The Marquette Classical Fencing Society has a lot of practice hours before its upcoming tournament.

“We are currently planning a tournament here in January where we will compete with fencers from around the country,” senior Andrew Johnson said.

This tournament is what fencing members are looking forward to. There are currently 20 active members in the fencing club, with practices being held twice a week for two to three hours.

The club is always looking for more people to join, Johnson said.

“We won’t turn anyone away if they want to join in the middle of the semester,” Johnson said. “Since our membership is growing we have more experienced members that can work with new students that join later than the rest.”

Sophomore Tyler Tuescher had fencing experience before joining the club and said he especially likes the physicality of the sport.

“I have been in fencing since the beginning of this year,” Tuescher said. “I like that fencing has a lot of action. It is a classical martial art that is physically challenging and has a massive and interesting history.”

The Marquette Classical Fencing Society also helps fencers in other states.

“We have branches of our organization in St. Louis and Minneapolis,” Johnson said. “We train and have workshops with them at least once a semester.

The classical fencing style is very unique. It not only includes classical fencing fights, but participants can use daggers, twin swords and many other weapons.

Tuescher said practices are not time consuming, running from 6-8 p.m. for beginners. More experienced fencers often stay an additional hour.