Ken Sin is a junior on the NYU men's fencing team. he will share his thoughts in this space throughout the 2011-12 season.
Written December 4, 2011
The month of December began with our first serious meet. Of course, all meets are competitive, but as noted by captain Phil Jamesson, the challengers don’t get any weaker from here on.
It’s our first weekend back from Thanksgiving vacation. Although we should all be rested from the break, as we loaded the bus I noticed the passing wave of coughs that indicated a crack in our flawless countenance. Many of us would be fighting through soft colds and minor headaches. Already, this was an uphill battle.
Our first match was against host Penn State, probably the toughest school there. However, coach Ed Elterman saw this as an opportunity. The plan was to enter the day with high intensity. Although we suffered a devastating loss, we left the match with a hunger for victories which prepared us for the upcoming matches for the day.
Our day was dressed with beautiful touches, motivational speeches, weird screams, coach Kornel’s joyful cheers, great comebacks, and laughs for all. As usual, it seems, our day ended with great individual performances and weakness in some aspects of the team. I’ve noticed since joining the team, although we have several powerful starters scattered throughout the squads, the team lacked a certain depth that’s been keeping us from taking overall victories. Another hindrance seemed to be the new anxiety collegiate fencing has affecting our freshmen starters. It wasn’t very noticeable at the Temple Open or our first small meet, but the stakes were different now.
There was a hurdle and a certain mindset they had to overcome. There seems to always be those people you’ve seen and fenced with all your childhood, and since they were older, stronger, and faster, they seemed like monsters compared to your weak little self. As you grew, you kept seeing them over and over in competition such that their image was burned into your mind. Whether you grew too comfortable with them or too fearful of them, the truth stood – you were fencing them on even grounds now. Get five touches before they did and that’s all that matters now.
The nerves I saw in the freshmen, whether it was in fencing these old friends and foes, impressing their coaches, or worrying about their records – it really dampened their fencing abilities. They were ready to leave the strip before hooking up, when they really needed to have nothing else on their mind but to win and to be picturing themselves winning. Fortunately, most of them overcame it and once their focus was adjusted to what was immediately in front of them, the difference was drastic. Specific props go to freshmen foilists Andrew Ark and Audra Fox on their fantastic performances.
Currently, our men’s foil squad seems the strongest NYU has had in years. Junior Phil Jamesson leads the charge showing veteran skills with the best record this weekend. Christian Vastola, who was most our potent freshmen last year, showed the huge difference in one year of NCAA experience by taking down many strong opponents in a dominating fashion – specifically impressive performances over Princeton’s Mills and Daniluk. As mentioned, Andrew Ark started the day slowly, but finished with convincing sweeps over the Vassar College and Sacred Heart University teams. David Popkin lost some very difficult bouts with the tough fencers from Penn State and Princeton. However, once given the same period to shake off his nerves, I see a promising future in this freshman.
I think a difference in the squad now that adds to our depth is the availability of rotations when one of us gets a little winded compared to the past when three starters had to fence the entire day. For example, if one of the fencers was out of juice or slumping for one meet, rather than throwing them in for a sloppy bout, Ed was able to sub in those of us who’ve been well rested. Props to the rest of the bench, too: Joe Wu, Michael Lui, John Masters, and Josh Block for all their support and help throughout the day.
Unfortunately, my coverage is limited since I am largely with the foil squad most of the meet. However, it seems to be that since many of our ace sabre and epee fencers graduated the past several years, this leaves a heavy burden for the remaining upperclassmen and big shoes and a large lot for the freshmen to fill.
We truly saw the missing element in the sabre squad this meet as senior captain Ben Radding had an injury early in the initial matches.
As we take in an overwhelming amount of freshmen this year, I can only hope it is worth it because our bus is always the fullest and our crowds are always the largest at every meet. At least our cheers should be the loudest, right?
