When you’re at the airport, do not tell anyone you’re carrying weapons – be sure to specify ‘fencing equipment.’

That is just one of the things the members of the Fencing Illini have to remember while traveling to fencing tournaments throughout the Midwest, said Calvin Rusiewski, freshman in LAS and captain of the club’s men’s foil team.

The Fencing Illini has just started competing again this year.

“The Fencing Illini has been around for a while, but we didn’t join up in official conferencing until this season,” said Stefanie Engstrom, freshman in LAS.

Before this year, the Fencing Illini “was really just a name,” said Michelle DeSitter, president of the Fencing Illini and junior in FAA. “We got together and we practiced, but there were not that many collegiate tournaments and we didn’t have a lot of members.”

DeSitter said that the Fencing Illini still has to compete in three tournaments including conference championships in order to get active status. This year the Fencing Illini was able to get into the Midwest Fencing Conference through coach connections. The group now has more members than ever.

“We’re still on the small side, but I believe there’s about 20 of us now,” DeSitter said. “We’ve almost doubled in size.”

The team competed at Ohio State University last weekend. The Fencing Illini use three weapons: the foil, ‚p‚e and the saber, in order of difficulty, with the saber being the most difficult.

Since the group is still small, there are enough foilists on the team to complete a full squad of three, but not enough ‚p‚eists or saberists to complete full squads. As a result, when competing, the Fencing Illini are at a disadvantage.

DeSitter said the women’s foil team “did very well,” beating women’s foil teams for Xavier, Cleveland State, Oberlin and Bowling Green. The men’s team beat Xavier, Oberlin and Bowling Green.

Although the Fencing Illini could not manage a victory in the other two weapons, the experience was invaluable.

“It’s a blast getting the opportunity to get to travel out of state and get to compete against schools like Northwestern and Ohio State,” DeSitter said. “And it’s amazing that we get the opportunity to fence them and gain that experience because they are great fencers.”

The team practices at The Point Fencing Club, 500 N. Walnut St. The Point allows the team to borrow weapons and gives them space to practice.

Essentially, every person who takes classes at The Point and are college-aged are part of the Fencing Illini.

Extensive experience in fencing is not required to join the club.

The team has both new and experienced members. Engstrom first started fencing after she took a beginner’s class at The Point.

“As soon as the first class was over, I decided to continue fencing,” Engstrom said.

Practices are held at least three days a week at The Point. DeSitter says being part of the club is a big time commitment.

“It’s taken up a lot of my time,” DeSitter said. “There are always things that come up with these tournaments that change everything that you’ve planned for. But you know, I don’t mind it because this is what I’ve wanted the club to be able to do.”