Clashing swords. Swift movements. High energy. The team chants, “Go Warriors!” before their meet. A fencer gets ready, their focus solely on their opponent. The referee says, “En garde,” starting the beginning of the bout.

Fencing is one of many winter sports that the high school offers. This sport doesn’t require tryouts, resulting in a fun and pressure-free atmosphere for members of the team. But it does require fast movements, strategic footwork and is split into three disciplines: saber, épée and foil.

The fencing team practices at the International Fencing Club in West Roxbury after school on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.

Sophomore Tulliver Lines joined the fencing team in his freshman year. He is a foilist, meaning his weapon is a foil. Foils are used to aim primarily at the torso.

“I think the team atmosphere is really good. Everyone is nice, and experienced fencers take the time to teach beginners the basics. The team is really supportive. People are also very generous with transportation,” Lines said.

According to senior Kaesha Marantz, who joined the team last year, the fencing team is special because it prioritizes camaraderie between fencers.

“You make friends like nowhere else here. You make these bonds that I don’t think could be made anywhere else on campus or off. It’s special in the time that you spend with people and the sport is fun as well,” Marantz said.

Fencing was recently added as a winter sport, and now grants players their full sports credit. The team is beginning to incorporate team spirit.

“Team spirit is really good during practices. We kind of falter because we’re not exactly seen as an official school sport. We’ve been trying to set up team spirit because we think it’s fun and we think it’s nice cheering each other on even before the game day,” Marantz said.

According to saber captain and junior Sungmin (Sam) Cho, fencing feels like an underrated sport at the school.

“At the same time [being underrated is] not bad because we’re trying to recruit more people on our team, and I just don’t want people to be pressured about joining a sports team because of the commitment. But fencing isn’t like other sports where you need a huge commitment to the team,” Cho said.

Although the fencing team hasn’t been an official sport for a long time, the members create an ambiance of camaraderie and supportiveness.

“We’ll fence each other and we’ll trash talk each other, but we’ll all be laughing as we do so and it’ll all be in good fun,” Marantz said. “At the end we’re still all supporting each other. When we go to those meets we’re all cheering on the same people no matter whether it’s an épée cheering on a foilist or a saber cheering on an épéeist. It’s all the same to us.”