A new sporting opportunity exists in Maplewood for young and aspiring wheelchair athletes. The state’s first wheelchair fencing program is in session at the New Jersey Fencing Alliance on Burnett Avenue.

The program’s mission is to provide instruction to children who are wheelchair-bound because of a handicap. Most of the members of the NJFA program are handicapped because of a birth defect.

“Conceptually, it began over three years ago and it has taken almost two years to get it off the ground. It has been a long time coming,” said NJFA president George Janto.

The idea for this program began when Janto observed a wheelchair competition at a national fencing tournament, where his daughter was competing. At that point, he never knew it even existed.

“I was fascinated by it,” he said. “I loved the effort that they put in to be able to compete at this level.”

Once the NJFA building was up and running, Janto realized that they had a tremendous amount of space in the building, that would be perfectly equipped to handle multiple wheelchairs. Wanting to get a program going ever since he had seen one at nationals two years earlier, he got together with NJFA founder, Frank Mustilli, and they got the program started.

First they brought over Miodrag Zeljkovic from Serbia to be the head coach of the program. Zeljkovic was the coach of the Kuwait national fencing team in 2005 and 2006, leading the women’s team to a bronze medal in ‘06. He also coached wheelchair fencer Tariq Al-Qualaf, who has medaled in multiple wheelchair world cup events and is ranked in the top three in the world in both the epee and foil.

“I’m glad if I can help them get involved with sports,” Zeljkovic said of wheelchair fencers. “It’s good for them. If they’re happy, I’m happy for them.”

Next was the equipment. As far as swords and lames, the cost was no different than stand up fencing. But the cost of the wheelchairs, the lockdown, which secures the chairs, and the wheelchair frames added up. Janto said that the NJFA generously donated equipment and funds, and he was given a discount on the chairs and frame. They are in the process of trying to raise funds for more equipment.

The NJFA has not made this a huge cost endeavor either.

“We’re not making any of our kids parents pay for anything unless they are in a position to do so,” Janto said. “We don’t want it to be a reason the kid can’t fence.”

NJFA wheelchair fencer Caitlin Goerlich, 16, began fencing with the club in May. She is new to the sport, but said that she enjoys using the saber.

“It sounded fun and it gave me something extra to do,” she said about her decision to begin fencing. “It’s fun, because I like the saber. I’m known as the slasher.”

Goerlich, who also participates in table tennis and track and field, said she hopes to compete in the Para-Olympics some day, in either fencing or table tennis.

So how does it work?

Wheelchair fencing is the same as stand up fencing, except in the wheelchair, the participants can’t move. The wheelchairs are locked down, and fencers strapped in. It makes the wheelchair fencer have to parry better.

“It asks the wheelchair fencers to be a better classically-trained fencer because they don’t have the ability to run away,” Janto said. “If stand-up kids worked as hard as the wheelchair fencers, they would all be champions. We’d have a nation of champions.”

Zeljkovic and his team of fencers are targeting the national tournament in Atlanta in June. They are currently recruiting more wheelchair fencers for the team.