By Lim Wei Hao
Fencing in Singapore has become increasingly popular, particularly with bright Singaporean fencers, such as Lau Ywen and Amita Berthier consistently making headlines at international competitions in recent years. The young upstarts have been tasked by Fencing Singapore to secure Olympic qualification for the 2020 and 2024 Games, who revealed these ambitious targets in an interview with The Straits Times in 2017.
The process of youth development and community outreach may well be bearing fruit in Singapore. It was only in 2011 that fencing was officially recognised as part of the Singapore National School Games umbrella, formerly known as the Inter-School Fencing Championships. In that same year, the Singapore Sports School also set up the Fencing Academy, to support aspiring student-athletes to pursue sports at a higher level.
More schools have begun embracing fencing as a Co-curricular Activity (CCA) and figures from the 2018 edition of the Singapore National School Games show that an impressive 582 fencers across the three divisions, squared off against their counterparts for top honours.
Fencing Veterans
Enter Samson Lee and Cheryl Lim. Samson and Cheryl are two well-known individuals in the local fencing community and have played their role in the development of the sport in Singapore. The épéeists have both won numerous accolades for Singapore in their glittering careers.
Samson, 34, and Cheryl, 27, have been part of Singapore’s national fencing team set-up since 2006. Samson started fencing when he was 17 and a student at the Institute of Technical Education (ITE). With the sport offered as part of ITE’s CCA sports tryout day, and with Samson admittedly “very interested in blade stuff” since he was young, it was the easiest choice that he has had to make in his life.
Cheryl on the other hand started fencing as part of her CCA in Pasir Ris Crest Secondary School. This, however, was a chance encounter.
Cheryl and her fencing team mates from Pasir Ris Crest Secondary School. Photo courtesy of Cheryl Lim.
“Initially I didn’t put fencing as one of my CCA choices, so we had to put three, but the teacher-in-charge, Mr Neo said, ‘Eh you know you’re quite tall, why not give it a try?’ said Cheryl.
The couple have journeyed together in sport and in life ever since getting together in 2010, and they have seen each other through the high and low moments.
Samson celebrates a point at the 2015 SEA Games in front of a partisan home crowd. Photo courtesy of Samson Lee.
Samson counts his top 8 finish at the Asian Fencing Championships 2014 as one of his career highlights. Samson outclassed his Kazakh opponent, and also the defending champion in the top 32 encounter, before going on to knock out another higher-ranked Kazakh opponent to make the quarter-finals. Additionally, Samson also won an individual bronze and team silver at the 2015 Southeast Asian Games held in Singapore.
“There’s really a different feeling for me especially in Singapore. I’ve been through a few SEA Games, but when you are able to participate in the SEA Games and win something for Singapore, on your home ground, that one is really something memorable for me.” said Samson.
Cheryl celebrates her victory against her Kazakh opponent at the 2014 Asian Games. Photo courtesy of Cheryl Lim.
Cheryl’s career highlight happened in the same year, at the Asian Games in Incheon, Korea. She had finished 6th overall for the individual women’s épée and achieved the same result together with her compatriots for the team event.
As with all sports, the journey for both of them has not always been smooth sailing.
For Cheryl, her lowest point in her career was the SEA Games in Singapore in 2015. Cheryl, then 22, had just graduated from Republic Polytechnic and decided to take a one-year break to train full-time to prepare for the SEA Games. She attended numerous training camps, participated in many competitions, all for the hope of doing our nation proud.
“On the actual day itself, I think I placed too much pressure on myself, that I needed and I wanted it. Rather, I did not do well. I got out in top 8, and it was one point, 15-14. After that competition, it had me really looking at everything, it’s so much effort, is it worth it? It really made me rethink whether I wanted fencing,” shared Cheryl.
Samson faced his own struggles with injuries. He had sustained a bad injury on his master hand, where he was not able to move his wrist with the same guile and agility he was capable of. Samson consulted a doctor who advised him to rest and allow for proper recovery.
