yet — as you can see from this photo — the building is still in far better condition than our previous practice facility, even in its current state.

The club is intended to:

Instruct

Veteran club members enjoy helping less-experienced fencers improve their understanding of the sport.

Train

Through drills and bouts, club members continually strive to improve their skills.

Compete

The club hosts several tournaments each year, and participates in other area competitions as often as possible.

Promote

Through public demonstrations, literature campaigns, and several other methods, the club endeavors to increase our sports' awareness through ever-increasing visibilty.

The club sponsors the following activities:

Meetings

Every organization must "take care of business," and the fencing club is certainly no exception. Officers must be elected, budgets drafted, agendas set, events planned, and innumerable other administrative tasks handled.

Practices

These are usually split into two two-hour weekly sessions, fencers improve thier skills and pass along their hard-won knowledge to others.

Competitions

We're in this to have fun, to win, and — most importantly — to have fun winning! Competition is what we ultimately work toward.

Publicity and Funding Events

Without these efforts, the club would inevitably perish. Publicty events are generally quite enjoyable, while fund-raising is a greatly diluted and minimized approximation of Hell.

Social Events

These consist of food, fencing flicks, food, network games, food, story-telling, and — oh, yes — food. These events most often are staged after each and every tournament day, but occasionally occur at other times throughout the season.

For more information, contact club president Greg Valentine at gregory.valentine@murraystate.edu or advance to our feedback form for additional contact options.