All Jared Gruen planned to do was watch. He never thought he’d actually put on the uniform.
Two months ago, the UO senior came to club a fencing practice to visit his long-time friend, team coordinator Holly Bishop, along with his girlfriend Kristen Shafer, who had joined the team in the fall.
“He came to practice one day, and I was like, ‘Jared, go put on a uniform,’” Shafer said.
Initially Gruen resisted.
Although he didn’t suit up that day, he made his way to the equipment closet during the following practices, dug out a uniform and entered the practice room.
“I was getting ready to have a lesson with Adam (the coach),” Shafer said. “He (Jared) walked in, had a uniform on, and was like, ‘Are you happy?’ I was ecstatic.”
Even though his first experience as a fencer happened somewhat begrudgingly, Gruen eventually ended up enamored with the sport.
“My girlfriend pestered me to try it,” Gruen said. “Then I thought, ‘Hey, this is kind of fun and it’s good exercise. I can see myself doing this.’”
Gruen added that he has never really been athletic but fencing’s uniqueness kept him interested.
“There’s really no other sport that gives you a sword and let’s you duel,” he said.
Casual participation eventually turned into something more and Gruen fostered a desire to improve.
“My personal perspective on it is that if I’m going to be doing this, I don’t want to be ‘that guy’ who’s the worst person in the club,” Gruen said. “I don’t want to be losing every bout. I want to get better at it.”
He’s been making strides. Gruen attends every practice and seeks improvement through one-on-one lessons. Gruen praised his coach, Adam Lake, for his progress.
“He (Adam) has a lot of knowledge to offer,” he said. “If I can just learn one thing from him, that’d be great. Just one thing every lesson.”
“At this point, I’d benefit from learning anything,” Gruen said. “With (me) not knowing much, his best judgement — that’s good for me! Whatever he thinks I’d benefit from.”
Gruen says that with lessons and fencing in bouts regularly, he is seeing significant improvement.
“I’ve started winning most of my bouts now and a lot of it comes from how I score the points,” he said.
His eagerness to learn isn’t going unnoticed. Bishop — who typically works with new members — is thrilled that he’s taken an interest in fencing as a sport instead of only the social aspects of being in the club.
“It makes my heart really, really happy when a beginner takes their own initiative and says, ‘Hey, Adam. I want a lesson with you,’” Bishop said. “That just makes me over-the-moon happy. Especially if they do it a couple time a week — that means that they want to become a better fencer and that’s what the club is about.”
Follow Anne Yilmaz on Twitter @anneyilmaz
[Originally published here by the Daily Emerald on March 4, 2014]