Chapter 1 — September

Character Perspective: Coach Dan

Hoping to attract new students to the fencing club, Coach Dan conducts a demonstration bout at the end of a football pep rally held in the Bark Bay High School gymnasium. He is accompanied by four members from last year’s team: Double-J and Rex compete in the bout, Annie and Rune serve as judges, and Coach Dan both serves as head official and explains the bout’s action to the student body.

When Rex scores his third touch, Coach Dan announces the demonstration is over, only to be interrupted by Double-J, who insists on a full five-touch bout. Disinterested until this point, the students in the gymnasium are roused by Double-J’s defiance, and Coach Dan receives permission to continue. Double-J wins the bout, and the pep rally concludes. In a team meeting immediately after, Double-J claims his victory proves that he should be named team captain, but is rebuked by Coach Dan, who says he’s not even sure there will be a captain this year. Double-J’s objections are interrupted by the appearance of Butch and Sandy, who were interested enough by the demonstration to ask for information on the team’s next practice.

Later that afternoon, Coach Dan arrives at his small apartment. He retrieves his mail and a letter from his college coach, Josef Hadik, which asks whether Coach Dan has found a replacement for Myles Glossurio, last year’s team captain and star fencer. He also receives a call from Colleen Friedman, one of his high school instructors, reminding him about a job opening in north suburban Chicago, near where Coach Dan was born and raised, at a high school with a varsity fencing team whose coach is about to retire. Coach Dan thanks Colleen for the reminder, but doesn’t commit to either pursuing or passing on the opportunity.

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