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Richard, George (ed.) / Wisconsin alumnus
Volume 58, Number 8 (Dec. 15, 1956)
Rogers, Wayne
Sports, pp. [24]-25
Page [24]
Simonson' s Swordsmen ATTACK . . . parry and repouse counter party and repouse! Per- haps this lingo is unfamiliar to most of us sports fans in the midwest, but in France people would immediately know we refer to the fascinating, fast- moving sport of fencing. An outgrowth of the old sword-play and duels of an older world, fencing today requires Unlike football or basketball where a player begins in grade school and usu- ally ends his career after college, a fencer requires many more years of training and competition before he reaches his peak. In fact, most of the Olympic fencers are in their forties. It is a sport, like few others, which utilizes not only the large muscles but the small By WAYNE ROGERS, '58 f,-nrlna ic nriiNLIr with mnnu neonne Wisconsin's fencing coach, Archie Simonson, says he usually has about forty to fifty boys out for the Badger squad each year. Many of these boys have never held a. "blade" in their hand, but before the season is over they are fencing 'with confidence and form and enjoying it more each day. This, says Simonson, is his main reward for coaching the sport. Fencing, like tennis -and golf, is a Simonson, himself, is a recent gradu- ate of the University's law school. He coached the fencing teams before grad- uation, and after graduating, he kept his practice in Madison so he could continue to work with his teams, which, inci- dentally, have never finished worse than third in Big-10 competition. Each day "Archie" leaves his law office at 1 West Main about 3 p.m. and goes over to the new Randall Memorial for practice. He works with the freshmen from 3:30 to 4:30 and the varsity from 4:30 to 6:00, giving individual attention to nearly every one on the team each day. Simonson gives several reasons why
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