To the Point

Fast, tactical and athletic, the sport of fencing has found two young devotees at the Club.

Davide Lorenzoni and Yujin Lin size each other up on the piste, looking for an opening in their opponent’s guard. The next point will win the bout. Lorenzoni suddenly strikes with a deft lunge, the tip of his foil catching Lin on the chest. He lets out a triumphant yell.

The two boys are best friends and schoolmates, but when they don their fencing masks they become athletic rivals. They have been a part of the Club’s fencing program for three years and, under coach Takamitsu Kamitsu, they have improved dramatically in that time.

“He understands children,” Lorenzoni says of his mentor. “He has fenced internationally and knows what it takes to win. Both he and Sakura sensei [Kamitsu’s assistant coach and wife] are the best.”

Eleven-year-old Lorenzoni originally wanted to learn karate. But after his teacher suggested fencing, he discovered he had a real talent for the sport. “He said if I worked hard I could become really good at it. He also said I should join a club,” Lorenzoni says one Monday evening during practice in the Gymnasium.

His parents, Roberto and Chiharu, say that they had some doubts in the beginning but were won over by their son’s passion. “Fencing is not the cheapest of sports,” Roberto says. “Just buying the outfit will cost you about ¥100,000. So I thought, ‘What if Davide quits after a while?’ But he fell in love with the sport from the beginning, and you can see how much fun he has on the piste.”

A year younger than his friend, Lin admits that his first love was soccer. But when Lorenzoni took up fencing, he too became hooked. “I definitely like fencing’s fighting side. And Kamitsu always teaches us new tactics. Foil, in particular, is a very tactical sport and you have to use your brain a lot,” he says.

“I love to work with Kamitsu sensei. He knows how to bring out the best in us, and never gets mad at us,” he adds. “Other teachers will shout at you if you make a mistake. I find this very annoying.”
“In a fencing bout,” explains Kamitsu, “a great deal depends on being in the right place at the right time. Fencers are constantly maneuvering in and out of each other’s range. In a sense, it’s like dancing, which makes footwork arguably the most important aspect of a fencer’s training.

“Obviously you must be very fit to fence at a high level, but this is mainly a tactical sport. It is interesting to see how different Davide’s and Yujin’s styles are. Davide is utterly fearless. He never retreats from a fight. He has beaten people who are bigger and technically better than him again and again, just because he is relentless, always coming after you. Yujin, on the other hand, is very good at sizing people up and quickly adapts to different circumstances. He likes to draw his opponent out and exploit his weaknesses.”

Swordplay 101
Fencing is one of five sports that have featured in every modern Olympic Games since the first in 1896. Powerhouse countries in fencing include Italy, France and Russia, and fencers compete in three categories of weapon: foil, épée and saber. Each has its own rules and strategies.

“Here, most people start with foil, and this is the discipline in which Japan has recently joined the world elite,” says Kamitsu, who took up fencing in elementary school but didn’t focus solely on the sport until high school. Joining the Japanese national team at 20, he won the World Cup with the foil team. While he continues to compete in national tournaments, he now concentrates on coaching.

Both Lorenzoni and Lin have similar international aspirations. “Every year, the Japan Fencing Federation selects the team members through a national tournament and, in order to make the cut, you need to finish in the best eight,” Lorenzoni explains. “Last year, I finished second, so I was invited to go to Germany with the Japanese selection and it was a great experience.”

Lin, meanwhile, says the format of competitions presents its own challenge. “Tournaments are divided into different age groups. Currently, I’m in the fourth to sixth grade group, but being only 10 I have to fight against people who are one or two years older than me, so it’s very tough.”

Lorenzoni recently finished third in a tourney for fifth and sixth graders. “Unfortunately, in the semifinal I lost by one point. Each bout lasts nine minutes, and the first fencer who gets to 10 points wins. We had nine points each, but in the end I lost,” he says. “However, the tournament before that, I teamed up with Yujin and we beat a very strong team in the semifinal before going on to take the title.”

The youngster had his first taste of international competition in Italy, his father’s home country. “The level was high and there were a lot of big, tall kids, which made things even harder for smaller people like me,” Lorenzoni says. “Obviously, being tall is a big advantage in fencing, as you have a longer reach.”

Club Support
Chiharu Lorenzoni and Lin’s father, Koji, say they support their sons’ hobby as much as they can. “Is it hard to be a fencer’s father? No, I don’t think so,” Koji says. “The very fact that he always tries his best gives me a great joy. His dedication to hard work makes me proud of being part of the team. It is true that committing to his schedule can sometimes be complicated, and we need to plan things way ahead, but my wife and I travel as much as we can with him every time he takes part in a tournament.”

Chiharu helped establish the Club’s fencing team and praises Kamitsu for his role in guiding and improving the two boys. “I think he is one of the best coaches in Japan right now,” she says. “We are very fortunate Davide can learn from him and Sakura, who is an excellent teacher too and for a long time was a top fencer in Japan.

“It is important to support young talented coaches like them. Some people, like Davide’s ex-coach, are very old-fashioned and only stress perseverance and discipline. Of course, they are important qualities for an athlete, but I think when you teach kids the most important thing is to nurture their passion, and this is what Kamitsu sensei is doing. He also believes in a more scientific approach to coaching. Particularly with young fencers, it’s important to avoid stressful exercises that can easily result in injuries. I hope the TAC team starts a new trend with young, open-minded coaches who can teach kids how much fun fencing is.”

While Japan has made significant improvements in fencing recently (both the men’s and women’s junior foil teams are currently ranked No. 1 in the world), Kamitsu says that increasing domestic participation in the sport will be difficult.

“The problem with fencing is that the rules are difficult to understand. The casual viewer just doesn’t understand what happens on the piste. Therefore, I think we should find a way to make the rules easier and create more spaces where people can actually practice,” he says. “Still, I hope more and more kids like Yujin and Davide are going to take up fencing. This is a great sport, which helps you develop your mental strength, and the skills you learn through fencing can be applied to other activities as well.”

Words by Gianni Simone
Photos by Benjamin Parks

The spring session of the fencing program, which is divided into beginner/intermediate and advanced levels, runs on Monday evenings, from March 30 to June 8.