European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - February 4, 1989, Darmstadt, Hesse By Don Tate staff writer t started out hot. In a boiler room. Fencing in a boiler room at 110 degrees is not the Way the great masters did it but then the great masters were a bit More elegant in their approach a bit More us less crude. Emil Beck gropes for a fancier word can t find it then commences to make his Point to his interviewer like a Maestro waving his hands before a 100-piece orchestra. When Emil Beck makes a Point it gets lost in the Onward Rush to the next Point. Time s burning. The clock is bonding in his ears. There is much much to do. His face reddens. His voice gathers Speed. Energy seems to sputter out of him like Sparks. He jumps up and barrels across the room then barrels Back with a lot of statistics and stuff in his hands. He pops up again zings Back across the room the phone is buzzing. Emil Beck May be a Man but he blows through life like a Force. This Force has rolled Over the fencing world like a runaway Beer barrel. He is the olympic coach of the greatest fencing team in the world the West German. He is from Taube Bischofsheim near Wurzburg in Central West Germany population 12,000, the greatest Little fencing town in the world. Just make that any town big Little or Middle. In the 1976 olympics nine fencers from his Taube Bischofsheim fencing Center swept 11 individual and team medals including five golds. In 84 they hit the Jackpot 11 of his fencers won 12 medals seven of them Gold. In the most recent olympics add another seven medals including a sweep Gold Silver and Bronze in the women s individual foil. What s the secret the secret is the Force Beck. He sits in his office at the Center looking nothing like Errol Flynn or d Artagnan or any of those sleek dashing Peaco Kish specimens often idealized As the classic fencing master looking nothing like one who possesses or Ever possessed the flowing Pant Herish moves he describes As his fencing Ideal. He sits in his office looking like a Short Burly going to Pudge fellow with a red face and Large wrinkled neck who looks As if he May pop a blood vessel or a belly Button at any moment. But Emil Beck was a very Good very fast fencer once. What he had was a style a technique. A style that differed from the old school in critical ways. Faster he says. My style is faster everything moving faster faster. Everything is seeded up and you must be very fast to use it. Action the old school fencers stood around a lot. They posed a lot. Looking Beck s boys and girls he starts them As Young As 3and men and women come right at you whoosh whoosh Clink Clank. Action action Parry lunge thrust recover. With passion. Just As Beck in person comes at you. Even the Way he held his weapon was direct More like grabbing a meat a with the firm whole hand than mainly with the fingers As did the Dainty lords of fencing. It All started the first time he saw fencers clanging away at each other in a movie newsreel. He was 16, a much lighter 16. Mesmerized he went Back for another look and Back again watching that newsreel eyes glowing heart thumping. The grand passion had seized him but his first fencing suit was something less than grand made of stitched together flour sacks. People Shook their Heads. Poor fellow. The poor fellow s the fencing coach Emil Beck behind the Germany s Emil Beck and the secret of olympic Success suited for action at Emil Beck s training Mecca for fencers in Taube Bischofsheim West Germany. Father was a Barber and Emil ithe youngest of 13 children Barber. Whack whack Day the fastest haircut in then whoosh Whang whoosh Whang steel on steel for hours at night. He started his first fencing club in a boiler room under a school a d his Little band of sweaty Farmers and p in folks were laughed at when they w it to the fencing Hall in Heidelberg that St time to compete against Rea fences holding up their noses so High they gered ram he remembers. Of course Beck and his Cruji musketeers were slaughtered fencing after All was More an elitist rih Man s sport. The second time Emil Buck and his bumpkins visited Heidelberg lacking and slashing the elitists were slaughtered. Beck Learned incredibly fast. As his fencing club grew and grew in size and prestige and his coaching led to More and More medals in the olympics Beck demonstrated that his Genius went far beyond fencing and coaching. It was As an organizer and fund Raiser and lobbyist and dealer making All kinds of arrangements with both the private sector and the government that the sex Barber helped create a fencing atmosphere a fencing system that is unparalleled anywhere. He worked to gain the Money and the Power to support programs not just for his own Center but for the whole thrust of fencing across Germany. Everyone from the makers of Beer and cars to the Chancellor of Germany began springing to fencing s support. Today there Are some 16,000 Active fencers slashing away in the German Federal Republic far More than in such fencing Powers As France and Italy. The system Beck says. You must create the right and from that system Rolls a Quantity of fencers and inevitably enough Quality. But it is not so simple. Emil Beck does not Trust the numbers game anymore than he did the