Last Friday, members of the upper school fencing team went to the Goodrich campus to spread the sport of fencing to younger students part of the Adventure Kids program. Looking to influence more people to join in the future, Fencing athletes played games with lower school kids and taught them the basics of the sport from 3:30 to 5:00 p.m. This event was the first of four that will occur every friday up until the end of the month.

Adventure Kids is a program for kids from kindergarten to the fifth grade that happens every day after school. Kids can play and learn new skills with counselors. Counselors can be adults who are paid for the job and show up every week, or simply volunteers from the upper school who are helping the program run smoothly.

The lower school gym was brimming with life and excitement with kids from grades 1-5 learning how to fence and playing some fun games along the way. One of the kids participating was Lucia Lund, a third grader. “I’m here to learn about fencing,” said Lund. “It’s sad that I can’t join the team until 7th grade, I like the coaches,” said Lund.

The coaches at the event were members of the upper-school Varsity fencing team, who were instructed to help coach the kids and begin their journey into fencing. The kids that were taught in the lower school are looking into the future of the fencing team in the next four to five years.

One of the coaches was Ethan He, a Sophomore and member of the Varsity team. “We were teaching them the basics of fencing, like the footwork and the blade work,” said He. “it’s been fun, and it’s important to teach the younger generation of fencing,” said He.

The next generation of fencing is up and coming at SPA. People currently on the team have shown their intent to keep teaching the younger generation about fencing, and to hopefully spread the popularity of the sport in the community as well.