By Canaan Freeman|sports writer

Most of what is focused on in the sports world is football, basketball, baseball and other common sports, but one student at Johnson has taken on the hobby of a very unusual sport, fencing. Chris Sahin began fencing at the age of eleven and has recently taken his game to the next level.

“I began competitive fencing when I was around thirteen or fourteen and ever since then I have excelled and become a better athlete and fencer,” Sahin said.

Fencing takes time and effort as any other sport would but it can take up all free time and give you less time for academics. Sahin has always had a passion for this sport but he is always trying to get to the higher competitiveness. One day Sahin wants to take his game to the Olympics and give the sport a higher recognition.

“We basically have tournaments every weekend and I have to really push myself to get my school work done,” Sahin said.

Like any other sport, fencing does have its setbacks and injuries, Sahin was a victim of one gruesome injury. Sahin has already accomplished one of his big goals, which is going to Junior Olympics and is waiting on his national ranking.

“I was ranked before junior olympics but then I had a big injury, breaking my back and that cause my national rank to drop significantly. I was out of the sport for over half a year and now getting back into it is definitely a struggle and also an obstacle to overcome,” Sahin said.

Fencing is a very complex sport and only gets worldwide recognition every four years in the olympics. As for Sahin his process of training is all the time and he still has technique to learn to prevail as one of the best in his sport.

“Fencing takes a lot of effort and technique and time is one of the most important things when it comes to fencing. Practice really does make perfect in this sport and when you do the match right you will find yourself succeeding.”

Tournaments are where you earn your rank and prove to be the top prospect in fencing. They last all weekend and are extremely tiring.

“Before the tournament you have pools of seven players and you fence everyone in your group to five touches and depending on how good you do you get seeded. Your seeding then depicts your spot in the bracket, once you’re in bracket play if you lose you’re out,” Sahin said

Fencing gets overlooked by all the other sports because of publicity with those sports. Fencing has been around for a while but most people don’t even know what the sport is or how it works.
This sport is still a sport like any other that takes time and effort and tournaments can last all weekend.

“At times it gets frustrating to know the sport you play isn’t as popular as other sports but I learn to forget about it and move on playing. Its still my number one thing to do regardless of what people think about fencing,” Sahin said.

Fencing also has earned some respect by creating a new type of fighting but in a safer way. It takes a lot of stamina and definitely concentration on the match.

“I have always loved the game but lately i’ve become way more into it especially since i myself have gotten recognition in the rankings,” Sahin said