What’s the most fun you’ve ever had in your whole entire life? For Joe Zapataoliva, it was screaming at the top of his lungs while chasing Johnny Depp (Jack Sparrow) with a sabre through the coconut groves on Kauai. What’s
What’s the most fun you’ve ever had in your whole entire life? For Joe Zapataoliva, it was screaming at the top of his lungs while chasing Johnny Depp (Jack Sparrow) with a sabre through the coconut groves on Kauai.
Most afternoons, Zapataoliva is a little more sedate, teaching a small band of ordinary citizens how to duel with foils and epees at his Silverswords Fencing Academy in Kona.
“I would rather do this than anything else,” said Zapataoliva, who is also an actor. “It’s fun. It’s exhilarating. Your whole senses are activated and you never take anything for granted.”
While in theory the goal is to kill the other person, fencing requires more flair and finesse than swashbuckling, which is what actors like Depp and Antonio Banderas do in the movies. Fencers also wear protective equipment including a mask, breast plate, padded jacket and gloves.
Zapataoliva has been teaching fencing to students in Kona since 1995. “I’d rather fence than do anything else,” he said.
Fencing is considered a martial art, similar to Japanese Kendo. It requires quick reflexes, agility, and stamina. Fencers have competed in every modern Olympic games since 1896, one of only four sports to do so. Famous fencers include Madonna, Jimmy Buffet, soccer superstar David Beckham, King David Kalakaua, and Kamehamehas IV and V, which is why fencing is often a part of Kamehameha Schools’ curriculum.
Foil, epee and saber are the three different swords used in fencing, where the goal is to touch your opponent with the weapon, and a light touch counts just as much as the hardest thrust. Most begin with foil, as the targeted area is restricted to the upper body. Foil skills are easily transferred to the epee and sabre, which demand a wider range of skills and allows a greater target area. The sport requires quick foot work during a series of parries and thrusts, advances, retreats, a quick defense and offense, and the ability to quickly anticipate the opponent’s moves.
Although fencing can pretty much be done anywhere, technically, and for matches, it is played on a hard strip. Because the action moves so fast, it can be difficult for judges to see the touches so fencers are often wired with electric buzzers which light up or buzz when a touch is scored. (The tip of the fencing weapon is the second fastest moving object in sports; the first is the marksman’s bullet.)
Fencing is a sport that does not set physical requirements on height, weight, age or gender. Some of Zapataoliva’s favorite students are those with physical or mental challenges. His oldest student to date was 72 years old. He has coached special needs kids including wheelchair kids. That’s because fencing emphasizes agility and finesse over strength and size, so it’s possible for a smaller fencer to ‘out point’ a larger opponent.
Zapataoliva is passionate that fencing teaches resilience and the ability to overcome obstacles in life. In a culture where team sports like football and soccer dominate the schools and the media, sports that focus on individual achievement are often sidelined. Unlike mainstream sports such as football, size and physical stature are not a requirement for fencing.
“How many kids have been left out because they can’t play basketball or other sports? The general consensus is that they can’t do things like that. I disagree,” Zapataoliva said. “We all have things in life that are obstacles, fencing teaches you to be resilient in real life.”
Fencing also compliments other sports, like soccer, where footwork is important.
It teaches you to focus. It teaches hand-eye coordination, agility, better posture and to be more centered. It builds self-esteem and more importantly self-discipline.
“You are the master of your own ship,” Zapataoliva said. “You need to do it on your own to get that point. You don’t have 11 other teammates. And because you did it on your own, you gain confidence that you can obtain anything in life.”
Zapataoliva walks his talk. He is an ex-marine and former PTA president. He believes in bringing the community together. He has been president of his Neighborhood Watch program, and a member of AmeriCorps. He has taught fencing at Kealakehe High School and currently teaches at Innovations Public Charter School. He has also taught at West Hawaii Explorations Academy Charter School.
“My goal is to get the high schools involved. People see the potential in this,” he said.
One potential is a way into college on a fencing scholarship, as did one of Zapataoliva’s former students, Rebecca Moss, Fencing Captain at Yale University in 2010.
Or it can get you into the movies. Zapataoliva was in the latest “Pirates of the Caribbean” film, which came out last year.
Zapataoliva teaches the Silverswords, a mix of teens and adults, at the Kona Gymnasium. A basic starter kit, including mask, glove, jacket and foil starts at about $126 for youth and $135 for adults, although Zapataoliva provides much of the equipment. Monthly dues for classes are about $75.
The Silverswords are headed to Oahu again this June where they will compete against the other teams from Hawaii and across the nation in the summer Aloha State Games. They are just one of hundreds of teams around the United States sanctioned by the United States Fencing Association (USFA).
Practice is Monday and Wednesday from 4 pm – 5:30 pm at the Kona Gymnasium. Contact Zapataoliva at 557-4152.
