Written by Camila Reyna

The fencing season has been off to a great start! Our RCDS fencing team, led by its four coaches and six captains, has not lost any meets at this point in the season! This team has fenced Grace Church School NYC, Avenues School, Masters, and LREI High School. Throughout the season, the more experienced fencers have been assisting those newer to the team. Eliana Thomas ‘26, a foil fencer, explained, “We try to give as much advice to the newer fencers…as we can. We watch bouts with the younger, more inexperienced fencers and offer them advice and tips on how to improve.” Riley Dixon ‘28, an épéeist, said, “I feel like [the more experienced fencers] are just teaching me really well with techniques and giving me more experience. And even though they’re helping me, they’re not holding back with what they do, and I’m just learning new things every day.” The Wildcats are a tight-knit team, and when asked about how she thinks the meets have gone so far, Thomas said, “So far, I think they’ve been pretty good. Girls’ foil is a really good squad. We have a lot of club fencers, and everyone else is just really talented. There’s a really great atmosphere, so everyone’s always cheering for each other. It’s very supportive.” 

Although some of the Wildcats’s competitors do not offer all the fencing squads, the team still competes, and if the meet is at RCDS, then those who are not competing are sometimes asked to attend the meet nonetheless to show support for their teammates. 

One day during practice, fencers had the opportunity to cross-fence or switch from the blade they normally fence to one of the other two. This activity helps fencers see a blade from a new perspective and they have the chance to take something that they learned from fencing with another blade to the blade they usually fence with. The épée squad practiced with a round-robin style, in which fencers switch their opponents after a few points. This practice helps fencers fence those that they usually do not practice with, which can help them better prepare for competitions because they see different styles of fencing. 

The Independent School Fencing League individual tournament occurs once a season, and is going to take place on January 25th. In this tournament, fencers compete individually, as opposed to having one team score. During this event, fencers have the chance to rematch opponents they fenced in earlier in the season. This competition is usually a whole-day event and helps to bring the team closer together. Evan Kern ‘27 is enthusiastic about the upcoming tournament: “I’m excited to re-fence some of the people that I lost to before.” Dania Suliman ‘26, stated, “I’m excited to do a long day of fencing. It’s a very great atmosphere.” After being asked about how he is feeling about ISFLs, Coach Early, who has been coaching fencing at RCDS for 18 years, said “I think a lot of our fencers can do well…the work ethic of this team individually has been excellent, and as a group it’s been excellent.”

Before the ISFL individual tournament, women’s foil, sabre, and épée have a meet at Marymount, and the Monday after the ISFL individual tournament, they have a meet at Horace Mann. Go Wildcats!