No. 3 Penn men’s fencing team came out victorious after this weekend’s Philadelphia Invitational, and has high hopes going into the remainder of the season looking towards the Ivy League Championships.
The team faced six schools on each day and collected five wins on Saturday and four on Sunday — including a tight win against the top nationally-ranked Notre Dame team by a score of 14-13 on Saturday.
"[This was] a really great achievement, not just for the team but for the program,” senior foilist Bryce Louie said.
The invitational served as an introduction to collegiate fencing for the freshman, an opportunity for team bonding, and preparation for future opponents during the Ivy League Championship in March.
The former was particularly true for the saber squad. On paper, the very young saber squad has many strengths. They have all been World Team members and have traveled for world cups, but according to junior and three-time saber captain Simon Kushkov, this weekend still presented new experiences.
This weekend, Kushkov was focused on supporting the underclassmen, particularly the three freshmen — whose first introduction to collegiate fencing was this invitational.
“It's a really different format [than individual competitive fencing]. My goal was to make sure that they got accustomed to the format, more exposure to the team aspect rather than individual,” Kushkov said.
The saber squad went 7-2 and has been undefeated the entire season. Kushkov felt that team energy was high, they supported each other in addition to being able to cheer on the women's team who they frequently train with, and successfully “[found their] stride together.”
Louie was similarly focusing on the freshman in his squad, sharing his reaction after one of the freshmen told him he was feeling afraid during a bout.
“I grabbed him and told him, ‘I wanna see that really fun and spiritual person that I see in practice on this strip. You're not being yourself. Be obnoxious, be spiritual, go have fun.’ That's when he really started turning it up,” Louie said.
The team began the weekend fencing conservatively and nervously and had to implement some changes, such as practicing celebrations after every point, screaming, and making jokes. Louie recalls imitating the Costco Boom or Doom guys.
"After we won a bout, I would look at my team and say, ‘this bout, it's two booms!’ we’d all go ‘boom, boom!’ That's when I really started to see people be more expressive on the strip and really start enjoying it,” Louie said.
Though the team had a lot of fun, there was also a lot of strategy in how they competed and what they showed to the other teams, particularly Yale.
While talented, Louie has been fencing Yale for four years, and he is familiar competition to the Bulldogs by now. The Quakers had a secret star on their roster — a new transfer student with a unique style — and decided to be strategic by not having him fence.
“We want to save him and hide him from Yale so they would be surprised by his weirdness and unique style,” Louie said.
Strategy is important because many of these athletes have seen each other numerous times.
“The fencing community is quite small … We've known the people that we’re competing against for years,” Kushkov said.
The team weekend may have been successful, but the team has greater ambitions.
Using the experience gained from the Invitational, the team will be ramping up the intensity gearing towards Ivy League Championships, NCAA Regionals, and NCAA Division I championships.
For Louie, the mental game is the top priority currently, specifically looking to get rid of fear in competition as it is easy for the team to be scared to lose or disappoint the program or the school.
“Over the next few weeks, we really want to emphasize the idea of enjoying it, savoring it, and fencing from a more positive lens,” Louie said.
This includes establishing trust amongst teammates, especially because collegiate fencing is so different from individual fencing. He encouraged his teammates to support each other and seek advice from each other while on the strip.
Regarding how they are preparing for upcoming meets, Kushkov has noticed all of his teammates arriving to practice early by at least half an hour, taking extra lessons, and leaving late.
“We're doing a lot of bout analysis … when you review video footage of fencing of your opponents. We have scheduled time to break down every fencer that we are going to be facing at the Ivy championships,” Kushkov said.
This includes reviewing footage of how their opponents fence currently and in the past together as a team.
Kushkov noted how the diversity within the team and input from many different perspectives and fencing experiences are helpful for preparing mentally and making a game plan.
“We really do our homework to make sure we're at the top of our game," Kushkov said.
However, what sticks out most to him right now is the team culture.
“Team morale is as high as I’ve ever seen. Our intensity is extreme … Really [a] grit, driven mindset. I love our team culture, it's just the best across all programs. The team is like a family,” Kushkov said.
Penn men's fencing is on the road this weekend for the Penn State Invitational, and the team returns to the Palestra for the Ivy League Championships from Feb. 8 to Feb. 9.
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