Keith Knight has coached local fencers ranging from middle schoolers to college students, and his only regret is that he didn’t come to the sport sooner.

“I had always known about it just because of the swords and my last name, so I always knew it existed, but I never had the opportunity to pick it up,” he said. “When I moved to Connecticut, I found that and it turned out to be great. I love it.”

Knight, who discovered the sport in college, has been fencing for more than eight years. In addition to coaching at East Lyme High School and Eastern Connecticut State University, he has been leading the East Lyme Parks and Recreation youth fencing program for five years. The program is co-sponsored by the town and the Thames River Fencing Club, which includes many of the local high school fencing coaches and other skilled fencers.

Carol Rossiter, program coordinator for the parks and recreation department, said the program started when the club approached the department to offer lessons in exchange for a space to practice. She said lessons are now offered year round, with the exception of the high school fencing season in the winter, and sometimes there are so many people enrolled that students are learning to fence in the hallways.

Knight said the program is targeted at students age 10 to 15 because older students who aren’t fencing with the high school are pointed toward join a club to learn. Even though the town also offers an adult program from time to time, parents of kids in the youth program sometimes take the class with their kids.

“It’s always fun to watch the parents and their children learn. I find it amazing to watch the skills of the child be the same as the parent,” he said.

He offers four levels of classes through the town, starting with basic footwork and bladework that students can build on. Strategy and other techniques are taught in the intermediate classes. Each class is about eight to 10 kids, and he said there was a slight bump in enrollment after the Olympics this summer because the U.S. fencing team won medals in multiple events.

Many kids who fenced in the youth program have gone on to play under Knight at East Lyme High School, and he said the program helps not only in their athletic careers but also in their transition to high school life. Students make long-lasting friendships through the program, whether with each other or with high school fencers who come to the lessons or the club.

Knight’s goal is to build the parks and recreation program so students can go from a beginning course to an advanced course in two years to prepare them for playing at the high school or in other sanctioned competitions. He also wants to regularly offer the adult program; many parents of student fencers become involved through equipment maintenance, and teaching them how to fence too can help them coach their own children.

“They have given us everything they possibly can at every opportunity,” he said, adding that the club has grown from a handful of people when he first started to 45 on a good night. “The sport is significantly growing in southeastern Connecticut.”

For more information about the youth fencing program and other programs offered by East Lyme Parks and Recreation, contact the department at (860) 739-5828.

a.hutchinson@theday.com