April 27, 2005
Spartans excel at swordplay
TC West High graduates top members of MSU Fencing Club
By Carol South
Herald contributing writer
Four area high school graduates have become notable fencers with the Michigan State University Fencing Club.
Traverse City West High School graduates Matt Socia, 2000, Erin Socia, 2003 and Laura Chapin, 2000, plus Suttons Bay graduate Johanna Nugent, 2001, are part of a fencing club that took fifth place overall among 24 other college fencing clubs from around the country. The club is also proud of besting the fencers from the University of Michigan, a similarly sized club.
"Laura, Erin, Johanna and Matt constitute four of MSU's best five fencers," said Christopher Oberg, the school's fencing club advisor who has been involved with the sport there for 29 years.
"All four of them are team leaders, dedicated to helping bring teammates up to their level of fencing, sportsmanship and team spirit," he added.
Matt Socia, captain of the men's team, said the competition at the tournament was challenging, including teams from Purdue, Clemson, Dartmouth and Cornell. This is the third year that fencing clubs have gathered to face off at the club level.
This year Michigan State, an average sized club among the competitors, hosted the event on the first weekend in April.
"There were some pretty tough clubs here, Army and Massachusetts were the really tough ones," he said.
The Grand Traverse region students achieved mastery in the sport despite never having fenced before arriving on campus. Matt Socia was very active in music and theater at West and did not have time for sports. He started fencing as a freshman as something to do and wound up loving the sport. He got his sister involved when she went to MSU three years later.
Socia, who fences saber, said the sport is a combination of physical challenge and mental discipline.
"You can't be a good fencer if you don't think and you have to think really fast," said Socia, who will graduate this spring with a degree in music education. "Before you get up to fence, you have to concentrate on how you are going to pick apart your opponent."
Erin Socia, who also fences with the saber, agreed the sport requires intense mental concentration and strategy to win a bout.
"You have to figure the person out and once you figure them out, hopefully you beat them," she said, noting she plans to pursue fencing as a lifetime sport.
Socia and the other local fencers are all members of the club's travel team, which takes on both other clubs and varsity programs during the January-April season. The schedule can be very intense, noted the music education major.
"Pretty much during the travel season, you life is school and fencing," she said.
Serendipity brought Johanna Nugent to the sport her freshman year: a friend across the hall in her dorm invited her to a practice. The veteran volleyball player loved the sport and tried the foil her first year but later moved into her current weapon, the epee. At the club tournament earlier this month, she took fourth place for women in the epee.
"I fenced spectacularly, better than I ever had," said Nugent, who plans a December 2005 graduation with a degree in biosystems engineering.
"It was just the most fabulous experience ever," she added. "I definitely hope to pursue it after graduation."
Members of the fencing club meet four times a week in the evening for two-hour practices. They work on general conditioning, as the sport is very aerobically demanding, and also focus a lot on footwork.
"Footwork is very important because you have to establish that base before you can get into the weapon work," Nugent said.