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Fencing; not for dummies

May 9, 2013   ·   0 Comments

Sherwood Marks, eldest grandson of life-long Schomberg residents, Jim and Joan Marks, has just earned himself an all-expenses paid trip to Lethbridge, Alberta to compete in a Canada-wide Science Fair from May 11th to the 18th.

Marks, a Guelph resident and Grade 7 student at Rockway Mennonite Collegiate  in Kitchener, has combined his love of fencing with much innovation and ingenuity to create a mechanical sparring partner and to now place him in the National spotlight!

Marks first competed in the Science Fair at his school. He was one of six students from his school to move on to the regional competition where he won a gold medal. There were 300 students (220 projects) from Grade 7 to Grade 12 from the Waterloo Region, Wellington County and the Upper Grand District School Board competing at the Waterloo-Wellington Science and Engineering Fair in Kitchener on April 9th. Winning a Gold Medal at this event and the first ever for his school at this level, has now earned Marks and nine other students this exciting opportunity to compete in the Nationals.

Marks’ project is called “En Garde: Fencing Dummy Fights Back.”

His project began in Lego then he moved on to a wooden prototype. The metal sparring partner was soldered by his father Brad. It is powered by a compressed air cylinder to which is connected flexible tubing. It can thrust its’ sword with Marks using a hand-held push-button device to control the dummy’s movements. The dummy’s height of torso, sword blade and angle of attack can all be adjusted and it can be switched between left and right handed use.

At his school’s science fair Marks answered questions in front of his display booth, fenced with the dummy and showed a video simultaneously.  But at the Regionals and now the Nationals, the dummy isn’t allowed to go because of the compressed air and the sword, so Marks has  changed the video to show the operation of his sparring partner in more detail. He will still have his display board and give his presentation and answer question each day.

Sherwood, a four year veteran of fencing, has surprised himself how useful this has been for his fencing drills. After much research on the internet, Marks could find no other references to fencing dummies that are anything but stationary targets-so this is definitely innovative and ingenuous!

Well done Sherwood. We wish you ‘all the best’

On another note, Sherwood has not only mechanical but also artistic talents as a piece of his artwork was chosen recently to be entered in an exhibit at the “Kitchener-Waterloo Art Gallery” for a month. Sherwood’s work was the only work of an intermediate student to be chosen and was the youngest of all the artists chosen. It should be known that Sherwood definitely gets his talents honestly, as his Aunt, Barb Huson, of Beeton, is an amazing artist.

By Mark Pavilons

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