BY PATRICIA YOCZIS
Correspondent
SCOTT PILLING staff Nicole Vanni, 9, (l) and Tiffany Perumpali, 10, practice their skills at the Atlantic Fencing Club, Colts Neck. The sport of fencing is an exciting way to exercise the body and mind, with no age limit for participants.
“Students range in age from 7 to 72,” said Agota Balot, owner and head instructor of the Atlantic Fencing Club, Colts Neck. “Fencing is a gender-neutral sport. Size and physical build doesn’t mean anything.”
Balot, who was born in Budapest, Hungary, was 13 when she started fencing. She was a junior team champion and a national finalist in Hungary. Her love for the sport comes from her mother, Magda Nyari, who was a five-time world fencing champion and who won a silver medal in the sport at the 1960 Olympics in Rome.
“I always say I was born between the Helsinki Olympics in 1952 and the Melbourne Olympics in 1956,” said Balot. “I’ve participated in many sports, but fencing is fun and exciting.”
She said the best age for an individual to learn to fence is about 10 to 12 years of age.
“You don’t have to be a born athlete,” said Balot, a certified personal trainer and marathon runner. “Anyone who is committed to the sport can learn the footwork, the stances and the positions. There is vigorous training and discipline, but there are rewards.”
For children, especially girls, she said learning to fence improves self-confidence, poise, coordination and strength.
“It’s wonderful to see the transformation of a shy girl of 10 years old change into a confident girl when she fences,” said Balot. “This gives her confidence in other aspects of her life, too.”
High school students who are very good at fencing may add this sport to their résumés, she said.
“College admissions directors often look for unusual high school activities,” said Balot, the head coach of varsity fencing at the Ranney School, Tinton Falls. “Colleges even offer scholarships in fencing.”
For adults, she said, fencing offers a cardiovascular exercise workout and release from the stress of work.
“You have to focus and forget everything else when you fence,” said Balot. “Two armed persons trying to defend and advance against each other need total concentration. It’s really armed mental chess.”
Accidents, she said, happen in every sport. Safety is of the utmost importance in fencing.
“The students observe the strict rules of discipline and there are usually two instructors on the floor during lessons,” said Balot. “Tough space-age clothing, shoes and masks protect the students from head to toe as they learn to use the weapons.”
Balot is certified to instruct students in foils, epee and sabre. These weapons were derived from swords and differ in one aspect by which body parts each weapon may touch.
“When lighter metals were invented in the 19th century, the heavy sword was replaced with foils, epee and sabre,” she explained. “Dueling with these weapons often settled disputes. Later, nobles dueled for sport and recreation.”
Fencing, said Balot, is growing in popularity with about 65 percent men compared with 35 percent women studying the sport. Fencing gained more exposure during the 2004 Olympics in Athens when Mariel Zagunis, then 19, won the United States’ first gold medal in fencing. She won the Women’s Sabre competition.
“Fencing is very fast and a bout lasts three minutes or less,” she said. “During the bouts the fencers wore video recorders and there was instant replay and slow motion to help the spectators understand the rules of the tournaments.”
Balot, who resides in Toms River with her husband, Robert, a fencing referee, participates in tournaments on the Austrian team.
“There’s no age restriction [and] fencing is a lifelong sport,” she said. “A 92-year-old man from Hawaii still participates in the U.S. National Tournament.”
The Atlantic Fencing Club is in the Colts Neck Shopping Center, Route 34, and has about 120 students from Monmouth, Ocean and Middlesex counties. On April 29 a new facility opened in East Brunswick. Both sites are now known as the Atlantic Fencing Academy.
For more information visit www.atlanticfencing. com or call (732) 863-5505.