what's in a name?

I'm all about nicknames. You can ask my teammates about it-I've probably had a hand in creating the nicknames they have on the team. I call it the women's foil frasority, we have a couple of guys in our group as well.

Hanna is "skinny" (self-explanatory)
Emily is "the brain" (she goes to Harvard)
Erinn is "guns" (since she broke her finger she has managed to find a way to hit from the hip)
Doris is "the kid" (she's the youngest)
Nat is "the owl" (because she's so wise)
Mike is "the mission" (he is always on a mission and his fencing club is in the mission in SF)
My name-well that is still being decided.

My original nickname was "Mama". Mostly because I was the one with the most experience on the team (although Erinn is older and has just about as much experience), I've been around a long time, and I have a tendency to want to take care of others.

However, this past week I was thinking about it. There is a lot in a name-just take Romeo and Juliet for example, where I ripped the title of this blog from. There is a lot in a name-some names you don't like because you don't like the person they are associated with. Did you have a run in with Rose? Do you like the name Chad because he was your high school sweetheart?

Names are important. Nicknames are just as important because they are supposed to represent a very concentrated part of you. I just wasn't feeling like I was the name Mama. I am still a competitor, I still want to win, and Mama just seems like I should have three kids and a minivan. Nothing wrong with that but not at this moment in my life.

An old Rochester Fencing Club teammate of mine came to visit the club last week during the fencing camp. She made a face when I told her that my nickname was Mama. Julianna knew me as a youngster so Mama would never make sense to her. More importantly, Mama would never make sense to her because I was always so intent on beating the crap out of everyone at fencing practice. I was an intense teenager I guess.

Her words made me think. How did I go from this super intense person to a nurturer? Then it hit me-the nickname just didn't work for me. I asked Julianna to come up with another, more appropriate nickname for the situation.

Julianna finally came up with one at the end of practice on the last day of fencing camp-"the energizer". This comes from the energizer bunny since I always seem to be on the go, up and running, but I also shut off when I am tired. I have three modes-"go", "go faster", and "full stop".

I am both these nicknames. I believe that I am someone that will work hard to get to their goals but doesn't believe that the ends justifies the means. I want to earn a place on the team without compromising any of my ideals. I think that in sports, just as in politics, there is always one path that is clearly right (perhaps slower) and one path that is clearly a little muddied.

Maybe I feel this way because I just watched Karate Kid. It was pretty sweet to see Daniel-Sun beat up on the Cobra Kai without stooping to their level. The crane kick is still one of my favorite parts of any movie I've seen.

Anyways, enough of that segue, I am happier with the nickname energizer. It makes me feel less like a soccer mom and more like the competitor that I am.