Sporting a beekeeper-style mask, a Kevlar vest and a saber, Tatiana Nazlymov takes to the strip at her family’s fencing club in Bethesda, Maryland. She’ll be one of three fencers from the D.C. area to compete in the Paris Olympics later this month as they hope to cement the nation’s capital status as a fencing hotbed.
The District does not have the sword-fighting pedigree of cities in the northeast, where most successful fencers go to train for top competitions. But the District is slowly making a name for itself in small but intense fencing communities around the world.
Fencing features three weapon divisions — saber, foil and epee — where athletes try to land hits on their opponents while they flow back and forth on a five-foot-wide strip.
“It’s like physical chess; it’s very strategic,” Nazlymov, 19, said. “Like, you get into your opponent’s head because everyone knows the same set of actions. It just matters what order you do them and how to trick your opponent.”
Nazlymov is part of the next generation of American fencers, alongside northern Virginia native Hadley Husisian.
“There’s definitely been an upsurge in D.C. in recent years,” said Husisian, who will represent the U.S. in the epee division. “And now we’re all propelling each other forward, and we’re much stronger for it.”
Nazlymov, who competes with a saber, will join Husisian as a first-time Olympian in Paris. Kat Holmes, a three-time Olympian who was born and raised in the District, will join them as an epee alternate.
“Being able to rely on them at times where I’m a little overstimulated or nervous, that will be huge to have,” Husisian, 20, said.
‘Small but mighty group’
Though the D.C. region boasts several high-level fencers and coaches, the athletes say the fencing community is small.
In areas like New York and New Jersey, fencing is more established in the culture and is even offered as a sport in high schools. Vitali Nazlymov, Tatiana’s father, noted that there were more than 200 fencers at New Jersey’s high school championships. The D.C. area doesn’t come close to matching those numbers.
“It’s just an underground sport,” Tatiana Nazlymov said.
In the D.C. area, where fencing is absent from most schools, young fencers are relegated to clubs. They say that’s been a benefit.
“There’s not quite as much of a sense of community because there’s so many people. But in Virginia, it’s very much a small but mighty group,” Husisian said. “Virginia clubs, I’d say, are some of the hardest working that I’ve seen in the country.”
D.C., Maryland and Virginia host an array of elite fencing academies. Holmes grew up around the Chevy Chase Fencing Academy before pivoting to the DC Fencers Club. Husisan has worked with the DC Fencers Club and the Elite Fencing Academy in Springfield, Virginia.
“One of the special things about the clubs in the D.C. area is that they tend to be smaller,” Holmes said. “They’re really filled with people who love fencing for the sake of it.”
Holmes, Husisian and Nazlymov all fenced at Princeton and have trained in the New York area. While the pedigree might be deeper in the northeast, they say it doesn’t match the energy of their hometown.
“Everybody in the D.C. area really cares about the sport. In New York, it feels much more like you go there, train, get out. It’s like a factory setting,” Holmes said. “When you’re having a really hard time and you’re really struggling, that foundational support is essential.”
International ties
Just like the city itself, the D.C. area’s fencing clubs possess an international flair.
“We are all sort of very unique because of the way that D.C. is a melting pot,” Husisian said.
Husisian’s coach is Cuban. Nazlymov’s grandfather, Vladimir Nazlymov, was a Soviet fencing legend who secured three Olympic gold medals from 1968 to 1980 before immigrating to the U.S. to coach at Ohio State.
Other coaches in the area boast Polish, Ukrainian and Egyptian ties.
“When you’re coming from Europe, you’re more likely to gravitate toward a big city that you might be familiar with, where there’s a population of people who speak your language. D.C. has all of that,” Holmes said. “It’s a good place to land. D.C. is a place that entices people. It’s a city that is set up very very well for the fencing culture.”
There’s nothing in the D.C. water that produces great fencers — just an abundance of great coaches who chose the nation’s capital when they moved to the United States.
