By Amanda First
The State News
Ben Pfaff woke up Saturday morning, donned his medieval garb and spent the day advertising “Renaissance marriage counseling” and promoting fights between parents and children.
Pfaff, a 2001 graduate and former member of the MSU Fencing Club, was running one of the two “bunny fencing” booths at the Michigan Renaissance Festival, in Holly, as a fund-raiser for the club.
In bunny fencing, two people are given jackets, gloves, swords and masks. Two balloons are placed on each mask, making the fencer look like a bunny. The object of the game is to pop both of your opponent’s balloons. The winners receive a certificate proclaiming them victorious.
“I’ve never done that before,” said Steve Howder, 41, of Canton, after dueling his 12-year-old son Collin, who triumphed over his father. “It was really hard to tell when he was going to pop my balloons.”
The Michigan Renaissance Festival runs from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. on weekends between Aug. 18 and Sept. 30 each year. It celebrates 16th century Europe with shows, food, music, games and merchants.
Claire Tanner, a landscape architecture sophomore, said the festival was a good way to relax and after the first week of classes. She watched as the bunny fencers drew their swords and competed.
“It’s something interesting that everyone can do,” Tanner said Saturday.
MSU fencing assistant coach Dale Walter brought the idea to the team last year after working with The Ring of Steel, a fencing group from Ann Arbor, that wanted to expand bunny fencing at the festival, but did not have enough booth workers. Through this fund-raiser the club receives a share of all profits from the booth.
“It’s a good fund-raiser because it’s fencing related,” Walter said.
Walter said money has been a touchy issue with the members of the fencing club since being a varsity team since 1938, it was cut from varsity status in February of 1997 as a way to comply with Title IX, a 1972 law meant to end gender discrimination in educational programs and activities, including sports.
Jeff Paplawsky, the men’s fencing team’s co-captain and a political theory and constitutional democracy senior, said he is upset because of the lack of respect for the fencing team.
“Rather than add new women’s opportunities like promoting our women’s fencing team, they continue to cut men’s programs,” he said. “We are still a competitive team. The number of schools with fencing in the Midwest is small so we were allowed to continue to compete against varsity and non-varsity schools with the old schedule.”
The men and women’s fencing team survives because of the generosity of their coaches Fred Freiheit and Walter, who donate their time and money to the club. Paplawsky said. Students who join the team pay $40 for the year in dues.
But, even without varsity status, members said the team is still strong.
“There are lots of good things for beginners as well as returning members,” said Charlie Cove, the club’s president and a food industry management junior. “(Fencing) is good for conditioning and it is competitive like any other sport.”
The team practices from 8 p.m. to 10 p.m. Monday, Tuesday and Thursday nights in the basement of IM Sports-West. The team competes in collegiate meets throughout the Midwest, culminating in an appearance at the Midwest Conference Team Championships, held at the University of Notre Dame. The team hosts other special events including the Alumni Tournament, where alumni of the fencing club compete against current members and provide expertise.
Fencing is “a very athletic sport” requiring “speed, agility and athleticism”, Walter said.
Maggie Malenfant, a club recruiter and a pre-nursing sophomore, agrees. “It keeps you on your toes physically and mentally,” she said.
The team encourages anyone interested in fencing to come to their practices and learn more about the club.
“There’s something fun about hitting people with swords,” said Paul Steiner, a club member and agricultural economics graduate student. “It’s an experience you can’t get anywhere else.”
For more information about the MSU Fencing Club go to www.msu.edu/~fencing.
