Traditionally, fencing has been dominated by men, both in terms of participation and ownership of fencing schools. However, one El Paso woman is challenging the status quo by encouraging more women to join the world of fencing.
Margaret Delong was born in Chile but now calls El Paso home. Back in 2002, she opened El Paso’s first fencing school, Salle De Long.
For the last 21 years, Salle De Long has remained proudly the only fencing school in El Paso, offering an experience like no other to those brave enough to dive into the world of an elegant sport.
Fencing is a sport of tradition and elegance. It is about instilling discipline, strategy, and camaraderie into each student. Salle De Long creates an environment where learning the art of fencing becomes an adventure of personal growth, where you’ll walk away with skills that extend way beyond the trail.
According to Margret, her fencing journey all began thanks to a former boyfriend who introduced her to the sport of fencing.
“My career as a competitive athlete was short, it wasn’t very long,” said Margaret.
Margaret began to prepare herself for the national fencing team, but soon after she realized her true calling was to teach the sport of fencing.
“I was supposed to be able to help other people so I became a monitor and eventually we had someone from Europe come into our country to certify coaches in fencing,” said Margret.
She is one out of three women in the United States who is a certified coach for fencing. This accomplishment is something that she is proud of and she hopes it will encourage other young girls to learn more about the sport of fencing.
“When I started coaching as a woman it was a great challenge especially when you take kids to the national level and all that you see is male coaches and you are the only woman,” said Margaret. “So here I am somebody that is just 5 ‘1 and not too big, but I still made sure to show the men that I deserve the same respect that everybody else does.”
Margaret is proud that she was able to bring such a unique and elegant sport to the El Paso area and she hopes that other women are inspired by her story.
“I want to have a legacy, and I really hope that I am creating the legacy so we have this for a very long time.”
For more information about Salle De Long, you can contact them at (915) 346-4338 or you can head over to their website to salledelong.com to get all the information about classes and fencing.
Mija, Yes you can. 