A quote from the Confessional:
"Oberlinese: I am on the fencing team.
English: I can and will fulfill your wildest fantasies."
The Oberlin College Fencing Club (Known as the Oberlin College Flaming Blades) is the official fencing team of Oberlin College. It is the oldest chartered club sport of the college, and has been converting young, impressionable students to the glories of fencing since 1929. The atmosphere of practice times is mostly relaxed, with the older or more experienced students teaching the younger ones. A good amount of the fencers dabble in all three blades, though as time goes on more and more people are specializing in just one. Our coach is Walt Dragonetti, the President and Founder of Hooked on Fencing, a nearby fencing club.
However, do not be fooled by our relaxed team-members and bad jokes. The Flaming Blades are certainly a sight to behold on the tournament strip. We send any and all fencers who wish to compete to NCAA and USFA tournaments, in addition to hosting our own. Many of our fencers are letter-rated in the USFA and most continue to fence beyond college.
If you've fenced before, feel free to stop by practice. We have an armoury, which is presided over by the lovely Frances Visintainer, who is also your webmistress. (At yer' service.) If you don't have your own equipment and ask nicely, she'll most likely help outfit you.
New to fencing? Take the Beginning Foil EXCO. The teachers for Spring 2009 are Gregory Solow, Ricardo Barrios, and Frances Visintainer. Go on, talk to them, email them. They're friendly people who only bite if you ask.
As you may have noticed, there are a few prominent rainbows on the website -- the navigation, the team socks, etc. The colors of the OCFB happen to be rainbow. We also have a rainbow triangle patch that team members are encouraged to buy and personalize with some form of embroidery. Former Secretary Catie explains the patch & team nickname: "The patch was, of course, Jay and Matty's [graduated members] idea. It basically is a play on the general reputation/stereotype that people in the Cleveland area have about Obies -- i.e. that we're all queer hippies. Basically it represents Oberlin's diversity while at the same time making fun of the stereotype, especially since at the time the patch was adopted there was only one person of alternative sexuality on the team. And each person puts a individual design on their patch because, as Jaime puts it, "we're all unique, just like everyone else." The name The Flaming Blades is a direct reference to the movie Zorro, the Gay Blade and goes hand in hand with the patch."
NCAA Captain: Gregory Solow
USFA Captain: Hana Jo
Armourer: Frances Visintainer
Secretary: Samantha Feldman
Treasurer: Rachel Wysocki
Liasion: Ardon Shorr
Webmistress: Frances Visintainer