Ava Alabiso will forever be grateful for the opportunity to compete in fencing for four years at Flowery Branch High. An activity which emphasizes mental strategy, bravery and where good coordination comes in handy, she plans to keep going in the sport for years to come.

“It’s really a great sport for girls,” said the team captain Alabiso, who is in the minority among gender lines fencing at Flowery Branch. “You have to be able to multi-task ... it’s very empowering for girls.”

Organized at Flowery Branch back in 2007 by a student, Harrison Saylor, it has grown for its sparse roots. Now the club, open to any high school student of a Hall County school, bolsters a roster of 26 this season. All the members of the team this school year attend Flowery Branch, according to team faculty sponsor Phyllis Pizzino.

Flowery Branch is coached by Oswaldo Ortega, who is the former Venezuela national fencing coach. The school’s club competes in all three types of fencing: foil, epee, and saber.

Even though fencing attracts a “non-traditional athlete”, according to Pizzino, Flowery Branch has had no trouble keeping the program alive in the On Guard High School Fencing League.

Based on school student population, Flowery Branch is the smallest in the six-team league. Four of the other five schools in Gwinnett County all compete athletically in Class AAAAAA — Mill Creek, North Gwinnett, Peachtree Ridge and Brookwood. The only other program in the league, Lanier, is a Class AAAAA school, based on its student numbers, and competes in the same region for athletics as Flowery Branch.

Pizzino said that fencing caters primarily to the academically focused students, who she fondly calls her “little group of nerds.”

Even though her unit to take to meets isn’t made up of the biggest kids on campus at Flowery Branch, Pizzino said they all share in their competitive nature. They also have to be brave enough stay calm with another competitor wielding a sword in their direction, trying to earn points for body strikes in the electronically-scored events.

To protect athletes with the physical nature of the sport, fencers are protected with thick garb, along with protective head gear and an impenetrable face mask.

“We have a recruitment meeting at the school every year to tell the kids what fencing is all about,” said Pizzino. “Once they start (fencing), most stick with it.”

According to Pizzino, the fencing program at Flowery Branch has to be financially self-sufficient. To do so, they run traditional fundraising events to cover the cost of dues, paying the outside coach, and insurance coverage for each participant.

She also credits the time put in by Alabiso’s mother, Maria, to help keep the wheels of the programs turning smoothly.

The three types of fencing come with a different sword and also different target areas for participants to score points. In the foil, they have a lighter sword with a rectangle-shaped blade. Points are scored from hitting the target zone from the groin to the shoulders in the front, and down to the waist in the rear.

In epee, the target area is the entire body, using a heavier dueling sword than the foil. To register points, it takes a harder hit to register points with the spring-loaded tip.

As for the saber, points can be scored with the tip or edge of the blade. This is a modern version of the slashing cavalry sword. The valid scoring zone is the upper body, except for the hands.

Conditioning for fencing puts an emphasis on leg strength. Pizzino said warmpus at practice includes 20-30 minutes of lunges and reaches to get stretched out properly.

Alabiso tried the team sport thing before finding fencing. Flowery Branch’s fencing captain tried basketball, but didn’t care much for running sprints.

There was also dancing.

However, Alabiso knew she was in the right place with fencing. It’s since served as a springboard for taking up karate and mixed martial arts.

“Hopefully, I’ll reach black belt this summer,” said Alabiso.