As a kid, Michael Martin wanted to play basketball, instead he found the sword.
“I am not exactly what we call a towering giant,” Martin explains. “I’m five foot two and I [sized] out of every sport. I tried football, I tried basketball.”
Failing in sports can be troubling for any adolescent, but in New York City in the 1980s, the obsession around mainstream sports like basketball and football was on another level, Martin says. “If you didn’t play basketball, you were an outcast.” He adds, “My mom was so frustrated. God bless her.”
Out of desperation, Martin’s mother suggested he try fencing. In the ancient sport inspired by real-world combat, Martin found not just an activity he enjoyed but a passion that helped forge his identity.
“It was just wonderful,” he says. “For a kid that had a bit of a chip on his shoulder — because I was thinking I’m a giant of a man, but of course, I’m not — fencing allowed me to really to level the playing field and have a chance in sports.”
He became a successful national fencer who had Olympic aspirations that were never quite met. But today he shares his passion for fencing with others at Way of The Sword Fencing & Archery, a U.S. Fencing Association-sanctioned fencing club that also offers archery and chess lessons. The club has between 50-70 fencing students and a roster of accomplished instructors. One coach at the club went on to coach at Harvard and another coach left to coach at West Point. Each summer, Way of Sword holds a fencing camp in Vichy France that facilitates students from the U.S. learning from coaches in France alongside French students.
Way of The Sword’s motto is “honor before glory” and part of what is taught at the club is respect for the time-honored traditions of the sport, Martin says. Modern fencing is divided into three categories the foil, the épée, and the sabre, each uses a different type of sword and has its own rules and competitions. The épée was the battlefield sword, the foil the gentleman’s sword and the sabre is a cavalry sword.
“When a student chooses one of those weapons, they’re really sort of embodying that era of fighting,” Martin says. “It’s been a really wonderful experience, sharing the art and the science of fencing, but more so giving kids who are not traditional athletes an opportunity to be a rock star, an opportunity for them to feel the thrill of winning.” He adds that fencing is one of the most popular Paralympic categories and many students with various physical challenges excel in the sport.
However, Martin’s journey from fencing star to fencing instructor was not a straight path. He took a long career detour working in business consulting before finding his way back to the sword. About a decade ago, when his son was about 12, Martin realized he’d never taught him to fence. To rectify that, he started teaching his son and others in a small fencing club Martin started in the basement of an elementary school in Lewisboro. The setting was most inglorious. “We’d move the chairs out of the way in order to make room to fence,” he says.
The school eventually grew from those humble beginnings. Before long, Martin began running the club from Ridgefield Recreation Center, and seven years ago, decided to open a permanent fencing studio in downtown Ridgefield.
Martin says parents of children who are interested in fencing should know that when a kid gets really into the sport it can be a huge time commitment. He likens it to being a hockey parent. His advice is for families to save some driving time initially by going to the fencing club nearest to where they live.
“Make it simple on you and the kids, and just let them start some program, private lessons, class, whatever that Club offers, even if it’s not great or prestigious, but because it’s in your backyard,” he says. “Later you can jump ship and you can go to another club if your kid has talent, or if your kid wants to really take it further.”
That will happen to some kids, Martin warns. For some people, there is something irresistible about the physical contact of the sport and its connection with its history of generations of master swordsmen passing on their knowledge to new apprentices. “A certain amount of kids resonate with this nostalgic feeling of passing it down,” Martin says. “I certainly did, and this is why I opened up Way of The Sword based on this concept that you can’t let knowledge go to waste. You have to pass it on to the next generation. And so I’m doing my part in this great chain of knight
to squire.” •
