Plotting a path to the Olympics has been on Grant William's mind for many years. After taking a year off from school to pursue that dream, the former New York University fencer returned to the Violets last year and spent his final campaign at NYU etching his name into the program's record book.

A Politics major in NYU's College of Arts and Science, the Atlanta, GA, native graduated in 2020 with the most sabre victories (152) and best sabre winning percentage (.775, 152-44) in program history. He also recorded the weapon's best one-season winning percentage (.828, 34-7) when he earned NCAA All-America honors as a junior.   

Unfortunately, his dream to earn a spot at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo was placed on hold due to COVID-19. 

Williams, however, did take a few minutes out of his busy training schedule to talk to us about his journey. 

The Beginning of a Dream
"I began fencing at a recreational program at the YMCA when I was around 12-years-old. At that time, I did not take it very seriously. But, when I was a sophomore in high school I decided I wanted to fence in college. So I quit my high school soccer team to join a competitive fencing program in Atlanta. I found almost immediate success at national-level events in my age category and  was ranked in the top-10 in the U20 division as a senior, which allowed me to get recruited to a college program. When I committed to NYU, I was still largely unknown in the fencing world since I had only been competing for a few seasons. It wasn't until I qualified for the Junior World Team in 2016 that I was able to solidify my reputation as an elite fencer in the U.S." 
                                                                                                                                                                                                                 


New City, Same Dream
"Coach (Steve) Mormando convinced me to come to NYU, which was great because I already knew I wanted to be in New York City. It has the best training opportunities in the country for sabre fencing. When I got to NYU and also began working with my club coach (Patrick Durkan), he brought to my attention that I could potentially make the Junior United States National Team that year. I began traveling to the junior international competitions and somehow ended the season in the top-four in the U.S. in the junior division, which qualified for the junior national team. After competing at the Jr. World Championships I thought to myself "if I can do this, why not try to make the Olympics in the next cycle?" 

Balancing the Workload
"I can't say I was amazing at balancing school work and training. There were many flights spent studying and doing work. On one occasion there was an international competition in Cancun. Everyone else at the competition got to spend their time at the beach or hanging out by the pool. However, the competition happened to fall on my finals week so I spent any free time I had writing essays and studying for exams. The balancing act was a little bit stressful at times. But, I knew I couldn't let the schoolwork go by the wayside. All the professors that I had throughout my time at NYU were super supportive and I can't thank them enough for having patience with me."
 
A Year Off
"On my year off, I hoped to get as much experience and training as possible accomplished preceding the Olympics. Due to my somewhat late entry to the sport, I didn't have the same amount of pure training hours/competitive experience that others had. Being able to solely focus on fencing for that year was really helpful, but also disheartening because even with all the additional training and focus I did not make a single international result. That was extremely disappointing since placing well at these competitions is the deciding factor for qualifying for the Olympics. Fortunately, in the final competition of the 2019 season (the second international competition to count towards the Olympics) things turned around and I managed to make an international result, which has snowballed into several more. Now, with three competitions left (two of which are international) I must make good enough results to break into the top four. With all the time off due to the pandemic, I have been given an extra opportunity to train and plan, which I believe, gives me a major advantage since time and training has always been the key to pushing past my competitors." 

Coaching
"Coach Mormando has been absolutely incredible in teaching me the mental side of fencing. He has a lot of insight on what it means to be an Olympian since he is a three-time Olympian himself. Having his perspective and guidance has been really helpful in developing my own competitive mindset. I can't thank him enough for showing me what it means to be a really competitive athlete and helping me form an Olympic mindset."