techniques of the fencing lords. Nothing to Chance he a ,i5. All he is looking for is perfection. I did not say we would find it he booms merrily but we Are certainly looking for there is the dream of the perfect fencer. What would make him tick what Are the physical and psychological qualities and How to find the formula with the scientific method of course. Beck has his 72 employees in his $12 million Complex in Taube Bischofsheim including doctor a psychologist physical therapy is the Best coaches even the Best my Jnes All probing into the mystique. Collecting the data. Trying to break Down the magic of fencing with the one Pound one meter Long unbreakable nearly steel foil the epee slightly heavier and stiffer than the foil and the Saber with which one can Cut As Well As thrust to the Basic elements. Bernd Lang a former German Champion and now director of science at the Center says there is still much. Data to be gathered. We look at All the champions but there seem to be Many variables and components of personality and physique. There May not be one perfect fencer Lang who is tall and lean and quiet and Calm could hardly look or act More differently than the ebullient exploding 54-year-old Beck. But we Are studying every aspect of fencing and of those who do it Well. And we Are trying to create As close to possible the perfect fencing Lang shows off various exercise machines other machines that measure reflexes machines that measure not Only the Power in one s limbs but such nuances As the balance of Power in say the thighs As compared to the Power in the calves. Knowing such subtleties helps fencers work on their weak places he says and helps prevent injuries. A fencer needs his greatest strength not in his arms but in his Back and legs notes Lang. He says the very Tough training Beck s fencers go through includes gymnastics weight lifting running and other sports to maximize strength stamina and agility. But championship fencing is not just a matter of Muscles and reflexes stresses the science director. A fencer needs great mental strength and agility As much As physical. In a fencing tournament you May have 30 matches a Day. Try peaking psychologically 30 times a Day. See what it takes out of you. It is a very nervous draining sport. One loss and you re Lang says it is not a sport big slow witted jocks Are Apt to do very Well at no matter How much weight they lift or How High they can leap at a single bound. A great fencer must have a High intelligence. Just flailing away won t get you very far. Because there Are thousands of moves and for every move a counter move. And you have less than a Hundredth of a second to make your analysis and your Lang Calls fencing fighting dummies Are not recruited. But in Beck s vision class distinction has been steadily blurred and fighting chess has become More and More a sport for the masses. A smart fast feisty Farmer will do just Fine. Lang leads on through the Center that Beck built. There s a Massage room a Sauna a weigh room a cafeteria a photographer s lab a video camera for analysing technique a weapons repair shop a cafeteria a soccer Field a basketball court Tennis courts and a guest House to accommodate those who spend longer periods of time training at the Center. All very grand. And such a Long Way from the Barber shop and the boiler room. Emil Beck meanwhile drives on. Unfortunately All that organizing and raising Money and lobbying All that bratwurst and Beer and pig s feet and. Sweet things one consumes at such gatherings has served to not Only expand the glory of German fencing but also the Girth of the great coach. Though the Pudgy Panther May no longer be the Best advertisement for his fencing Ideal if he manifested any More Energy he would seem ready to explode. Even dynamos blow fuses and Beck blew his shortly after the 84 olympics. Work work work 14 to 18 hours a Day. So much to do. And he had been having these headaches. Pah he ignored them. Until one Day on the Way to work a Light went out in his head. When he woke up it was to learn he had suffered a stroke not a big one just enough of one to make him take pause. For a week. Naturally he took his paperwork to the Hospital and filled up the next bed with it. Soon he was Back into it All the Way 14 to 18 hours a Day. And now with grandiose plans for establishing 14 olympic centers in Germany for other sports As Well As fencing he is More into it than Ever going faster faster. When will Emil Beck finally slow Down he s asked As he rushes Back and plunges a bit breathlessly into his chair after another phone Call. Pah says the master. Living is working. Working is living. I think of life As a Carousel a merry go round. One does not get off until it All stops at once. One does not get off a piece at a time. When it stops i West Germany boasts 16,000 Active fencers. During Competition fencers Are wired to an electronic scoreboard. Bernd Lang a former West German fencing Champion is now science director at training Center in Taube Bischofsheim. Is photos by Gus Schuettler gotcha Page 14 the stars and stripes saturday february 4,1989 training break championship fencing requires lots of stamina As Well As agility and great mental strength. 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