The noble sport of fencing; an academy on Chicago's South Side is turning out excellent athletes with the discipline and stamina to be champions.

The athletes at the Bronzeville Fencing Academy work on their footing, their touch, their agility and speed. It's all part of learning how to fence.

The academy has helped hundreds of students ages 6 to 75 excel in this not-so-easy sport.

They learn on a thin area called "the strip," and there are programs coordinated with the Chicago Public Schools and the Chicago Park District.

The Bronzeville Fencing Academy is a family affair. The founder and head coach is Malcolm Muhammad. His wife, Kasey, is assistant director. Their son, Thelonius, is an assistant coach and certified referee. Their daughter, Auset, was the inspiration for all this.

Malcolm fenced a little in high school, and he suggested Auset might like fencing when she was 8 years old.

"We would practice a lot outside on the sidewalk right in front of our house, and before I knew it, I would have a lot of young little children on the block or other blocks coming around," he said. "As I kept seeing these children, thinking there's no other facility for them … Never would have imagined we'd have gotten get this far with it though, starting on the street."

Auset didn't quite get it when dad brought up fencing.

"My automatic thought process went to going around the neighborhood and installing fences and painting fences," she said. "That was the first thing that came to my head, and I was like, 'Oh that's a good way to make money during the summer. Go for it.'"

Once that got straightened out, the Muhammads began teaching students fencing and a lot more.

"As they grow in the sport, they learn how to deal with different things, you know, the adversity on the strip," Kasey said. "How you lose is going to determine how you win."

Malcolm said fencing is a very fast sport.

"Decisions have to be made very fast. That's an awesome training," he said

Auset, who has won several fencing honors, said above all, fencing is creative.

"Fencing really is more of a thinking and mental game," she said. "Finding different ways to change up tempo, different ways to hit people, different spots on the body, different ways to psychologically mess with your opponent. … That's where I really find most of my creativity."

And, as a kid, it's kind of fun.

"It really allows you to do all of the things that your parents told you you couldn't do," she said. "You can run with sharp objects, you can hit people without being reprimanded, and you can do just about anything and everything possible within the small confines of the rules."

Heaven Blakey started at the fencing academy when she was just 6 years old.

"She's a hard worker and she was dedicated and disciplined," Malcolm said

Heaven's 15 years old now, and winning meets across the country.

"It's really, really challenging, but it's something that will help you a lot throughout life in general," she said. "I think Just learning how to have your mind collected and just be calm during those challenging states is definitely something that I want to keep going on the rest of my life."

At the academy, fencing is only one part of the game.

"Every quarter, we host what we call a STEM session. In that STEM session, the students work on all types of different STEM-related activities," Kasey said. "We're just branching out, trying to do a little bit of workforce development."

"We want to create whole youth. We want them to be successful at home as a student and out in the community," she added.

Malcolm said the discipline and commitment learned at the academy will open doors for students throughout their lives.

"I'm looking forward to their futures. I can't wait to see them in another 20 years and see what they're doing in life, but I know they're going to be tremendous leaders," he said.

The Muhammads remind their students fencing is a Division 1 college sport, and there are many scholarships available.

Auset got a fencing scholarship to Temple University, where she now teaches and coaches as she trains to qualify for the 2028 Olympics.