The season is coming to a close for the Varsity Blues fencing team, and the team has a lot to be proud of.
Hard work and quick team building have contributed to major success for the team. These traits, complimented by new team members, create a positive outlook for everyone on the team.
Fencing is very much a competitive sport, challenging the agility, fitness, and tactics of competitors. The sport is one-on-one with a choice of three possible weapons: foil, epee, or sabre.
Kawmadie Karunanayake/THE VARSITY
The mantle at U of T will be a be bit more crowded this year thanks to sabre champion William Kinney bringing back the Schwende-Tully trophy for the second consecutive year, and the George Tully trophy, proving his skill, style, and sportsmanship.
Shun Kong delivered some stand out performances this season including a gold medal at Canada’s Cup in the foil division, which did not go unnoticed by head coach Thomas Nguyen.
“I’m very happy to see his hard work translate into more and more victories,” says Nguyen.
Team veteran Donna Vakalis was named Ontario University Athletics fencing all-star.
“The experience of our senior fencers showed in the results, and where several of our newer fencers delivered personal best performances,” said Nguyen.
Paul Godin, a team veteran, couldn’t agree more that the right people have really come together this past season to create a strong team.
“I would say that overall we had a good season, largely due to strong newcomers who replaced the graduating team members from last year. Obviously, we still need some improvement if we hope to win the banner, but if we train hard I can see that becoming a reality next year,” says Godin.
With confidence brimming, skills developing, and the experienced coaching staff mentoring the team, we should see talented rookies like Linnea Sage bring even more hardware back to Blues headquarters.
“What we didn’t realize is how quickly our rookie athletes would grow into central competitive roles,” says team manager Fidelia Ho.
