Our Crowdfunding Groups
Our crowdfunding campaign has ended, but you can still support the UCLA Fencing Club by clicking here.
Dear all,
I hope that you are having a wonderful summer! Here's an update about the funds from our Spark campaign. This year, as promised, we've concentrated our member dues and Spark campaign funds towards buying new equipment: reels, floor cables, gloves, foils, épées, sabres, lamés, jackets, pants, socks, and a training ladder. Furthermore, you all contributed to bringing the UCLA Okawa Open back after six years and supporting our team in winning two team titles and one individual title at the final IFCSC event.
The UCLA Fencing Club and I cannot thank you enough for your endless support. The club has grown by almost 300% from last year, and we reserved an extra gym to accommodate all of us. With more funds allocated to the right places, more opportunities open up for us, allowing for growth and a stronger connection with the rest of the fencing community.
As the current President of UCLA Fencing, I want to talk a little bit about what brought me into fencing. I had always wanted to learn how to fence as a child but was financially unable to do so. Upon entering UCLA, the club offered one-on-one lessons with our wonderful coach Jim Beihold, loaner equipment, and a welcoming community for an affordable price. This club has provided me an opportunity to live out my childhood dream, and now I am incredibly proud to lead the club to do the same for others.
Your vital contributions will continue to make dreams come true and advance our mission of spreading the sport of fencing. Thank you once again for your support. Go Bruins!
With much love,
Vincent Cao
President of UCLA Fencing
Email: uclafencing@gmail.com
Instagram: uclafencing
Hi everyone,
From all of us at UCLA Fencing, we just want to thank you for your continued generosity and support this past month. As many of you know, our fundraiser ended on Friday, and we finished at $1,791. Although we didn't quite meet our goal, your donations have gone above and beyond to help our members. We recently just made a large equipment purchase giving us all the equipment we need for our fencers as they prepare for the final IFCSC tournament held at UC Irvine next Saturday. We appreciate all that you have done for our club, and we would not be here without you, so once again, thank you. Hope you all have a great rest of your year, and go Bruins!
With gratitude,
Hiran Jayasekara
UCLA Fencing
This is a vital piece of equipment which protects fencers from being injured by broken weapons during bouts. Next to the jacket and the mask, this is one of the most important pieces of safety equipment.
Floor cables are the cords that link our main electrical scoring machine to the reels that connect to the weapons that fencers use. After many years, our floor cables are in need of replacing.
Fencing would not be much of a sport without the blades. These blades often fall into disrepair after repeated use and need to be replaced. Currently, we do not have enough working blades to support our fencers and we are looking to purchase more.
Lames are the conductive vests worn by foil and sabre fencers in order to register a point that lands on the target. However, over time, these lames corrode and no longer conduct, meaning that points no longer register properly, and thus, they must be replaced. Many of our lames no longer conduct properly and we are hoping to replace them.
For sabre fencers, the lame is a long-sleeve jacket as their target covers the entire upper-half of their body. They are slightly more expensive than foil lames, but we currently do not have enough working saber lames for everyone in the club.
The scoring machine is the central device that registers when a fencer has made contact with their opponent. Currently we only have one working machine, meaning that only two fencers can practice with the machine at a time. Reels are used to connect the fencer and their weapon to the scoring machine so that the machine knows when a fencer has made contact. We are looking to replace some of our reels as they have fallen into disrepair. A donation of $350 will cover the cost of one scoring machine or one reel (a full fencing strip consists of one scoring machine and two reels).