ESCONDIDO -- For many people, the thought of fencing may inspire visions of "The Princess Bride" or "The Three Musketeers."

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Few would ever think of Escondido as a fencing hotbed. But one of the biggest fencing studios and supply centers in San Diego County is in Escondido.

"We love the location," said Saul Mendoza, owner of San Diego Fencing Center on South Escondido Boulevard. "We have about 15 kids from Escondido and a lot from Carlsbad and San Diego."

Mendoza and his wife, Vickie, opened their fencing studio in 2006. Today they have about 50 students, mostly ranging from 9 to 15 years old. For some of the kids, the fencing club is a transition into other sports seasons.

Fencers combine reaction time and coordination with physical fitness to attain a level of skill used in individual competition.

A fencer can choose from three main weapons: the foil, epee or sabre. Each weapon favors a different style of fighting, but the object is to hit opponents in the marked scoring area on their outfits.

Saul Mendoza, a member of the 1984 Bolivian Olympic fencing team, said the majority of kids who try fencing do so because they prefer the individual aspect of the sport to other team sports.

Chemene Granger, whose 13-year-old son, Dryden, recently joined the club, agreed with Mendoza's assessment.

"We happened to have driven past it," said Granger, an Escondido resident. "He's never showed interest in soccer and baseball. It's really good exercise, and I think he'll stick with it."

And what about the costs of a sport predominantly seen as the domain of the rich? At the Fencing Post, the center's adjoining apparel store, start-up equipment costs about $150. Mendoza said a $130 monthly fee includes four to five hours per week of lessons and classes. Some pay more for advanced instruction.

"You have to have the discipline to do this," Mendoza said. "I could throw in free classes for kids, and some would quit in a month. We are like a second parent; we train them and don't always tell them what they want to hear."

To Granger, the cost of the classes is on par with other sports. She said she pays more to fund her 10-year-old daughter's Pop Warner cheerleading activities than she does on Dryden's fencing hobby.

And there are many students like Dryden at the San Diego Fencing Center. Instructor Stuart Lee, who coaches at the center and is based at Escondido Kung Fu, has noticed a younger demographic since he took up the sport 32 years ago.

"Ninety-five percent of the people exposed to fencing back then were exposed in college," said Lee, 50, who operates the Coeur du Lion fencing club and also coaches the fencing clubs at Rancho Bernardo High and Grossmont College. "The demographic is much younger now. In San Diego, there are eight junior highs, six high schools and 16 different elementary schools that have some sort of fencing club."

Contact staff writer Marwan Razouk at mrazouk@nctimes.com.