Behind the Mask: Freshmen Alex Hastings and Dryhten Scrogum both began fencing lessons three years ago because of its similarities to sword fighting and fencing has since become a large part of their lives

Alex Hastings:

In “The Princess Bride,” Inigo Montoya clashes swords with Westley as they battle on a cliff, deflecting each others’ blades. He front flips over Westley and lands to face him, sword outstretched. 

Freshman Alex Hastings duels his own Westley at Heartland Fencing Academy. Bouncing back and forth on his heels, like Montoya, he lunges forward with his foil to score a point, leaving out only the front flip. 

After watching “The Princess Bride” for the first time at 10 years old, Hastings was fascinated by the complex sword fighting moves. Now, after three years of fencing lessons, Hastings tries to mimic moves from that movie to the best of his ability, avoiding the unrealistic flips and embellishes.

Hastings started fencing after attending a Johnson County Parks and Recreation summer camp in sixth grade three years ago, and this year, he placed 251th out of 301 in his division for kids under 14 years old at nationals. Hastings hopes to place in the top 100 out of nearly 300 participants at nationals next July— a ranking that would help him get a scholarship to college, where he hopes to pursue fencing.

“If I can fence in college, that would be awesome,” Hastings said. “There’s obviously places like Notre Dame and Harvard [but] I don’t think I’d get a scholarship to fence there, because [those] are [for] the top people in the country.”

Hastings’s coach, Emilia Ivaova, was a seven-time national champion of Bulgaria and a national coach in Bulgaria before she moved ot the U.S. to teach fencing. According to Ivaova, Hastings has improved quickly in a short amount of time.

“[Hastings] is relatively new in the sport of fencing,” Ivaova said. “He managed to go to the national championship this year, which is a big thing. If he likes it he can be very good.”

From being introduced to fencing at a summer camp to competing at the national level and practicing six hours a week, he’s learned to enjoy the sport and find areas where he can improve.

“You can be competitive and you don’t have to rely on anyone else,” Hastings said. “It’s on you. [You have] to use tactics and figure out what your opponent’s gonna do in response to what you do and I really love that aspect of it.”

Dryhten Scrogum:

From the moment freshman Dryhten Scrogum’s fine motor skills were sufficient enough to grasp a sword, his dad would pull him out to their backyard and teach him the basics of fencing. Armed with a foam sword, Scrogum would learn how to parry and riposte — the fencing terms for blocking and attacking.

“My father, especially in my younger years, was very much a role model for me,” Scrogum said. “I wanted to be just like him, and I saw fencing as a way to be more similar [to him]. Nowadays, I’ve drifted away from that mentality, though I still find my father to be quite reputable.”

Scrogum officially started taking fencing lessons three years ago thanks to his dad, Devin Scrogum, who practiced fencing as a hobby in college. His dad constantly encouraged him to take up the sport more competitively. After COVID hit, Scrogum decided to try taking fencing lessons for the first time after being isolated for so long.

“I was very energetic, so I didn’t really have an outlet for spending a lot of that energy,” Scrogum said.

While Scrogum’s dad did foil fencing when he was younger, Scrogum chose to do saber fencing instead, which is considered one of the harder types of fencing to learn.

“If I’m being honest, I just thought the sword looked cooler,” Scrogum said.

Currently, Scrogum practices saber fencing at Five Rings Club with his dad and competes against him in fencing matches. In one memorable match, Scrogum defeated his dad 5-3, using the skills taught to him early on: parry and riposte.

“I suspect now that he was going slightly easy on me, but I remember it as being very memorable [and] I was very impressed with myself,” Scrogum said. “But I still realize that I have far, far [ways] to go.”