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Tyra Tse, a freshman Lancer and member of the PCC Salle Lancier Fencing club, recently just won first place in the E & Under women’s foil at the Gryphon Fencing club tournament in Placentia.

Tse joined the club in fall 2015, her first year at PCC, during club week. She now has a fencing

nickname,“Tyranator,” because of her great skills.

Fencing off and on for about 10 years now, it has been three years since Tse has participated in competitions so winning the Gryphon tournament came as a surprise to her.

“When I came in I was a little rusty, so I wasn’t expecting anything. And then I was really tired, so I didn’t think the quality of my fencing was that good,” Tse said. “I was just super surprised and happy after I won.”

She found out about the competition through a website called “AskFred.” She looked at all the tournaments and competitions for something easier to slowly transition back to fencing.

Fencing ratings go from unrated to E to D to C and B, with A being the best.

Fencing has three choices of weapons: foil, saber, and epee. For foil, the target area is only the torso. For saber, the upper body is the target area and for epee, the whole body is the target area. Tse’s preferred choice of weapon is the foil. Although foil may come easy to Tse, she explains that fencing in general is not easy.

“None of them are easy, but I like foil the most because it’s the one I’ve been doing the whole time I’ve been fencing,” said Tse.

Although fencing may not be an easy sport, anyone can do it by joining the Salle Lancier Fencing Club with no experience.

As to why students should join the club, Michael Argyris, club president, explains it’s an uncommonly fun sport.

“Fencing is such a great sport,” said Argyris. “It’s not really a common sport around and not many people get the chance to actually hold a sword in their hand and actually fight with a sword.”

The club likes to stress that fencing is a safe sport to do.

“It’s perfectly safe that’s what’s really important,” said club member Bieu Aneiryn. “It’s perfectly safe and people need to understand that we are always wearing body armor, the weapons are padded, the swords have buttons on them, it is not dangerous. It simulates something dangerous, but it’s fun and safe.”

The club provides full armory equipment, no rental or club fees, and there’s no experience required. However, the club has been having trouble with funding over the last few years, which they use to provide new gear and armor for the safety of students and to compete in competitions.

Since joining, Tse’s loved her time being part of the club and making new friends.

“We’ve all gotten pretty close, I would say, and it’s been a really fun experience being in that club,” said Tse.

Beginning Feb. 19, the Salle Lancier Fencing Club meets Fridays from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. in room with W201.

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