CONTINUING TO ADVANCE: Princeton High girls’ fencer and team captain Eleanora Kreike-Martin shows her saber form. With a total of approximately 50 athletes competing for the boys’ and girls’ squads, the program is continuing to make progress.

By Bill Alden

Sam Blanchard got exposed to fencing through taking a PE course at the University of Oregon in the 1980s and he quickly became hooked on the sport.

“It is continually engaging. It keeps the mind and body sharp,” said Blanchard.

“You have to make quick decisions, you have to handle making those decisions under pressure. The physicality of it can’t be ignored. You have to be able to move quickly and precisely. There is a lot of agility and balance, and you have technical skill involved. It is a sport that constantly offers new challenges; there is more to learn everyday.”

Relishing those challenges, Blanchard, 51, has competed in foil and epee, getting ranked in the top 10 nationally in his age group.

“I have medaled in my age group numerous times, as high as sixth place with a couple of eighth places,” said Blanchard.

“I have bounced in and out the top 10 in my age group in points standings over the years.”

Looking to pass on his passion for the sport, Blanchard started coaching with the Princeton High fencing program eight years ago as it went from club status to a varsity team.

“Philosophically I have always run the program to be as inclusive as possible,” said Blanchard, who founded the Princeton Interscholastic Fencing club and also coaches at the YMCA, the Chapin School, and the Bucks County Academy of Fencing.

“We are a no-cut team; if you get all of your paperwork in, you get to participate. Our focus is on teaching people how to fence, creating a vigorous learning environment for fencing, and helping as many students as possible, through inclusion, to benefit from the sport.”

That focus has led to many of his fencers to fall in love with the sport. “For the most part, they do stick with it; most of our kids continue fencing one way or the other when they go to college,” said Blanchard.

“We get a lot of freshmen who come in that just think it sounds cool. One of the things that I really like is that I get a lot of kids that other would not be involved in a team sport. We are kind of the nerd squad. I joke that the fencing team is merely a subsidiary of the Harry Potter fan club.”

With a total of approximately 50 athletes competing for the boys’ and girls’ squads, Blanchard has had to be creative as his team vies for space to train along with the other winter teams at PHS.

“We practice at a number of places; we have to compete with a lot of other sports, there is wrestling and there are a dozen basketball teams, everything else that requires gyms to do what they do,” said Blanchard.

“So to fencing, they say you can do that anywhere. We practice in a lot of places. We practice in the cafeteria; I have tried to organize that so we do it less this year because that requires a big time commitment to tear down the cafeteria and then set it up again and put it back together when we are done. We work around the other sports schedules to get the gym as much as possible so we mostly practice in the gym.”

In assessing his boys’ squad, credits junior Stephane Morel with doing a good job leading the foil unit.

“Stephane is the boys’ team captain and also the foil team captain,” said Blanchard.

“He is one of my lead foil fencers. We have a number of very good foil fencers this year. I am very excited about the development of the foil spot. Stephane and Oliver Cai are both really strong competitors as is Drew Baird.”

As for the epee group, PHS is a work in progress. “Epee is very much in a rebuilding situation; our epee captain is Marti Boix-Adsera,” added Blanchard. 

“He is a senior and is a very good kid and a very good leader. He is good with all of the people skills that he needs to have. We have a freshman, Theodore Kopaliani, who has a lot of potential. I am very excited for his development.”

Blanchard is excited with the progress being shown by the boys’ saber crew.

“Saber is very exciting; we had some graduation losses but I have some freshman fencers that are very good,” said Blanchard.

“Chris Bao, Luke Tong, and James Li are all freshmen and they have been fencing for a couple of years. I am very excited to see the boys saber team develop over the next couple  of years.”

The PHS girls’ epee squad has produced a very good winter. “The girls’ team has done fantastic this season; one of our big highlights is that the girls’ epee squad has qualified for the states,” said Blanchard, whose epee group took third in districts.

“We have a senior Erica Oake who is a seasoned competitor. She is a very accomplished modern pentathlete; she decided to join the fencing team this year after several years of enticing. Camille Lambert did excellent in districts and Maja Jonas has been fencing very strong. She just started the sport and is taking to it quite well. Harmonie Ramsden has been on the team and as a sophomore is stepping into a mentor position for the other girls on the team.”

The foil unit has been stepping up as well. “The foil team is definitely developing,” said Blanchard.

“Our foil captain is a sophomore, Eleni Staikos. She started off as a very strong fencer as a freshman and has come in and is an excellent leader. Isabel Wong joined us as a freshman and is definitely developing into a strong fencer.”

The girls’ saber group boasts leadership and talent. “Eleanora Kreike-Martin is our overall captain and Christina Franke is the girls’ saber captain,” said Blanchard.

“Anusha Vangala, Anya Raju, and Shira Kulin have joined us and I am excited to see how they develop.”

Overall, Blanchard is excited about the prospects for the program going forward.

“I am really happy with the development of our fencers; it is about teaching the sport, helping good fencers get better, and helping beginning fencers develop,” said Blanchard.

“I want to create a real productive learning environment for everyone. We have out performed expectations in every category. It can only improve from here.”