This was my 4th year coaching Purdue at Notre Dame's annual DeCiccio Dual Meets. It is a 2 day event. Purdue competed against 8 other schools.
I'll be the first to point out that Notre Dame is a 13 time winner of the NCAA Fencing Championships and in the most recent Olympics N.D. had roughly 30 fencers from its school competing for multiple nations, including the USA. That said, they are pretty much the best of the best, and when we faced off with them today, Notre Dame did not face us with their best fencers, and they pretty much thrashed Purdue. BUT that is not to say that there were not some highlights.
Purdue's Men's Epee squad beat Notre Dame 7 bouts to 2. And there were several individual wins that were epic (at least epic for us). In addition to others, I was happy to see 2 of my Women's Saber fencers, who started fencing as college freshman, won bouts against N.D. today.
Purdue's Epee Squad (LEFT SIDE OF PHOTO) beat the N.D. Squad (right side of photo)
Purdue club president, Casper (left) beat a N.D. fencer 5 to 0
Anya, Purdue Saber caption, beat a ND fencer 5 - 0 and this was her first win ever against ND
Katy, a senior at Purdue, won a bout 5 - 1 in her first win ever against N.D.
As I said, we didn't fence the top competitors at Notre Dame but my kids were thrilled to get some wins. You don't get to fence at Notre Dame unless you are a top tier fencer, so any win is a good win against N.D.
Katy's win was the highlight of my day, I actually started coaching Purdue at this very event 4 years ago. I was there to watch our Dasha, who was fencing for Notre Dame, and the Purdue squad was right in front of me fencing. And there was Katy, a very inexperienced beginner doing everything wrong. I started talking to them from my seat in the bleachers and the head coach from Notre Dame literally called me out of the stands to coach them. Who would have guessed that that would have led to me formally becoming their coach.
I'll be the first to point out that Notre Dame is a 13 time winner of the NCAA Fencing Championships and in the most recent Olympics N.D. had roughly 30 fencers from its school competing for multiple nations, including the USA. That said, they are pretty much the best of the best, and when we faced off with them today, Notre Dame did not face us with their best fencers, and they pretty much thrashed Purdue. BUT that is not to say that there were not some highlights.
Purdue's Men's Epee squad beat Notre Dame 7 bouts to 2. And there were several individual wins that were epic (at least epic for us). In addition to others, I was happy to see 2 of my Women's Saber fencers, who started fencing as college freshman, won bouts against N.D. today.
Purdue's Epee Squad (LEFT SIDE OF PHOTO) beat the N.D. Squad (right side of photo)
Purdue club president, Casper (left) beat a N.D. fencer 5 to 0
Anya, Purdue Saber caption, beat a ND fencer 5 - 0 and this was her first win ever against ND
Katy, a senior at Purdue, won a bout 5 - 1 in her first win ever against N.D.
As I said, we didn't fence the top competitors at Notre Dame but my kids were thrilled to get some wins. You don't get to fence at Notre Dame unless you are a top tier fencer, so any win is a good win against N.D.
Katy's win was the highlight of my day, I actually started coaching Purdue at this very event 4 years ago. I was there to watch our Dasha, who was fencing for Notre Dame, and the Purdue squad was right in front of me fencing. And there was Katy, a very inexperienced beginner doing everything wrong. I started talking to them from my seat in the bleachers and the head coach from Notre Dame literally called me out of the stands to coach them. Who would have guessed that that would have led to me formally becoming their coach.