“At the back of my mind, to me, it depends how much you want it. At that moment I don’t believe that it is so bad.” said Samson.
Setbacks in a few competitions later led Samson to reflect on his performance.
“What I learned is really you have to keep going, even if you put in all your hard work and you don’t get what you want. In Chinese it would be have more feeling for me: 坚持.
Even if you put in a lot of effort and you didn’t get what you expect at that moment, if you give up, it will never happen. It’s only (when) you are willing to bring yourself up, and continue to work on, you stand a chance to see what you expect to happen, one day,” said Samson.
A New Dream
Both continued to remain involved in fencing, and as Cheryl described, the “love-hate relationship” with fencing always saw the love outweighing the hate. Samson founded SG Academy of Fencing in 2016, and roped in his trusted partner to help him to run the club. Cheryl is the general manager, which in her own words, means she handles “generally everything”.
The couple took a leap of faith and set up SG Academy of Fencing in three months. Photo courtesy of SG Academy of Fencing.
Spending an extended amount of time together is challenging for any couple. For Samson and Cheryl, it meant learning to communicate better, and this has also strengthened their relationship.
“When you work together, everyone has their own idea. So I need to learn how to give and take. Or, how to find a better way to accept. Of course, because of all this, I know her more, I know her better. And this makes us even closer,” proclaimed Samson.
“Having run the club with him for the past three to four years, we actually understand each other a lot better. So sometimes right there are days you are feeling tired, it didn’t go well and your mood is really not the best, we don’t really need to say, we can actually sense what’s going on and make adjustments,” agreed Cheryl.
The rapport between the pair has seen them grow the club to more than 40 members today. They are also coaches of Pasir Ris Crest Secondary School (Only Épée), Greendale Secondary School & Bukit Panjang Government High School. The success is testament to the environment that Samson and Cheryl have worked hard to create – playing equal or more emphasis on important values alongside fencing techniques and tactics.
Samson and Cheryl are now coaches and mentors to more than 40 fencers.
“What we expect from them is what we would expect of someone close to us, in terms of discipline, in terms of how they behave, in terms of how you want them to be as a fencer or a person outside of fencing. That’s one thing I feel the parents like about sending their kids here. They can feel that we genuinely care about the kids that come train with us,” said Cheryl.
The well-traveled fencers have competed all over Asia and in the process made many friends from other countries. This has allowed them to establish strong partnerships with other fencing clubs from all over Asia. In particular, SG Academy of Fencing regularly hosts training exchanges with fencing clubs in Hong Kong and Korea, exposing the fencers to different fencing styles and training environments.
SG Academy of Fencing holds training exchanges with clubs from all over Asia. Photos courtesy of SG Academy of Fencing.
“Other than the intensity and the quality of training, another thing is sending the kids overseas with us, the kids will have to learn to be independent and how to manage themselves. The older fencers also took up a role, where they actually took care of the younger fencers, so it was heartening to see that just from one trip they were able to grow and mature by traveling with us,” said Cheryl.
As for their hopes for the future, the goal is simple – to continue to spread their love for fencing to more people until Samson “cannot handle” overseeing all the classes.
Samson and Cheryl want to be more than fencing coaches to their students by also being mentors to their students.
“Our plan is to have more students, and hopefully by that time, we can expand, because this is a good place, location and environment. But of course, if I can have a bigger one (space), that would be better for training intensity and holding more people in the class is better,” said Samson.
“I hope our kids will grow up, like us now, be the seniors in the team, like what we have taught them, the values we instilled in them.. We hope they can pass it down to their juniors in the future,” said Cheryl.
Watch the interview:
Special thanks to SG Academy of Fencing, Samson Lee and Cheryl Lim for sharing their fencing story and for being faithful ambassadors of the sport, so that the next generation may know and grow to love the sport of fencing like they do.
Game On Singapore 
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