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Hayden Devore, a junior history major with a pre-law minor, joined SIUE's fencing club after Thanksgiving break two years ago, knowing nothing about the sport. What kept them coming back wasn't just the fencing—it was weekends like the one at a tournament in their first year, when the team rented an Airbnb and went to see a movie together the night before competing.

"Anybody, any skill level, never touched a fencing sword or you've done it your whole life...anybody is welcome to show up," said Devore. "You can just show up to one, you can show up to all practices, it doesn't matter. We will teach you how to do it."

The club currently has around ten members. Devore mentioned the club doesn't have a single team captain; instead, its officers share teaching duties and help members improve together. "We all teach the new members, teach each other even," Devore said. "There's no like, 'oh, this is the best fencer.' We all are good at different things in fencing."

Last year, practices were held in Student Fitness Center's Court 4. Practices typically run twice a week, two hours at a time and begin with retrieving equipment from storage and stretching before members pair off to spar and work on technique. Devore also highlighted how footwork is the single most important skill for newcomers to focus on.

The club competes in a regional league alongside St. Louis University, Washington University in St. Louis, the University of Central Missouri, Missouri University of Science and Technology and the University of Missouri, facing many of the same schools roughly once a month. Its season opened Sept. 26-27 at the University of Central Missouri. The club has even built a close relationship with St. Louis University's fencing club through joint practices and members travel together for tournaments, often grabbing team dinners along the way.

"It really helped me open up and communicate with people," Devore said of joining the club, describing early social nervousness that eased through fencing's tournament community. "It really helped me to open up and start meeting new people in the fencing community."

The club has an upcoming tournament at the University of Missouri on October 17 and 18.

The club's former president, Jude Azubuike, earned a B rating—the second-highest classification in fencing—a result Devore said reflected the program's resilience after pandemic-era disruptions. The club will host a tournament in April open for students to watch and try the sport firsthand.

That similar kind of camaraderie setup extends across campus to the SIEGE Ultimate Frisbee club. Formed in 2008, SIEGE has grown into one of SIUE's most active club sports programs, fielding 19 competitive members this season along with several more who join in for events on a less regular basis. 

"Most people, when you tell them you play ultimate frisbee, either don't know what it is or have a negative perception of the sport," said Augustino Ojeda, the club's fundraising chair. "At the same time, most people who actually try the sport love it."

The team is coached by Patrick LaVallee, a player for St. Louis’s competitive frisbee club team; Matthew Rehder, a professional Ultimate player with the Minnesota Windchill of the Ultimate Frisbee Association; and Evan Driscoll—an Edwardsville native and former SIEGE player. Ojeda also went on to highlight how the club has added about fourteen freshmen to its competitive roster this year ahead of its main competitive season in the spring semester—part of a broader effort to introduce more students to the sport.

"Many of my teammates and I played on Edwardsville High School's team and helped grow the program to now being one of the best teams in the nation," Ojeda said. "We are hoping the same thing can happen at SIUE."

SIEGE's season opens each spring with two or three non-sanctioned tournaments, including a trip to Columbia in November, in Missouri, hosted by the University of Missouri and the club’s own home tournament ‘E-Ville Migration’ held at SIUE. The spring slate typically includes five tournaments, culminating in Sectionals and Regionals—the club's playoff path toward a possible Nationals berth.

E-Ville Migration will be held on October 10-11 this year, roughly 9am-3pm on both days. 

Most tournament weekends bring seven or eight games across two days, against opponents ranging from regional rivals like Indiana University, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Northwestern University and the University of Chicago to out-of-region programs; the club recently played LSU, Michigan State and Mississippi State University at a single tournament.

The team practices at the RecPlex, meeting from 6 to 8 p.m., and Mondays and Wednesdays and 10 a.m. to noon Saturdays. 

Membership requirements for both clubs are minimal—students need only be enrolled at SIUE to join.

PHOTO: 1 and 2—SIUE's Fencing Team Members during a practice session on campus; 3 and 4—SIUE's SIEGE Ultimate Frisbee Club Team