Jess Sherman is a freshman on the NYU women's fencing team. She will share her thoughts in this space throughout the 2010-11 season.
Posted December 14
Last Sunday (Dec. 5) was the Sacred Heart Invitational in Fairfield, CT, our first real team tournament. It went a little differently than expected.
It was a long day and we fenced six other schools: Harvard, Princeton, North Carolina, Vassar, Penn State, and Sacred Heart. Many of these schools, like Harvard and Penn State, have our country’s top fencers.
The first schools we fenced were Harvard, Princeton, and UNC. My teammates, Amanda (Rysling) and Sam (Anthony), and I struggled with the first two schools, not fencing as well as we’d hoped. We stepped it up for UNC, but lost with a close score of 5-4, with the last bout going into overtime.
We had a bye next. We took this time to sit and think and get ourselves back into the competition, and most importantly to keep ourselves from being psyched out by our losses. The captains: Amanda, Ben (Radding), Oung-Jo (Yu), and Vicki (Sheng) were essential in keeping our spirits up and keeping us motivated.
This is the team aspect that I mentioned last time. I’ve fenced badly at the beginning of competitions and let it get to my head. So, by the end I stopped caring what happened. But with a supportive team behind you, it is easy to stop yourself and think, “So that bout went badly.” But, instead of stopping there, the team helps you think about what you can do for the next bout. You move on and keep fencing, which is much harder to do when you’re alone.
The next school we fenced was Sacred Heart, and we returned to fencing with a new drive. The women’s foil team achieved a solid win against Sacred Heart. Against Vassar, we fenced very strongly, beating them 8-1. Amanda and Sam fenced very well, with Sam looking stronger than I’ve ever seen her before. Penn State boasts some of the top fencers in our country, so we knew it would be a tough school. I was able to win the first bout of the meet 5-1, but Sam and Lauren Mullen fenced strongly as well. Phil Jamesson, Oung-Jo and Ken Sin offered us invaluable advice and support.
Overall, the meet went okay. At the beginning we did not do as well as we’d hoped. But, by the latter bouts we were able to motivate each other to keep trying. It was a long day of fencing, and by time we boarded the bus for our return to New York City we were all exhausted. Though it did not go as well as we’d hoped, we left that competition knowing what we need to work on.
We have about a month until our next meet on January 22nd, the NYU Invitational, and many team members have national competition between now and then, so there is little time for relaxation. Though we no longer have NYU practices, I—and many of my teammates—will be training hard for those competitions in the coming days, working on working out the problems that came to light at Sacred Heart.
Jess Sherman is a freshman on the NYU women's fencing team. She will share her thoughts in this space throughout the 2010-11 season.
Posted December 2
When I was asked to do a blog for the women’s fencing team, I was a little hesitant. It’s my first year on the team and I’ve only fenced for three years. What could I write about? But after further consideration, I changed my mind. Maybe it will be fun, and reviewing how meets went is always a good thing.
It has been about two weeks since our last competition, and our meet at Sacred Heart University this Sunday is fast approaching.
Training has been going well, even though I took about a week and a half off. I sprained my wrist the day after we returned from the Temple Open, and made the mistake of fencing on it for a week every day. And, after a three-hour practice on Saturday and a competition on Sunday, I was unable to use it. Fortunately, it was not broken and I have been able to return to practices at both NYU and the Fencer’s Club.
When I returned to practice this Tuesday, the team was supportive and helpful in getting me back into the usual routine. My teammates were open to fencing me even though I was out of practice.
As a freshman, this meet will be my first real team event. Top fencing schools like Penn State and Vassar will be in attendance, so it will be a hard meet.
But everyone has been training hard, and I have faith that the team will fence to the best of its ability.
Amanda Rysling is a senior on the NYU women's fencing team. She will share her thoughts in this space throughout the 2010-11 season.
Posted November 14
The first two events of our season are over, and I have some time to reflect after a fast-paced five days, which I think I will cover one at a time.
It began on Friday, November 5. The day before a meet, inevitably a travel day, is never as relaxing as one would wish a pre-competition day to be. Making sure that the people coming up late manage to find their way, trying to account for people who are late for the NYU bus, trying to make sure that everyone takes what he or she needs, etc., etc. Travel is always a mess, especially when you have 50 or so people doing it. And, even when you get there, you have to navigate an unknown city to find food, water and Gatorade.
Saturday, November 6, was a great day for the women's fencing team. A special shout-out is due to Vicki Sheng, the first women's epeeist to place in the top eight at the Temple Open since I have been at NYU. Another shout-out is due to Lisa Verzino, the first women's sabreist to place in the top four at Temple since I have been here. And, I was satisfied to finish my last Temple Open with a personal best of top four in women's foil. Looking ahead, it is a very encouraging start to the season, especially when I see the results lists that show that our teammates in all weapons were not far behind us. I would like to thank our men's team for being such valuable support to us that day, from coaching to feeding and watering us, they definitely did their best to make sure that all we had to do was focus on competition. A special thank you to recent alumnus (and one of last year's men's captains) Andrew Stanco, who came back to coach his beloved epee squad while our coaches Kornel Udvarhelyi and Lauren Willock were in Paris at the World Championships.
Sunday, November 7, was a good day for the men's fencing team. Phil Jamesson placed in the top eight in men's foil, while in men's sabre, Kyle Wilson placed in the top four, while Hugo Rodrigues and Ben Radding placed in the top eight. This was our day to repay the men's team for their wonderful help the day before, and I would like to think that we gave it our best shot. It is always difficult for us in foil, because men's foilists outnumber women's foilists, so we were spread thin running around trying to make sure that everyone had the snacks, water, and coaching he needed.
Monday, November 8, I and everyone else on the team groggily slogged through the day, sleeping as much as we could and steeling our strength for the meet on Tuesday. Thank goodness it was at home!
Tuesday, November 9, all of us banded together, and though many of us were still sore from the weekend, we pulled through to a great NCAA season opening! FDU brought the normal three sabreists, but only two epeeists and one foilist. Because we fenced two rounds, my foil squad mates, Jess Sherman and Sam Anthony, and I each went 2-0 in foil. I also had the special treat of fencing in epee in the first round and winning one bout. My co-captain, Vicki Sheng, who did a great job coaching her fellow epeeists in the absence of other coaches, went undefeated in epee, going 4-0. On the sabre squad, Lisa Verzino was 4-2 on the day.
What do these results mean (besides that everyone on the team slept like a baby for the rest of the week)? They speak to a team that has already demonstrated through back-to-back competitions that it is prepared both psychologically and physically to be consistently serious about its fencing. This is a great thing to see this early on, because a lot of college fencing involves multiple days of fencing with minimal time for rests. I am proud of the freshmen, of whom we have many this year. They have seamlessly jumped right into their roles on the team. I am proud of the upperclassmen, who have shown dedication and leadership even though it was not explicitly asked of them. I truly believe that they are already conscious of the roles they need to play to make us the best team we can be this year. I would like to specially recognize and thank my fellow co-captains Oung-Jo Yuh, Ben Radding and Vicki Sheng, all of whom both impressed and helped me at Temple and at the Stevens/FDU meet.
I believe that together, this team will make this season (sadly my last) a great one.
