When Ho Zhiwei first stepped foot into Greendale Secondary School four years ago, he had never heard of fencing as a sport. Yet, he found himself signing up for the fencing co-curricular activity (CCA) a few weeks later.
He had learnt about it during the Secondary 1 orientation, when all the different CCA groups went around sharing about their respective CCAs. Zhiwei was fascinated by the swords and gear that he saw at their presentations, and decided to lunge headfirst into a sport that was completely new to him.
No experience, no problem
For someone with no background in fencing, things were not easy for Zhiwei initially. “The training sessions were difficult to get used to, especially when we had to do warm-ups like the Spiderman crawl or the caterpillar. But I learned to stay determined and persevere through those challenges. By doing more and more of the warm-ups, it eventually became easier for me,” he says.
Having to compete against stronger opponents from all-time champions Raffles Institution and Singapore Sports School was also challenging. He shares that when he started competing in the National School Games (NSG), he could feel a difference in experience levels whenever he fenced against them.
Nevertheless, Zhiwei, who is now in Secondary 4, persevered and held his own in the fencing piste, or arena.
As a sabreur, Zhiwei specialises in using the sabre to fence. Other fencers may use the epée or foil as their choice of blade.
When he was in Secondary 2, Zhiwei’s sabre team won the bronze medal in the U14 Singapore Minime Competition. In Secondary 3, he came in 4th place individually in a friendly hosted by Pasir Ris Crest Secondary School. He shares that these achievements gave him the confidence he needed to do better, as he realised that he had more within him to push forward in competitions.
At the recent NSG 2024, Zhiwei’s school team came in 4th place overall in the B Division.
Teamwork makes the dream work
Zhiwei credits the friends he has made in the CCA for encouraging him, and also helping him to improve in the sport over time. He shares that he used to have problems with his footwork, and would often lose points because of his poor lunges.
“I decided to get help from Kaden, who was our school team Captain last year. He has more experience in fencing so he gave me tips to improve on my footwork and I became better at it. Now I also help my juniors with their footwork,” he shares proudly.
One of Zhiwei’s greatest treasures from the past four years is undoubtedly the friendships that he has made in the CCA. He shares that when times get rough, he gets support from his friends. His favourite memories from the CCA are also when they participate and win together as a team, and not when he fences alone in individual matches. He says, “When you’re fencing alone, you only have yourself to encourage you. When the team is fencing together, we will encourage each other to keep on going. Those are moments that I really cherish.”
Growing out of his shyness
As a boy who was initially very shy, fencing has also helped Zhiwei to come out of his shell.
“When I was in Secondary 1, I was a shy person who didn’t participate in many activities. But after joining fencing and becoming friends with more people, I started to get more confident. I participated more in class and CCA events, and now I’m even an Exco member,” he shares.
Mrs Patricia Lee, who is Zhiwei’s class mentor and one of his CCA teachers, shares that whenever people ask for help, he will be the one stepping up to get things done – something which he hardly used to do in lower secondary. “He’s the silent hero who will always stay back to help others and accompany them,” she adds.
“Fencing is not an elite sport”
Despite the perception that fencing is an elite and exclusive sport, Zhiwei has never felt disadvantaged in any way even though he does not take private fencing classes outside of school. He shares that the environment in the CCA has always been nurturing, as his coaches and CCA teachers would often just encourage him to try his best.
“Even though I didn’t know anything about fencing, I was still given an opportunity to join the CCA in school. During Secondary 1, we were all encouraged to fence with our seniors so that they could point out what was wrong with our techniques. By fencing and learning from our seniors, we started to get better and were slowly given more opportunities to fence in competitions,” Zhiwei says. “The team never leaves anyone behind.”