Vitali Nazlymov is one of those coaches. After winning a national championship at Penn State, he was ready to move as he pursued a career in finance. He had two options: Los Angeles or the District.
“I chose D.C. because it is more international,” Nazlymov said. The former NCAA champion would start his own club 20 years later.
At the Nazlymov Fencing Foundation, the students could put together a young United Nations. Their families came from Poland, China, Japan, Korea, Italy and Germany before settling in the U.S.
The elder Nazlymov theorized that these international families, hailing from areas where the sport is more popular, are more likely to start fencing.
“The better programs here, just think about it,” he said as he listed some of the region’s most prestigious coaches. “Quite a few of these guys have international ties.”
The variety of coaches means there is no single predominant style or school of thought for fencers in the D.C. area. Instead, they regularly challenge themselves by competing against different strategies at regional events.
“Having that diversity of fencing experience does definitely provide for a huge amount of talent. There’s not an exact style that we’re all following. Because we all have these different coaches and all this different input from different walks of life, we all emerge with a different approach to the sport and a different style on the strip.”
‘Sword fighting is just cool’
Though fencing is still a niche activity, more and more kids are drawn to it every year. There’s a simple reason.
“Sword fighting is just cool,” Holmes said. “People are like, ‘Oh, I want to sword fight’ or ‘I want to use a lightsaber.’ It’s something that’s very appealing to kids.”
Every other member of the fencing community shared similar sentiments — the inherent “cool factor” of fencing transcends generations, though the media that introduces young people to the sport changes.
Ray Finkleman, who coached Holmes at the Chevy Chase Fencing Club, said he was drawn to the sport after reading “Cyrano de Bergerac” in high school. Husisian cited an episode of “iCarly” as her introduction. Holmes says she was obsessed with medieval times and wanted to be a knight.
The young people are drawn in by depictions of fencing in the media. “The Pirates of the Caribbean” franchise, “The Parent Trap,” “The Three Musketeers,” and “Star Wars” often serve as a child’s introduction to the sport.
The idea of sword fighting draws them in, but the passionate community keeps them around.
“When you get down to it, that sword-fighting notion is the joy of fencing,” Tatiana Nazlymov said. “It’s a really fun sport. Sword fighting, who doesn’t love that?”
Training is hard, winning is fun
The training is hard, fencers say. They spend hours in sweaty gymnasiums practicing the same moves. They analyze, they attack, they parry, they repeat.
Even with training, success can often elude even dedicated fencers. Husisian and Holmes both shared fond memories of their first fencing competitions. They lost. A lot.
“We’d have these little class competitions. I finished last, like I was not good at it,” Holmes said. “But I just loved the sport.”
She compared it to the physics phenomenon of “resonance frequency.”
“Like when you strike a tuning fork and you have a wine glass that vibrates and shadows, it’s vibrating at a resonance frequency. That’s how I feel when I’m fencing, like I’m vibrating at my resonant frequency. I’m doing what I’m meant to do.”
The training doesn’t get any easier — the fencers are still wearing Kevlar vests and bulky helmets while getting poked and prodded with swords. Most fencers sport scars and scratches on their wrists — the only area not covered by protective equipment.
But then, after countless hours of training, something happens. They start winning.
“I just kept doing it and doing it and doing it, and I got better, and now here I am,” Holmes said.
Vitali Nazlymov pointed out that some fencers don’t stick around — the sport just doesn’t connect with them. But those who endure are rewarded with accolades and a community of similarly devoted athletes.
“Winning is fun,” Vitali Nazlymov said with a smile. “Going to the Olympics is going to be a world of fun.”
Holmes, Nazlymov and Husisian will be representing the D.C. region — and its tight-knit fencing community — when they head to Paris this month.
“We sort of started in the same place in the DMV area, and we’re going to end in the same place as well,” Husisian said. “That’s really cool.”
Correction: This story has been updated with the corrected spelling of the Nazlymov surname.
• Liam Griffin can be reached at lgriffin@washingtontimes.com.
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