I was wondering if anyone knew how the fencing at lawrenceville is like.
My kid who fences isn’t at Lawrenceville, but I do know a little about the program and some of the fencers who have been in the program in recent years.
My net-net is that there are some very good fencers at the school, but often these fencers do not fence for the school’s team. Here’s why: the level of competition at the scholastic level (even in NJ, where there are a lot of varsity squads) is generally a notch or two (or three) below USA Fencing competition.
A quick scan of the Harvard fencing rosters shows that one boy and one girl in the current freshman class are from Lawrenceville…but again, I don’t think either fenced for the Lawrenceville team — at least not in their senior year of HS. Keep in mind that a lot of this comes down to priorities…with one NAC a month plus international competitions, not to mention training at an outside club (some travel to NYC)…there just isn’t time to train with the the team/fence in scholastic competitions. If you are on the NRPS list/in the hunt to make a Cadet or Junior team, there’s VERY little incentive to fence for your school…regardless of whether it’s an elite prep like Lawrenceville or a public high school. Well, beyond school pride.
I don’t know if you are currently a fencer or if it’s something you wanted to get into in HS. One reason why HS fencing is not that competitive (compared to NACs, etc.) is that generally you are going to have some kids on the roster who have never fenced before — it’s not like soccer or basketball where there are huge rec/development programs available… So while your best fencer may be A or B-rated and on the NRPS points list, there might be a huge drop off in talent/experience after that one (or two) top fencer.
Lawrenceville has done well as a team in state action, but I don’t know if any of their fencers have won the individual in recent years. In the weapon I am most familiar with (Girls’ Epee), I can say with confidence that the best fencers in the state in recent years have not competed for (or even attended) Lawrenceville.
I’m not trying to dissuade you from either Lawrenceville or (if you are not an experienced fencer already) fencing for an HS team…just trying to paint a picture as I know it. HS fencing can be very fun and competitive (between schools).
One upside of Lawrenceville is the ability to train at a number of clubs in the Princeton or NYC area. The head coach of Princeton runs a private club and some Princeton-area HS students go there.
Let me know if you have any further questions.
I know them both, although I know the guy better. Both competed at the club level, not the school level.
One of the things to keep in mind is that many boarding schools including lville have a demanding academic schedule. To compound things Lville has Saturday classes which makes competing for weekend tournaments difficult.
It is possible to get excuses to miss class but it becomes difficult to recover academically.
The other big problem is that most schools require students to engage in 3 sports. Some high level athletes can get a one season waiver but they need to have a training plan in place. Even with the waiver you’ll need to have at least one other sport (club, house, JV or Varsity level). For this reason training year round in a single sport is almost impossible.
Despite all of these downsides, there are high level athletes at Lville and other boarding schools who get recruited to big time college athletics. It can be done but be prepared for the extra work.
Bumping this to say that it’s sort of bad form to ask a question and get some replies — and then not even acknowledge that people took the time to respond. Just sayin’
Here’s an article on Lawrenceville fencing. It looks like the OP is long gone, but just in case anyone else is interested:
http://www.lawrenceville.org/news/item/index.aspx?LinkId=13246&ModuleId=53
I actually am from Lawrenceville and am a senior on the fencing team. The best fencers usually find it difficult to remain on the team because our coach will not put them on the varsity strip if they miss more than one practice a week for outside lessons. Both fencers at Harvard were not fencers on the Lawrenceville team their junior or senior years nor were our recruited fencers at Columbia. Our girls epee team is quite good and our boys sabre team is too. At Lawrenceville, however, it is incredibly difficult to train during the off terms.
Should anyone actually read this, I do not mean to drive anyone away from the school or the fencing team. Being a member of this team was one of my best experiences at Lawrenceville and I think that everyone should get a chance to be part of such a wonderful, inclusive, insane group of people
@scarlet_fencer: Is there some reason why Lawrenceville does not seem to send people to the state individual championships? I know there is at least one other private school represented so am curious why Lawrenceville had nobody representing the school.
Not a single Lawrenceville fencer of either gender named to the recent NJ.com All-State teams?
@SevenDad We did attend NJSIAA this past year and we did fairly well as our epee team got second place I believe. I’m not quite sure… The best fencers tend not to be on our actual team as our coaches only allow us to miss one practice a week for individual lessons (and they tend to require much more than one lesson a week) and due to traveling for events they are often away (and our coaches refuse to put fencers on the strip if they miss too many practices).
I’m talking about individuals…