![]() ![]() Donning a fencing mask - which gave me a great creepy-killer look, a la Friday the 13th look - I grasped a sabre. "I still get calls from people who want us to build a fence around their yard," he said with a laugh.Īnxious to get some hands-on experience, I asked Zay if he could show me a few things. ![]() In fact, some folks still look to Zay for their home-improvement needs. He and his wife moved to Charlotte in 1992, and Zay started teaching fencing at CPCC he opened Touché in 1998.įencing is gaining in popularity, although its following in Charlotte is probably equivalent to that of the Mecklenburg Pierogi Lovers Club. Zay was a natural, and under the tutelage of some of Hungary's fencing masters - guys with names like Laszlo and Janos - he went on to become a member of the National Junior Fencing Team. "It was like armed combat a duel," he said. Zay was just nine years old when he saw his first fencing competition on TV. On hand was fencing coach Peter Zay, born and raised in Hungary. (I kid you not it really is called "Touché"!) Sure, the fencers were dressed a little funny, but not once did any of them sneer, jostle, push or spit. Well, last week I met about a dozen fencing enthusiasts at the Touché Fencing Club on Old Pineville Road. ![]() They hold spitting contests on crowded sidewalks. They like to jostle strangers and push elderly women into the bus lane. In fact, as I was doing a little Internet research for this story, one of the first web sites I came across was the playfully tongue-in-cheek, which described fencers thusly: "They sneer. The sport hasn't exactly been embraced in the US as it has elsewhere. Decked out in a flashy, skintight ensemble and floppy white hat, the foppish dandy swings down from a chandelier, twirls his moustache and in a thick, Inspector Clouseau-esque accent, challenges his opponent with a nasally "En Garde!" If that's your impression of fencing, you're not alone. ![]()
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