Derek Jensen
After quitting my job last September with the goal of focusing on school, I wanted to join a club to fully immerse myself in the college experience. After searching around some, I decided to join the fencing team, the DMACC Blades. Immediately upon joining the club, I noticed that no one was overly competitive; all members had the goal of improving themselves and their teammates.
Three others and I joined the team around the same time, being directly coached by Coach Steven Behrends to learn the fundamentals of épée fencing, and allowed us to practice until we bought our own equipment. All of the new fencers had zero experience with the sport, but the veteran members were quick to welcome us, having been in our position not long ago.
Fencing tournaments are hosted by many different groups across the country, and the DMACC team travels to these events with the goal of getting individual members ranked and improving the overall skills of all participants. Before going to my first tournament, I traveled with the team to watch veteran members participate in a Minnesota tournament.
The atmosphere at the tournament was supportive and energetic — members of the club would consistently watch their teammates fence and cheer for them. Win or lose, the attitude would be positive. Slowly, the entire club was eliminated from the tournament until only one fencer representing DMACC remained. The entire team followed his bout closely, but it ended with a very close score of 15-14 in favor of his opponent.
Our first meet after the tournament had the coaches telling fencers things that they noticed throughout the tournament. The constructive criticism was important, as the goal of everyone was to improve for the next tournament and win a medal for DMACC.
Derek Jenson (left) prepares to bout with a player from the University of Minnesota. Photo Courtesy Connie James.
On March 1, I, along with a few other club members, got our first opportunity to participate in a sanctioned tournament. The tournament was team-structured and allowed us newer fencers to have veterans to fall back on in tense situations. The experience of being on the strip fencing against people who have been part of the sport for years is a completely different experience from practice, but we were well prepared.
Once again, the team came out to support one another, and I could feel my confidence increase with all of the encouragement. The newer fencers, myself included, all performed well, winning individual bouts and pulling their weight at levels we didn’t expect ourselves to be able to before being put in the moment. The DMACC fencers didn’t win a medal in the tournament, but we went away from the tournament with a feeling of success.
Joining a club is a very easy process; DMACC has a club page that lists all currently active clubs that the college sponsors. I went for fencing as I wanted to try a sport I had never experienced before, but there are many more options for students to join clubs that do similar trips and meetings. The Fashion Club has had opportunities in the past to travel to different cities, including New York City, to experience and participate in fashion shows. The ability to do something like this is in the hands of most students, but it is up to the students to take advantage of the opportunities given to them.
Every competition, members of the Blades would cheer on their club members. It’s been a great experience making connections with my teammates and competitors. As someone whose experience with sports has always been team sports, I was surprised to see how the DMACC Blades turned the usually individualistic sport into a team community.
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