His blade cuts through the air, swishing, swinging, putting fear into the people made to face it. Shuffling his feet he draws close to his opponent, his victory. As he pins down the point on his challenger, the metal vest sings and sends a signal to the buzzer that declares game over. This is the life of fencing. Of course, it is never always this dramatic, but for junior Tyler Jacobs, this is a sport he loves to do.

More than nine years ago, at the age of seven, Jacobs had started his fencing training. He had watched a number of fencers, and was instantly hooked.

“I had seen it in the Olympics and decided to try it,” said Jacobs.

Jacobs has been fencing ever since. He does a type of fencing called Foil where he was recently selected First Team All American and First Team All Academic by USA Fencing. He was the only men’s foil fencer in Region 2 (which includes 13 states- Missouri, Illinois, Ohio, Kentucky, Michigan, Wisconsin, Indiana, Minnesota, Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska, North Dakota and South Dakota.)

“You have to have a certain GPA, fencing accomplishments, recommendations, and you have to write a few essays on why you want to be on the team,” said Jacobs.

Jacobs constantly shares his love of the sport by competing in tournaments in more 40 states and Mexico. He has also coached some of his friends in the past.

“At his first grade birthday party he taught us how to fence,” said junior Quinn Paszek.

Paszek describes Jacobs as very competitive and even when he got injured and had to take a break, he was still very invested in fencing.

Hossem Hassan, Jacob’s coach is a retired fencer himself. He has been a coach for the Egyptian National team and they even have made it to the Olympics. Hassan  agrees that Jacobs is no short of a hard worker.

“He has a B-rating, which is the second highest rating in fencing,” said Hassan. “I’m sure that in the next couple of years, if he keeps going, he could be eligible for many scholarships.”

History teacher Jeremy Nichols coaches Jacobs for South’s water polo team, which is what Jacobs does in addition to fencing.

Nichols said Jacobs is “incredibly dedicated and I can always count on him to give a 100 percent because he has the drive to do well.”

Whether that’s in water polo or fencing, Jacobs always seems to amaze his peers around him. Junior Grayson French agrees that Jacobs is just a devoted fencer.

“I’ve watched him fence once. I was impressed. He seemed to know what he was doing. He put lots of time and practice into it,” said French.

Jacobs also has looked up to some fencers in the past, but his favorite idol is Muhammed Hassan, his coach’s son, who he has known for a while.

“I’ve known him for ten years. He is kind of like a brother to me. He is on the professional Egyptian National team and will most likely make it to the next Olympics,” said Jacobs.

Jacobs knows that fencing is usually face-paced which is why he says that hardest thing involved is the reaction time. Hassan agrees but is confident that Jacobs knows how to handle a match very well.

“He is quiet, which is good for fencing so he has a good chance to think,” said Hassan. “Fencing is like physical chess so it certainly helps to be able to think of your next move.”