sAjds dojv 'l©as] eiDiBaji 00 sm uq I*?' •? in the class if you go to the club prac tice," she says. "Then they go and decide they really enjoy the compe tition." Fencing is divided into foil, epee and saber divisions. Foil and epee are classified as finesse sports be cause they rely less on force but more on dexterity. Sabers, which rely less on the deft twist of the wrist, are almost a full-contact sport. "It's one of the manlier of the weapons," she says. "You can use the side of the blade, and a couple of whacks across the side of the head can really rattle you around for a while." Volkovich says the first thing the club teaches is safety, which re duces the danger from saber-swing ing swashbucklers. "People join and want to be Zor- ro," she says. "You put a saber in their hand and you've satisfied their urge." Volkovich says A&M's major com petition in the fencing field comes from Southwest Texas State Univer sity, who floods the field with a quantity of fencers at every tourna ment. Even so, she says, A&M fencers capture a few places at each meet. Since fencing tournaments are generally divided by sort of sword, not age groups, she says the competition is very varied. "You have a wide range of peo ple," she says. "You could fence a six-year-old and a 40-year-old in the same day." Volkovich says the fencing club furnishes all masks, protective gear and weapons to club members. It can be an expensive sport, she says, so students should take advantage sjpDui sjQj/woq xts sAxys jaspouisogg A[cjdcjojc! uojuruipog NOiNiwavg moo) ojoui jnoj liuo um of the equipment provided here to learn the sport. FIELD HOCKEY — Muhammad Shaw, president of the field hockey club, has seen the organization go through several changes since he joined the club in 1983. When he joined, Shaw says he was the only male on A&M's traditionally female team. He says he was able to recruit enough members to make up com plete men's and women's teams. Be cause some members graduated, the club is back to one co-ed team, with ten men and four women par ticipating. Shaw says the team competes against local high school teams, as well as club teams from Houston and Dallas. It also travels regularly to Tulane University to participate in tournaments for trophies and rib bons. Shaw says field hockey is not a traditional American sport, so most of the men on the team are for eign students, and many are from Pakistan. "lust like football is to Americans, field hockey is to Pakistanis," he says. GYMNASTICS — The Gymnastics Club was organized in 1928, making it one of A&M's oldest club teams. To day it has 20-25 active members and a team of 10 women and 15 men. Monique Cox, spokeswoman for the group, says they would like to pro mote the growth of gymnastics with beginners as well as experts. Gym nastics is a sport anyone can do, she says, and experience definitely isn't required. "There are guys on the team who ine state men's htii men capered ^ to defend it ? last ^ Texas Tech on a 9 ains t main rival sla teraeetwiUbe*eWherr hen ‘ he HANDBALL t'l T Club holds th 0 eXas ™®9e in Chirrs r 11 La ^ e F° rest in 9 the Illinois Sw! I 1 ? title ' end ‘ Yearrei9n ‘12oftheclub s '; l ( v ) b P re sWent. says Petted in the ^tnbers partici- fortuitously LTT 1 tournament, He credits the rrr ln .^^tin last year, team to the o{ the club and Lance Loy? wh^T ° f itS coach at the Un^ersTtv i ^ handba11 fated story p^ 0 ' Te «*- See re- ICE seSr Y ”lm! d S ubt we ' U P la V lhis president. ^ ramer/ni i rea son is be cause of a lack of money. hdw key i S an ex Pensive sport -it always has been.” StronSch .jrjra=»<5r.x Stonach says the club last year was about 15 members strong, which is a good amount. "Because it costs over $100 per player to play, it just wasn't feasible at this point in time," Stronach says. It's also rough on the team members because their home rink is in Hous ton. Often, they practice from 11 p.m. to midnight and then drive back to College Station. Some members of the club will play this semester, but not formally representing A&M. JUDO — ludo is the Japanese style of wrestling, and Biobby Perez, the club president, will tell you it's differ ent from other martial arts. But it's not hard to learn, he says. "The matches last five minutes, but it seems like forever," Perez says. To build up endurance, many of the 20 club members run and lift weights. Let's hope all their hard work pays off when the judo club competes in the Dallas Team Cham pionships, Nov. 30. LACROSSE — "Basically, lacrosse is a sport of sticks catching a solid rub ber ball the size of a tennis ball, played on a field the size of a foot ball field with two six-foot goals," Jon Turton, club president explains. It's a full contact sport that involves speed, endurance, quickness, and hand-eye coordination, Turton says. The lacrosse team is responsible for yet another Aggie tradition. The Fifth Annual Texas A&M Fall La crosse Classic. On Nov. 9 and 10, SEE A&M PAGE 10 HAPPY HOUR Thurs. - Sat. 11 a.m. -12 p.m. PHONE: 846-8223 ORDERS TO GO 109 B