Bellancas Cut Up Outside of Class

Finding time for fencing isn’t easy for Wesley and Alec Bellanca of La Crescenta.

The brothers are gifted students immersed in rigorous academic schedules. But their lives are hardly a case of all work and no swordplay.

Wesley, 17, and Alec, 16, foil competitors who began fencing two years ago, will compete in the Junior Olympics starting today in Oakland.

They qualified for the Junior Olympics during U.S. Fencing Assn. Southern California tournaments in October, their first attempts at USFA competition.

Wesley, a senior at North Hollywood High’s Zoological and Biological magnet program, and Alec, a junior in North Hollywood’s magnet program, balance books and bladework, leaving little time for social affairs.

But their grades are exceptional, and so is their fencing.

“We tend to balance it well,” Alec said. “There’s a lot of stuff going on. But it’s not unmanageable.”

Said Wesley: “We wouldn’t do it if we didn’t enjoy it so much.”

Both participated in athletics, particularly soccer, before enrolling for fencing lessons at Swordplay Fencing Studio in Burbank.

“It sounded fun and intriguing, fighting with swords,” Wesley said. “Since I had a background in sports, it was easy for me to pick up on the specific moves.”

Added Alec: “The thing that has kept me with it is that it’s really competitive--one on one and very intense. I didn’t think of it as being as physically demanding as it is.”

Or as mentally challenging. But the game of physical chess is suited for Wesley and Alec, who excel in science and maintain grade-point averages above 3.5.

“You have to be in shape, but it’s so much more of a mental sport,” Wesley said. “It’s much more of a mind game than any other. It’s as much mental as it is physical.”