“As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another,” Proverbs 27:17.

On the Texas A&M fencing team, this proverb rings true as steel on steel links the team together. Since 1905, Aggie fencers have dedicated relentless skill and discipline to compete in the Southwest Intercollegiate Fencing Association, or SWIFA. A shared competitive fire fuels the team against opponents from Texas, Texas State, Oklahoma and more.

In these tournaments, the fencers split into their specialties out of the three types of swords: foil, épée and saber. From there, they duel their counterpart specialists in a “round robin” pool, meaning each team faces one another to equally vie for first, second and third level seeding. After that, it’s en garde — a fierce competition to advance through the narrowing elimination bracket. Win or lose, the Aggies bring their trademark spirit to every bout.

Coach Jorge Natera recounted adrenaline-packed tournaments as the most bonding team experiences. In fencing, he explained points are awarded in “encounters” when the player’s blade touches their opponent within a specific target area. Natera recounted the legendary spring 2024 t.u. tournament.

“Usually there’s five encounters, right, and since each team has three people, they fence each other to the best of nine,” Natera said. “The score was 4-4 for each school, and the last point in the final bout got everyone super excited when we won it. … We have a lot of pictures of everyone just rushing onto the strip.”

Surya Shetty, applied mathematics and computer science sophomore, reflected on similar euphoric victories.

“Whenever you score the last touch, and then we win, everyone just starts yelling and crowding up after the bout,” Shetty said. “For me, that’s one of the main reasons why I stayed in, because the thing that drives me and a lot of the other guys is competition. This year we’re on a really strong winning streak, and this should be the first year that we actually do end up winning the SWIFA National Championship overall.”

Although the outside competition fiercely motivates the team, the real struggle begins in practice. Each of the three weapon groups sorts their members into respectively ranked A, B and C teams.

“We have two people that alternate between A team because they’re always, like, one day beating the other, then the next day the other one wins,” Shetty said. “I feel like it gets kind of heated at that level because we’re fencing really seriously

“The thing is, we don’t really take it personally, because at the end, it’s a merit-based system; like, if you’re good and you perform well, you earn your spot … and we’re all representing the same team, we’re all representing A&M: Team A, B or C,” Shetty said.

Nutrition junior Ethan Ong said open competition betters the team.

“All of us kind of know each other’s strengths and weaknesses, which is really helpful having an outside perspective,” Ong said. “I think a lot of the beginners have the mindset going in to win, but in reality, it’s not just about the wins; you probably learn more from losing than you do winning.”

Ong explained that through the common ground of fencing, it becomes easy to start a conversation with anyone on the team. Through the friendly one-on-one bouts, mutual suggestions for improvement are welcome.

“Our head coach, Jorge, while he’s fencing us, he’s noticing things we do, and then he tells us how to change it up,” Ong said. “He encourages us to strategize more and not be the same type of fencer that we were last week.”

Natera emphasized emotional wellness as a team necessity to balance with the competition.

“As the semester goes, everyone starts becoming better friends,” Natera said. “I encourage them to come to fencing at least once a week to kind of just disconnect for a little bit from school. All the officers also try to be open to, you know, talking with other members if there’s something difficult going on in their life. We’re here in case they need someone to talk to … and it’s a sport where you get to run at someone with a sword; sometimes it helps take out frustrations.”

Without a doubt, the fencers give their all battling for ranks and conquering in tournaments. But while working hard, they also play hard.

After being on the team since his freshman year, Ong could list memories from tournaments in San Marcos, San Antonio, Austin and Dallas.

The bonding over food for Ong and his teammates didn’t end there. During a break in the tournament when the judges were seeding the fencers into brackets, the foil blade team decided to stroll uphill to a sandwich shop together.

“Somebody called us saying, ‘Yo … y’all are starting right now,’” Ong said. “We grabbed our sandwiches and sprinted back. They stalled the tournament for us. … While one person went on, the other two guys were scarfing down the sandwiches.”

Shetty added stories of bonding over meals as well.

“Every Thursday we have a team dinner, which has a big turnout every time,” Shetty said. “After practice, we tally up votes on what place we want to go together, and it’s always a really fun atmosphere. They’re genuinely some of the nicest people I’ve ever met.”

“We do quite a bit of different socials,” Natera confirmed. “We did an ice skating social and then went and had lunch afterwards, and we always do a Thanksgiving potluck right before break where everybody brings one food item. We socialize, play board games; we also watched the LSU game.”

Although divided into weapons and brackets, the Aggie fencers repeatedly accredited their unified growth to team encouragement, correction and bonding.

“A lot of these guys are friends outside of the club, too,” Shetty said. “I’ve seen a lot of really, really close relationships form from fencing.”

For decades, Texas A&M fencers have sharpened one another in wit and skill, striking a perfect balance between competition and camaraderie. Through every practice, team dinner, win and loss, the fencing team is dedicated to improving together on and off the strip.