New space in Nittany Mall teaches physical, mental sport in State College

The two fencers stood poised on either side of the piste, a 14-meter-long strip that serves as the playing area. Covered from head to toe in white and gray protective gear, each held their weapon, waiting for the referee to yell, “En guarde!”

Immediately, the fencers lunged at each other. Their weapons clashed and the sound rang through the room.

Eight other players engaged in the same practice around them at the Nittany Fencing Academy, which opened its doors in the beginning of November at the Nittany Mall.

Located in a long one-room space in the mall, the academy is a part of the Central Pennsylvania Fencing Association and provides community members with the opportunity to learn and practice the Olympic sport of fencing.

Interested parties can take part in private or group lessons taught by four coaches who have a combined experience in collegiate-level and Olympic-level fencing.

Chuck Andrasko, one of the coaches, began his fencing career in State College and practiced the sport for nearly 44 years.

“Fencing is not just a physical sport, but it’s a mental sport as well. You have to outwit your opponent to be able to win. Just being stronger, bigger and faster doesn’t get you that win,” Andrasko said.

Wieslaw Glon, who coached the U.S. Olympic team and is currently the head coach for Penn State’s fencing teams, set up the Nittany Fencing Academy. He is the head coach at the academy along with Alexei Sintchinov and Adam Kszubowski, assistant fencing coaches at the university.

The academy teaches all three fencing weapons — foil, épée, sabre — using games, drills and group fencing practices. Weapons and gear are provided for by the academy. People can also reserve the floor for sessions of open bouts.

Andrasko recommends that children start the sport early in order to pursue the sport at a professional or collegiate level. It is like a game of “physical chess,” Andrasko said, and starting early teaches children problem solving and critical thinking.

“Teaching kids, especially younger ones, anywhere up to about 10 years old, you have to make it fun. You can’t be training them as if they’re an Olympic athlete,” Andrasko said. “So, in here, what we do with kids is we make it fun. We have lots of games that we play that help with hand eye coordination and learning tactics.”

Currently, nearly 30 children are enrolled at the academy. Although there are no adults taking part yet, Andrasko hopes to see a spike in interest as a result of the new location.

For the past 20 years, classes for children in the community used to be held in the White Building on the Penn State campus, but Andrasko said that room was small and they faced scheduling issues there. Andrasko hopes to gain more exposure by moving to the mall.

Nittany Fencing Academy joins non-traditional mall business including Rampage Room and KNB Inflatables Please in making its home in the Nittany Mall as more conventional retail shops have left over the past few years.

“We found that, you know, the mall has people going by all the time. Just in the last couple weeks or so we’ve got people signing up, they want to start classes. So we have a lot more exposure here,” Andrasko said, comparing the location to the White Building, where they were surrounded by college students. “You can see there’s other things for kids in the mall too. So we figured that might draw some children our way.”

This story was originally published December 26, 2019 at 6:47 AM.