Meet Audrey McCoy and now 16-year-old student at Desert Vista. Audrey was around 15 when she stumbled upon fencing but says she fell in love that immediately

“I would say that it’s just so fun,” said Audrey. “Like it’s, just a great sport in general because it’s different, It’s not like Like football is like great to watch and I’m sure it’s great to play but it’s very common versus fencing. It’s a whole different Playing, I don’t know the word I’m trying to think of it but it’s just it’s different You know. Like it’s unique. Yeah, it’s unique. You’re basically fighting with like a metal stick. Basically sword fighting and it’s like hey I’m not tackling someone for a goal.”

Knowing that there are three types of fencing swords, Audrey goes on to tell why sabers her favorite and the differences between them. 

”I only fence saber, it’s the best, hands down!” she said. “Foil and epee can leave, but I think I like saber because it’s different from the other two. With Foil and Epee, you stab the other person but, with a saber, you have to cut with the edge of the blade. But, it’s just saber has different rules and it’s also the quickest and like you don’t wait for anything like you just read and hit the other person versus with foil and epee and There’s a lot of waiting and I don’t like that.”

I wanted to go deeper into the fencing world and ask for some samples of some strategies that she uses the most in why she uses them.

“That’s a very complicated question,” Audrey responded. “ It’s all about recognizing patterns, which I’m not good at. Because you have to realize what the other person is doing, And what you are doing, and how your actions are Like creating actions from them. So like,  If I’m really aggressive When I fence are they running away from me or are they trying to counter that aggression and go just as fast.  And then from there, it’s like, you have to pay attention to every single touch and it’s very difficult to remember every single touch and know which touch What to do next but the biggest strategy that I use is to go slow. And that’s the best way is to go slow like you can just see more. And then just trying To commit to memory as best you can.”

 Next to the question that every athlete faces in their career. Has she ever thought about quitting the sport?

 “I have considered that multiple times,” she said. “Because like self-deprecation and stuff which is something that I deal with a lot of, and like even i’ve had those thoughts I’m like, it’s probably better if I start like I’m never going to be good enough. But I still believe that, well, if I put in the effort I can be good enough someday and like the family always believed in me too.”

  Thank you to all of you for being so willing to do this interview. It has been an amazing experience learning about fencing and this is Sophia.