Everyone has different reasons for joining club fencing. Some got into it by chance, some through a friend. Kristen Shafer, however, had very different reasons for fencing.

Because two years ago, Shafer watched the fencing trials in the London Olympics and thought: “I want to try that.”

Because deep down she wanted to be like the Olympians she had watched that day — even though she had never even held a sword.

Because she doesn’t break promises.

After watching the trials, Shafer told her friend of her lofty dream. In response, he — who lived 300 miles away –  mailed her fencing stories cut out from the newspaper and said, one day, that would be her.

“He was the type of person that would believe in people,” she said.

Along with his faith in Shafer, he had a request. He had cancer in his heart and lungs, and asked that she fence if he were to pass. She said she would.

He died six months later.

Although Shafer was serious about what she said at the time, her promise was one she never thought she’d have to keep.

“At first I didn’t really think about it,” Shafer said. “I was like, ‘You’re not going to die. That’s not going to happen. That’s not going to happen any time soon.’ When it actually happened — when he actually passed away — that was when it hit me that I have to do this.”

When Shafer came to the University of Oregon as a freshman this fall she immediately tracked down and joined the fencing club.

Her first day of practice was difficult. In addition to first-day nerves, it was the first time she had ever participated in a bout. Emotions and memories of her late friend flooded back to her and she had to step off the strip to gain her composure.

Even now, her friend is all she thinks about while practicing.

“That’s basically the only thing that runs through my mind when I’m fencing,” Shafer said. “Most people are like, ‘How am I going to parry this attack or what am I going to do next?’ I don’t think about stuff like that, just him.”

The few people in the club who know her story admire Shafer’s dedication to keeping her word.

“It makes me respect her more as a person,” team coordinator Holly Bishop said. “It’s really nice to have that loyalty and to find that in a friend.”

Though Shafer’s journey with the sport may still be at its beginning, the people close to her can’t imagine her quitting anytime soon.

“It’s become a passion for her,” Patti Shafer, Kristen’s mom, said. “And she absolutely loves everybody on the fencing club. She just has so much respect for them.”

Just as love and respect for her friend brought Shafer to the club, love and respect for her team are what will keep her in it for the long run.

“[Coach] Adam and Holly, and everyone on the team, they’re great, great people,” Shafer said. “I have to think that the connections I’ve formed with other people and the relationships are the top reasons I keep fencing.”

Follow Anne Yilmaz on Twitter @anneyilmaz

[Originally published here by the Daily Emerald on March 16, 2014]