Written By: Camila Reyna

It is time for winter sports, and with the winter season came almost 40 people signing up for the fencing team! This team is going on its 34th year and offers fencers a choice between three fencing styles: foil, sabre, and épée. Teams are then further divided up between genders. Each mini-team has different methods of fencing, equipment, and blades. Fencing is a varsity-only sport at RCDS, which means that new fencers practice alongside more experienced ones, learning from them. 

When asked about the benefits of the team’s varsity-only nature, the head coach, Dr. Mitschele said, “One of the major goals we have as coaches is to make sure that those new and less experienced fencers, who are just joining the team this year, at some point see varsity level competition.” This team is led by four coaches: Coach Mitschele, Coach Early, Coach Rivera, and Coach Acevedo, as well as six captains: David Kern ‘25, Anika Kini ‘25, and Lizzy Yepes ‘25 in épée, and James Song ‘25, Selena Zhang ‘26, and Leon Zhou ‘26 in foil. Although no sabre captains were elected at the end of last year, sabre has strip leaders that help lead the new sabrists. Captains help run warmups and design practice activities. Zhang explained that being a captain also means “leading by example, helping out in the little things that need doing, communicating with coaches, and just being there for anyone on the team in general.”

Since RCDS does not have an adequate fencing facility, the fencing team practices off-campus at Tim Morehouse Fencing Club, which has both benefits and drawbacks. Ishana Kumar ‘26 said, “The pros are that we get to fence in a real fencing club, which is nice because we have good strips, working equipment, and you can observe people having private lessons and learn from them.” Coach Mitschele elaborated saying, “The pros are that it is a fencing dedicated space,” and he mentioned that having all the fencing equipment at Tim Morehouse Fencing Club is very helpful. He stated that the negative aspect was that “you’re losing practice time in terms of transportation every day,” which Zhang and Kini both pointed out as well. Nonetheless, students are feeling positive at this starting point in the season. Eliana Thomas ‘26, for whom this will be her third year fencing on the team, said, “I really enjoy spending time with the team, especially on the bus rides to and from meets in the city.” Tojumi Otakoya ‘26, for whom this will also be her third year on the team, said, “I’m excited about the season, and I’m looking forward to all our meets.”

This season, the fencing team will have multiple meets and two important tournaments: ISFL individuals, and the NYSAIS tournament. During both of these tournaments, select fencers that have fenced in either half of the bouts or half of the meets, depending on the tournament,  will spend multiple hours at the host school and fence several bouts. Kini said the NYSAIS tournament is her favorite part of the season and added, “It gives you a chance to fence people you already encountered earlier in the season and learn from the mistakes you made the first go-around. It’s also definitely a bonding experience, to say the least. Being in a high school gym for the entire day with your team paves the way for great conversations both on and off the strip.” Fencing practice has now shifted away from footwork for most of the team, although beginners are still learning the basics of this sport. Practice now consists of warm-up exercises and individual practice bouts between people who fence in the same method. During this season, fencers make bonds with upper and lower-classmen. Hopefully, this season will go well for Rye Country Day’s fencing team!