Steeped in ancient history, a highlight of the modern Olympics and always a joy to watch – fencing is considered by enthusiasts to be a great team activity.

If you agree, the Gladiators Fencing Club would love to hear from you.

Got an urge to get in touch with your inner Errol Flynn?

Or is Johnny Depp more your idea of a swashbuckling swordsman?

Hundreds of school-age Calgarians over the past three years have discovered through the Gladiators Club that they don’t have to be snarling pirates or sail the Caribbean Sea to enjoy the thrusts and parries of clinking steel. But now the 250-member club is on a drive to expand its adult membership, offering a variety of courses in the art of fencing, for individuals and even for the gang at the office.

Here’s a chance to give the boss a friendly poke in the ribs.

After operating in numerous locations, including schools and community halls, Gladiators has secured permanent headquarters central to Calgary’s four quadrants. It’s at 100, 1716 – 16th Ave. N.W., across from the North Hill Mall.

“Now that we’ve got our own place, we’re really excited about our new adult classes,” says Jeremy Hill, eight-time Canadian National Fencing Team member. “There hasn’t been much access to the sport for adults. Many people are really interested in trying it, but there has been nowhere to do it.”

Hill explains that fencing consists of three components: foil, epée and sabre. Those terms describe both the event and the type of sword used.

“When I’m introducing it to people, I like to use the comparison to track and field, where you’ve got separate events – long jump, high jump and pole vaulting.”

All three fencing styles are safe because participants wear masks, gloves and body protection. There’s no chance of spying anybody down at Gladiators Fencing Club with a black eyepatch or an iron hook sticking out of a sleeve. And definitely nobody with a parrot on his shoulder.

Hill chuckles at such images. He and his business partner Elya Perritt, six-time National Fencing Champion, enjoy the pirate jokes as much as anybody. But in reality, interest in fencing isn’t tied to what Hollywood or Spielberg’s FX wizards happen to be showing off at the local cinema.

Hill more commonly notices a surge of sign-ups when national television highlights Olympic fencing or a local TV station aims a video camera at a young Calgarian lunging with an epée.

Adults who’ve signed up so far say they enjoy the sport’s combination of physical and mental demands. Fencing has been called “chess with muscles.” Your brain certainly gets a workout.

“It’s a very technical game,” Hill explains. “One of the really fun things about it, as opposed to, say, joining a running club, is that you’re continuously learning.

“Fencing is physically oriented, but it’s also a very cognitive sport. You constantly have to adjust your style to different opponents.”

Some enthusiasts are attracted to its combative nature. Even so, while fencing descends from methods of hurting an enemy, the modern sport, if played properly, won’t leave you with lumps or scrapes.

“You have quite a bit of protection on,” Hill says. “If you’re an average person thinking of trying boxing or wrestling, for example, it’s going to be quite some time before you can get into the competitive situation. And you don’t want to come to work the next day all beat up with a black eye.”

In fencing, after very little instruction and the ritual salute to the opponent, you’re right into it, probably at the first lesson.

The sport has gone high-tech in recent years with the introduction of an electronic scoreboard that detects when an epeé, foil or sabre touches the opponent, triggering a score light automatically.

For novices anxious to get their bulb ignited, Gladiators runs 10-week beginner courses – only $200 ($99 for a child), including use of all equipment – both in the daytime and evenings. Members can drop in any day to hone their skills.

Hill says once someone signs up, they usually get into it in a strong way – training for competition in short order.

“Why not give it a try?” he suggests.

“If you’re an adult, you can fence against a national team member or a guy who went to the Pan Am Games just this past summer. We like to mix the skill levels. People like that and I think it motivates them.”

For more information, call 685-3733, fax 220-0081 or send an e-mail gladiators@telus.net.