Dion Shively Quotes


You will find a few of them, but in fencing they are a much smaller percentage than in any other sport. - Dion Shively


When he was in his late 60s, he was still beating us young kids who thought we were hot stuff, but was still nice enough to work with us and help us along. So I always had it in the back of my mind that there was this Zen kind of philosophy, this martial arts aspect to fencing. - Dion Shively


We still have a long way to go. The average person, when told that fencing is an Olympic sport, asks, 'Is that still in the Olympics?' It's been in every Olympics there has ever been in the modern age. There's fencing in every summer Olympics and it never gets televised. There's no fencer who is a household name. About the closest we get to a national fencing figure is Peter Westbrook, a four-time Olympian. - Dion Shively


We have all the fencing equipment here, so it costs nothing for people to stop in and try it out. They don't have to purchase anything, and we don't do long-term contracts, either. So it's easy for people to try it for a few weeks or months. - Dion Shively


We don't require that people compete here. I'm here for the people who want to get really, really good at this and compete in it, but we're also here for the people who just want to come in and get some exercise, blow off some steam, or just come in and have a really good time. - Dion Shively


We attract a different crowd than mainstream sports. We tend to get the people who never exercised, or thought of themselves as athletes, or ever considered taking up any sport. It appeals to the romantic as well as the intellectual side in a lot of us. We get a decent cross mixture of people, a lot of dreamers, gamers and other types. - Dion Shively


We are a member club of the United States Fencing Association, which governs fencing throughout the country. That means we can hold tournaments and our members can go to tournaments. Many clubs throughout the country host tournaments on a fairly regular basis. Most tournaments are in Pittsburgh or State College, a few in Cleveland and Harrisburg or anywhere that's got fencing. We also go down to West Virginia frequently. - Dion Shively


The best thing about this sport is that you can do it all your life. I know people who started fencing when they were 70 years old. This is a sport where using your head really counts. 'Physical chess' is a term that's been frequently applied to fencing. Really, the mind is the most important weapon you have in this sport. - Dion Shively


Sport fencing is very different from what you see in movies. In fencing, the moves are small and tricky. In the movies, the moves are big and flashy. They're meant to show well before the camera. Actors are trying to look good and not hit somebody. Fencers are trying to hide what we're doing and hit somebody. We try to look good at what we do, but we don't want to telegraph any big, flashy moves because that makes it easier for your opponent to hit you. There has to be a certain subtlety to it. - Dion Shively


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