CINCINNATI — Fencing gained popularity in the state, but the sport can be difficult to access for people that have disabilities or limited mobility. That’s why one Cincinnati fencing club is taking steps to be the first in the area to offer para-fencing.
What You Need To Know
- Alex Burte opened Queen City Fencers Club in 2019 with hopes of growing the sport
- Burte wants to help people who can’t fence because of disabilities to get back out there
- Zaid Al-Nasser was a fencer on the Jordan National Fencing Team but had to leave the sport after doctors diagnosed him with Ewing sarcoma in 2020, a form of bone cancer
- Now, Al-Nasser helps at Queen City Fencers Club and is hopeful for a new para-fencing opportunity with the club
Alex Burte spent most of his life around fencing.
“I do more coaching than fencing nowadays,” Burte said.
He opened Queen City Fencers Club in 2019 in hopes of growing the sport.
“Part of growing the sport of fencing is making it accessible for people who don’t have the access now,” Burte said.
Access for people like Zaid Al-Nasser, who now has to watch from the sidelines. The former world-class fencer was a part of Jordan’s National Team. But now, he can’t quite move how he used to.
“I was fencing in pain back then,” Al-Nasser said. “I got second place in that tournament, but I was in pain.”
Doctors diagnosed him with Ewing sarcoma, a type of bone cancer, in 2020.
“That was the tough part to manage life again, like a new challenge with a disability,” he said. “Not being able to do stuff that I used to do.”
While he is cancer-free now, he knew he still wanted to be around the sport he loves.
“Talking with my physical therapist, Danny, about wheelchair fencing,” Al-Nasser said. “I was thinking about a new hobby or something that I can enjoy and that was really hard.”
Which is why he helps with everything he can here at the club, to be around others who can share his love of fencing. That got Burte thinking maybe there was a way to get Al-Nasser back.
“He’s so selfless,” Burte said. “It’s the least we could do to give back to him as well.”
Burte founded the Cincinnati Fencing Club to raise money to start para-fencing, something no other fencing club in the Cincinnati area offers. Before then, Al-Nasser thought he wouldn’t be able to fence again.
“I fenced my whole life,” Al Nasser said. “So I would reach a point that I will need to stop because I will get older and my body would not be able to tolerate fencing as when it was younger. So at this point, it was earlier than later.”
Now, he has another chance at it.
“When I started getting out, when I came here and met Alex and the kids, things started to get better and better and better,” he said.
The foundation is hosting the Queen City Cup on April 30 through May 1 in hopes to raise the over $7,000 for the two wheelchairs needed for para-fencing.
