Foils ready: Brock women's fencing team member Hannah Pass gets some pre-Open practice in with coach Tim Stang. Mississauga native Pass is a fourth-year team member and also a fourth-year student in Recreation and Leisure Studies. How much sabre-rattling does it take to stage the annual Brock Fencing Open?
This weekend, more than 500 fencers from across Ontario, Quebec and New York state will make their way to the Brock campus for the 2016 edition of the two-day event.
Hannah Pass with coach Tim Stang
The two-day tournament will feature hundreds of matches Saturday and Sunday (Nov. 19-20) in the Ian Beddis Gymnasium at Brock. The Open is free for the public to attend.
Hosted by the Brock University Varsity Fencing team and the Niagara Swords Fencing Club, the Open has mushroomed in popularity since it was first held in the 1980s, to the point where it is now thought to be the largest annual fencing competition in the province.
Brock’s varsity fencing coach Tim Stang, himself a Brock alumni and former varsity fencer, says the Open has become a permanent fixture in the competition schedules for dozens of university and community/club teams.
Fencing is one of the most popular sports on Ontario campuses, with 16 universities fielding varsity teams, including the 48 men and women who comprise the Brock varsity squads.
Fencing is a part of Brock’s heritage. It was only the fourth sports to get a Brock varsity team, having been started in1967. It was likewise just the fourth sport in which Brock won an Ontario universities championship, when the women’s team captured the provincial title crown in 1984.
This weekend’s Open will be a precursor of high-level fencing competition to come, as Brock prepares to host the Ontario university men’s varsity championships on Feb. 19 and 20.
