Happy Valley

I'm going to Penn State tomorrow morning to practice with some of the Penn State team members. With the new school year starting and many of the Rochester Fencing Club members back at college, I don't have a ton of partners to practice with in Rochester. Much like boxing it's important to have sparring partners in order to practice and perfect technique.

One of the freshman at Penn State, Doris Willette, is on the world championship team this year. While I have been away from the sport, Doris has sky rocketed herself to the top of the national rankings. In Doris' early days of fencing she used to look up to me as I was one of the top women's foilists at the time. Now it is I who look up to her for encouragement and advice.

The changing of the guards between Doris and I, so to speak, made me think of how athletes evolve in their sport and the finite period of time in which an athlete has to be the best. Because the simple fact is, one minute you are the young phenom at the top of the world rankings, and the next minute you are bested by a person that grew up watching your every move. Look at Andre Agassi as a prime example. This past week Agassi ended his career at the US Open after playing opponents that were equal in age to the number of years Agassi had been playing tennis. Despite all that he still finished at the top of his game after with a crowd full of fans and a standing ovation.

Not that I think I am anywhere near the fame of Andre Agassi, but I would say that his example rings very true to what I've experienced coming back to the sport. I have been fencing nearly twenty years and Doris has been alive for only eighteen years. I am the oldest team member on the world team and the only one with Olympic experience. Sometimes I wish I could go back to when I was a rising star because at that moment I never thought that the medals and accolades would ever stop. The bottom line? Make the most of this moment because it will never again be this day, this hour, this minute, or this second.

A thank you is in order for Doris because she has been a huge support in my comeback to fencing. It's not often you find a teammate that is willing to put aside competitive drive to compliment you as well as provide thoughtful and constructive criticism for the purpose of improvement.

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As a side note-the Sacramento Monarchs are now tied in the finals of the WNBA championships with the Detroit Shock. The next game is on Saturday at 3:30pm EST on ESPN 2.

Also, an interesting tid bit. I had a meeting today with someone that is helping me with my fundraising efforts. At some point in the conversation she asked me how I wanted potential sponsors to portray me if they were to use my image for marketing purposes. I.E. Sharipova-her catch is that she's beautiful and wears dangly earrings. Serena Williams-her thing is that she's a very strong athlete from the hood. While I struggled to come up with an adjective to effectively describe what I wanted people to see in me-she wrote the word "INTENSE" down. I'm not sure how many products I can sell with my intensity but at least I know how I'm perceived. Am I that intense? Don't answer that.