
Stab Your Friends!
Dartmouth has a thriving community of club sports that can be just as competitive as a varsity team but also more accomodating and welcoming of newer members.
The Dartmouth College Fencing Club has been one of the highlights of my first year at Dartmouth. Here's why:
- No. 1
The People
From post-practice dinners to long bus and plane rides to tournaments, I have spent so much time and share so many memories with my teammates that it's almost impossible not to get close. Of the three of my closest friends on campus, two of them are on the fencing team. (One of whom is pictured above)
- No. 2
Avoid the Freshman 15
This is a pretty obvious benefit to joining any club sport, but fencing is one of the most competitive club sports on campus, so we have a training schedule that has been compared to some varsity teams (upwards of 10 hours/week + weekend competitions). A fellow teammate told me that she actually lost 15 pounds over the course of this year.
- No. 3
We encourage members of all skill levels
Fencing is probably a sport you've never thought about doing... Which is great! Because college is the time to try new things. About half of our competition squad consists of people that have never fenced before college, many of whom are freshmen.
- No. 4
We are a family
Because we don't have a coach, we need to rely on each other more than we might have to otherwise. We're responsible for making everyone feel included and welcome. We do lots of fun activities together in the fall, including picking pumpkins together and going on a scavenger hunt across campus!
- No. 5
We're Really Good at What We Do
This year, we won nationals!
(Beating out our rivals University of Michigan and Cornell)