Parakh enjoys physical and mental challenge

Parakh, who played baseball and soccer and is still into squash, tennis and wrestling, picked up a foil for the first time when he and his sister Nanadana, 16, were enrolled at a fencing camp at Brock University.

They both fell in love with the sport almost immediately.

“When they left they grumbled ‘Why do we have to try this?’ When they came home, they couldn’t wait to go back,” their father recalled with a laugh.

Pranav Parakh likes how fencing keeps him so totally engaged.

“I really love how it gives me a physical and mental challenge,” he said. “It involves both parts of my body, not just one.”

“Mentally, there’s a lot of strategy involved.”

Tim Stang, head coach of both the Brock University fencing team and the Brock Fencing Academy, said a good way to describe the sport would be to call it “a chess game while sprinting full out at the same time.”

While one of the original Olympic sports is as old as the hills — Mount Olympus, to be exact — it’s as state-of-the-art and interactive as a video game since the swords are electrified as is the protective equipment, including the helmet.

Touching the edge of the sword on an opponent completes the circuit with the resulting point registering almost immediately on the scoreboard.

“The feedback is instant,” Stang said. “If I could put a coin slot on those machines, I would be a rich man.”

Parakh won’t necessarily move into epee now that he’s tried foil and sabre.

“They’re different swords, and each is a separate discipline,” Stang said. “You tend to pick up the sword that speaks to you.”

The fencing seasons runs September to June, but there will be no off-season this year for Parakh. He intends to help out at the summer camps taking place this month at Brock University.

The next session starts Monday and runs until Friday. Ages seven to 10 receive instruction from 9 a.m. until noon, with the 1-3 p.m. sessions reserved for 11- to 15-yearolds.

More information and a registration form is available online at https://onlineca.activecommunities. com/brockuniversity/Activities/ ActivitiesAdvSearch.asp.