Women's Fencing - Outstanding Recruit

[Abraxas]

Becca Ward (Oregon) has signed her letter of intent to join the Duke Women's Fencing Team. Becca is the only fencer who in the same year (2006) won the cadet, junior and senior World Women's Saber Championships. She is also a class act as a person. She is currently ranked as #2 fencer in the USA, but also ranked #2 in the world.

http://www.womenssportsfoundation.or...ml?record=1237

http://www.theregalcourier.com/sport...67173264508300

http://www.usfencing.org/usfa/content/view/1891/130/

http://www.fie.ch/Competitions/Ranking.aspx

http://www.fie.ch/Competitions/Fence...A54595D880FCEC

[dukemomLA]

Aewsome recruit! Can't wait for our Devil's fencing team to get at it!

[Lord Ash]

Hm, interesting, never seen fencing notes here before.

#2 in the world is a big, big deal tho, especially in a sport normally dominated by Europeans.

[yancem]

Hm, interesting, never seen fencing notes here before.

#2 in the world is a big, big deal tho, especially in a sport normally dominated by Europeans.

You know you're a big fan when you start posting about fencing! I'm impressed.

[Abraxas]

I am a MBB nut, but my mental floss is fencing Epee. I just happen to be competing at the Richmond NAC, and I am a good friend of her parents. I did congratulate her on her excellent choice. She is very happy of coming to Duke, and her coach was delighted. I am surprised that the goduke.com site has not run a story.

[Mike Corey]

There's no reason that Duke shouldn't have one of the top fencing programs in the country, if for no other reason than someone has to knock Notre Dame off its pedestal.

If memory serves, Duke has had some outstanding individual fencers this year, though none of Ms. Ward's high school achievements.

Here's hoping Ms. Ward can help to usher in a new era in Duke fencing, and best of luck to her in the future.

[Capn Poptart]

This is terrific news! I've been noticing that the black iron fence near Duke University Road needs some touching up!

Sorry. Welcome to Duke.

[Abraxas]

I am still surprised that Goduke has not picked up the story. How often do you recruit a World Champion in any varsity sport?

[diablesseblu]

I am still surprised that Goduke has not picked up the story. How often do you recruit a World Champion in any varsity sport?

I'm not surprised.

[Mike Corey]

It'll be taken care of.

[diablesseblu]

It'll be taken care of.

Thanks...for all you do.

[Lord Ash]

Duke has always been a pretty strong fencing program, and just in the last ten years it beat Carolina for the first time in like 35 years AND had a NCAA champ. The Duke program is pretty robust. The key is that it is a hard sport to watch.

[mapei]

I just had to open up a thread on women's fencing, just for the experience. Congrats to Duke for apparently landing a good recruit. Carry on.

[juise]

My home state (Oregon) has been good to Duke ... considering the relatively small number of top-flight NCAA athletes it yields (kinda like Alaska).

[DukeFencer]

A number of Duke fencers did well at that Richmond NAC. While the women's team is having a big rebuilding year, the men's team looks tough this year. The men had 3 fencers in the top 80.

The most impressive showing came from Assistant Coach Leslie Marx, who placed 8th in the Div I event. Marx competed in the '96 Olympics and has not competed in the past 10 years. Really remarkable.

http://www.goduke.com/ViewArticle.db...ATCLID=1350920

[gus]

Duke has always been a pretty strong fencing program, and just in the last ten years it beat Carolina for the first time in like 35 years AND had a NCAA champ. The Duke program is pretty robust. The key is that it is a hard sport to watch.

10 years? It's been almost 13!

It was the 94/95 season, and it was the first win over UNC, not the first in 35 years. Duke won the last two bouts to win 14-13. One of those two wins was Jeremy Kahn, who would win the NCAA championship the next season.

Duke hasn't been strong historically (in terms of results), but the coach (Maitre Beguinet) is great. Having their own training facility instead of practicing on the basketball courts in Card undoubtedly has helped.

Fencing is hard to watch - particularly saber. Here's a youtube clip of Ward:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=oWvaOasOxCs&feature=related

eta - I guess the fleche is illegal in saber now? That makes it much more watchable. Youtube is great!

[DukeFencer]

Fortunately the tides of changes in Duke-Carolina fencing - Duke beats Carolina pretty consistently these days! (Even despite the fact that they show up with close to 75 extra people to cram into Card gym for Duke's home invitational, and one year a GREAT number of them were wearing "DUCK FUKE" t-shirts. Always Classy, Carolina.

[Abraxas]

It finally made it to the GoDuke.com website.

http://www.goduke.com/ViewArticle.db...ATCLID=1472251

[dcarp23]

Fencing is hard to watch - particularly saber. Here's a youtube clip of Ward:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=oWvaOasOxCs&feature=related

eta - I guess the fleche is illegal in saber now? That makes it much more watchable. Youtube is great!

How did the woman on the right win? I have never seen a sport I have understood less. What was the score?

[gus]

How did the woman on the right win? I have never seen a sport I have understood less. What was the score?

Sabre is a bit hard to watch, and this video isn't particularly good.

She won because she scored more touches than her opponent (15-11)

Sabre developed as a cavalry weapon, so the target area is anything above the waist (ie, above the horse). You can score with a cut or a thrust. Her last touch was a simple cut to the shoulder that her opponent failed to parry.

Every once and a while the camera pans down and you see the lights. When the green light shines, the fencer on the right (in this case) has scored on the target area. When the red light shines, the fencer on the left has. If both lights shine, both have hit the target area. In epee, both fencers would be awarded a touch. This is where sabre and foil get complicated: no double touches are allowed. There are rules to determine who gets the touch based on who has priority. I'm not going to really try to explain it, but the basic idea is that the person who initiates the attack first has priority. If the attack fails, the defender then has priority.