FOR LOVE OF THE SPORT— HOUSTON’S BAYOU CITY FENCING ACADEMY AIMS HIGH

By Louise Lepie – Executive Director, BCFA. Founder.

I’m often asked why a non-fencer such as myself is so passionate about fencing. It could be because two of my three sons became fencers and one still fences. But the short answer is, for whatever reason, I love the sport. This love of the sport is why I put in the time, effort and expense of totally renovating a facility in southwest Houston into the Bayou City Fencing Academy’s home.

The path that led to the establishment of the Houston Athletic Fencing Center was an arduous one, as well. For years, the Bayou City Fencing Academy had been bounced around from location to location, renting recreation centers and gymnasiums as we could find them. Every time a club changes locations, it loses members. After many years of being kicked out of gymnasiums when the basketball season came around and seeing students come and go, we came to the realization that we needed our own home.

We evaluated whether to purchase our own building or to sign a long-term lease on a facility. As a business owner many times over, my experience told me that it was better to put our funds into a building and own it rather than throw money away on rent. So we began the search for a property.

The HAFC ended up finding a home in a building that we had previously rented from time to time, a former racquet club. It was sorely delaplidated, having been neglected over the years, and the price tag wasn’t cheap, but it held almost unlimited promise.

The building was purchased in December of 2002 and remade from top to bottom: walls knocked out, new wiring, new floors, new lighting, new cabinetry, new plumbing, and a new entrance. It was neither inexpensive nor easy as I acted as my own general contractor, hiring and supervising the crews, buying all the construction materials and often doing some of the labor.

The results are a 22,000-square foot facility dedicated totally to the sport of fencing. The east wing, about 7,800 square feet, houses 12 permanent regulation-size fencing strips and two practice strips. In the west wing, more than 8,000 square feet, is room for another nine strips. All 21 strips are set up on the first Friday of every month when members of every local fencing club are invited to a night of open fencing. On those nights, fencers can compete against others of all skill levels. No fee is charged, and equipment is available on loan.

Between the two wings lies the lobby, the location of one of the only two fencing equipment stores between the east and west coasts (the next closest one is in Louisiana). The store sells everything a fencer might need: masks, jackets, knickers, shoes, lames, foils, epees, sabers, T-shirts and teddy bears. There is also a lounge area with a large-screen TV for viewing videos of practices and tournaments. In addition, there is a laundry room where club uniforms are always being cleaned. There is a large office known as the schmoozing place where parents congregate to talk about upcoming events and interesting news in the fencing world, such as the recent silver medal in women’s epee won by our fencer Brita Goldie at the World Cup in Louisville, Kentucky. There is a wall of fame for all of our fencers who have won medals at various tournaments. In the west wing there is a fully stocked armory manned by our full-time certified armorer Terry Unrein.

The Center is closed most of the day while coaches teach at various school programs, but by 6 p.m. it takes on a life of its own. The first glimmer of excitement begins as fencers start flooding the building in early evening. Classes are offered at all levels for both recreational and competitive fencers, ages 6 on up through adults in all three weapons.

The quality of Bayou City’s coaches equals the excellence of the huge airy facility. There are two foil coaches, Kamilla Skladanowska, a four-time Olympian from Poland, and head coach Delfina Perka, her Olympic teamate. The two epee coaches are Brad Goldie of Canada, coach to his daughter our silver junior world medalist and Witold Rutkowski of Poland. Our saber coach Thomas Stusinski is also an Olympian from Poland who participated in the Sydney Olympics. We are also looking for additional coaches to augment our teaching staff.

People often ask if interest in fencing has peaked or if it continues to grow. In Houston, the fourth largest city in the nation, The Center is not only a dream come true, but a realization that many future fencers are just waiting to discover the sport. “Build it and they will come” seems to be working. The number of fencers attending our classes is definitely increasing. When we host tournaments, people just walk in off the street to see what’s going on in the building. Spreading the word about what this sport is about has been one of our primary missions. We must be reaching people, as we have been getting less calls to build fences.

Self-sufficiency is absolutely a goal for the club, and, we think, an attainable one. Tournaments are a major source of income, along with classes. There are two types of fencing clubs. They’re either run by someone who has a full-time job who comes in at night and tries to make a go of it, and then there are those for whom building the club is a full-time occupation. I work 17 hours a day, seven days a week and that’s what it takes, I firmly believe, to build a club of any size and be financially successful.

However, we also operate under the philosophy that every club should have enough help running its business so that the business can run itself – so that no one is indispensible, if you truly want to build a lasting venture.

The other necessity is to have good coaches – but that’s not always easy. Club owners need to know that there is no loyalty among coaches or students to any club. We have faced the unfortunate circumstance where competitor offered a coach a position and that coach walked with 90 percent of the students without giving us a chance to make a counter offer. Since then I’ve learned that this is not uncommon. I believe that we as an association should do more to help clubs find coaches, that we should set up a database of clubs seeking coaches and coaches from around the world who are seeking clubs, because many many clubs have this problem.

We have been trying to share our good fortune of having such a facility by offering our Center to other clubs to hold their tournaments at no fee for the use of the facility. We will host the collegiate championships for our area. We have also put together plans for “Battle on the Bayou” this coming February, a super-tournament involving many of the area’s fencing clubs. This event is to serve as a benefit for the smaller clubs that do not always have the means for fund raising to purchase equipment. We will also be having a tournament-”Fence For Furry Friends” to benefit the Houston Humane Society.

While opening such a center involved a huge risk, it has brought a lot of excitement to fencing in this area in a very short time. This has been a calling. The Center is indeed the product of the “ love of the sport.”