Young Lynnfielders Learning The Sport Of Fencing

This week, a group of young local residents got to learn about the sport of fencing as part of the Lynnfield Community Schools Summer of Fun Activities program.

On Thursday morning, the children were in the parking lot practicing their techniques with Jack Mullarkey of the 3MB Fencing Club in Beverly. Mullarkey indicated that he is currently in his 48th year of participating in the sport.

Mullarkey has been sharing his knowledge of fencing with young Lynnfielders for several years. He told Lynnfield Patch that this is his second year working with the town's SOFA program, and his third year that he has been coming to Lynnfield Schools. This fall, he is also expected to return to for another session offered through Lynnfield Community Schools.

Mullarkey's daughter Kayla was also on hand to help with the practice, which included basic fundamentals such as lunging and retreating, as well as a game where children used fencing steps to advance, grab a fencing glove, and retreat without being tagged by an opponent.

On a side note, your local editor spent a year as a member of the St. John's Prep fencing team back in the late 1980s. Since there were so few other high schools with fencing teams, we usually just had exhibition-type matches against some area colleges and one or two places such as Philips Andover.

Despite its relative obscurity in this country, Mullarkey noted that fencing has been seeing a resurgence in the U.S. in recent years - specifically highlighting the fact that at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, American fencers brought home six medals, far more than their usual.

This ancient sport is as much fun as it is a good workout. For those who would like to learn more about fencing, there is the Tanner City Fencing Club in Peabody and 3MB in Beverly.