The Only College Fencing Recruiting Thread You Need to Read

Athletic Recruits
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A visit to the USA Fencing tournament reg page this AM reminded me of an opportunity that fencers in the class of 2018 and younger may want to avail themselves of (especially if they haven’t before).

USA Fencing names an “All Academic Team” every year (since 2009-10 season, I think)…it’s really just based on your GPA and getting letters of recommendation. There are a few scholarships offered — those require the writing of an essay. It has historically been sponsored by Absolute Fencing.

While one’s GPA and scores speak for themselves, the All-Academic Team accolade is basically a convenient shorthand and something for the resume. There’s even a nice (though it can run sort of long) award ceremony at SN.

For info:
http://www.usfencing.org/all-academic-team

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To add to SevenDad’s post, there is a concurrent award, the Connor Porter Memorial Scholarship, which is granted based on an essay. The prompt generally relates to some character theme associated with Connor Porter.

The All-Academic team recognition is a nice resume’ item. At a minimum it recognizes academic accomplishment at the high school level. If you submit the essay there is nice money at the end of the rainbow.

Connor Porter and All-Academic awards are handed out at the same ceremony. It’s a long meeting, but the kids are amazing!

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Hi everyone,

I’ve been reading the fencing threads lately and I honestly have to say that they have been very helpful and informative.

I’m currently a junior from Canada and a D16 rated epeeist. I’m applying to Wellesley ED this coming fall (couldn’t think of a better place for myself). I’m hoping that I could continue to fence in Wellesley if I were to get in.

I have a couple of questions and I hope the fencing community on CC could help me out!

  1. Will my D16 rating help me? I know in Division 3 schools it’s academics first and then others. However, with a letter ranking, will that make me have a higher chance of getting in?
  2. Does the new head coach Ariana Klinkov have a lot of pull in admissions? The Wellesley fencers I contacted said they spoke to her prior to applying but did not know if they were officially recruited or not.
  3. When should I contact the head coach? I’m not sure what to send her if I were to reach out to her.
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@thatonegirl131

  1. It might
  2. I don't know
  3. Soon

I’d recommend you email the coach to let her know you’d like to fence for the team and asking about possible support for your application. I’d include a one page resume summarizing your academic qualifications and some basic fencing information, such as weapon, rating, and notable results.

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How early do college coaches know who many recruiting slots they might have in a given year? And does this number change much from year to year?

Also, if as noted above, current fencers can act as “scouts” for coaches (meaning they know friends/club mates who might be good fits for a program) can these folks also “ding” a prospect that don’t happen to like (for whatever reasons)?

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For Ivies, each year, coaches get a certain number of likely letters to use for auto-recruiting. Generally this seems to fall in a range of 3-5 letters. When we met with coaches in February, right after JOs, none had a definite number, but all figured to have at least 3 letters. Btw, not all likely letters are used and, if they are not, they expire. This is why sometimes there will be pressure for an answer, lest risk wasting a slot. I do not have a sense of the limitations on letters of intent. Big Box schools such as PSU and OSU have seemingly unlimited slots. UND took something like 4 MF alone this year.

WARNING: My response to this relies solely on hearsay and anecdotal information. The simple answer is yes, current team members can adversely affect the recruitment of a fencer. I am aware (see warning) of at least a couple of fencers who were nixed by prospective teammates. In some cases the coaches will discuss potential recruits with the current team, sometimes even issuing a written list/survey. Current team members can then respond positively, negatively or may even add fencers not on the list. Believe me when I tell you that status is not always a guarantee of recruitment, particularly in the face of substantial resistance from current team members. It’s not a popularity contest, and real politik will sometimes win out, but the team-first mantra and ethos of these teams is critical to their success.

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@BrooklynRye: Is that 3-5 LLs per gender or for both squads (for schools that field both men’s/women’s)?

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Fairly certain it’s per gender, especially judging by the numbers of official recruits posted by various Ivies.

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Though I assume that anyone who is tuned into this thread will know this…the 2017 NCAA Championships are unfolding over the next few days. Here’s a link to the live results:
http://www.escrimeresults.com/NCAA/ncaa2017.html

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I took SevenDad’s advice and looked at some schools’ roster to get some ideas. But get puzzled, when looking at Stanford’s 2017 roster, there’s one swimmer and one hockey player from high school, e.g.
http://www.gostanford.com/roster.aspx?rp_id=9835
? :-/

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@scvccmom: Possible walk-ons?

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@SevenDad I thought Stanford won’t have problem to recruit top fencers with good academic grades. Maybe just that year and one particular weapon.

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@scvccmom - Stanford does NOT actively recruit fencers. In fact, I have heard on more than one occasion, the coach acknowledge that he has no clout short of welcoming a fencer to the team IF she/he can get into Stanford on their own merits. Not saying there may not be some clout behind the curtain, e.g., doubt Alex Massialas didn’t have some juice with admissions, but still believe this is largely on the fencer’s own academic merits.

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Our experience was a little different than @Brooklynrye’s.

Stanford doesn’t seem to actively recruit top HS fencers, however, many of the top HS fencers want to go there, the coach often has an embarrassment of riches to choose from. Anecdotally, it seems that many of the Cardinal Fencing Club (located at the Stanford facility) produces all the recruits Stanford could need anyway.

While difficult to get a hold of, and sometimes disorganized, Coach Lisa is very nice and refreshingly open and honest with her needs and what her program is and isn’t. In most cases, she encourages the fencers whom she has developed an interest to apply Early (Nov1 with her support), and the earliest these fencers can hear is December 15th.

This is problematic for those fencers who have LL offers as the Ivy coaches want to know in August-October. In our recruiting year, some Ivy recruiting spots were not filled until Stanford’s Early Action results were announced. That being said, for the highly-recruited fencer who wants to go to Stanford, Coach Lisa admits that turning down a LL and waiting for Stanford can be a bit of a roll of the dice.

On the very rare occasion, there is a fencer Stanford feels they must have, someone who is wanted by everyone and has several LL offers. In these cases, Stanford will issue what is known as a “pink letter” which is equivalent to an Ivy LL to take this fencer “off the market” in the early fall. Pink letters are very rare in fencing (anecdotally, I have only heard of one per year), but commonplace in Stanford’s revenue sports.

Stanford has a terrific fencing program and keeps a relatively large roster. I think they do this because Stanford has such a breadth of opportunities for their students, they do not expect their fencers to be focused on fencing to the exclusion of other college experiences. This is a wonderfully healthy attitude and approach.

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I’d like some advice regarding contacting coaches.

My son is a highly ranked A17 with multiple National medals as well as some international experience. He is currently a senior, planning a gap year next year to really focus on fencing, as well as pursue some academic interests that he has not had time for in the past couple of years, so he will be applying in fall 2017 for enrollment in fall 2018.

GPA is 3.9 UW, 4.0 W. He will be taking the ACT for the first time next month, and his practice tests (under timed conditions) are in the low 30s. Only a couple of minor ECs outside of fencing, since training + travel eats up most of his time. He does have some nice national academic honors, though. He will have excellent letters of recommendation.

His club coach is not very “connected” in terms of college coaches, so we have not had any contact so far, although we’ve been told that a couple of coaches have expressed interest (only 1 of which is of interest to DS).

I feel like we need to be contacting coaches really soon, but should we wait until he has an official ACT score and/or NCAA Eligibility approval?

Another question is do we contact the head coach, the coach for his weapon, or both?

I have read that it’s a good idea to list the fencer’s name, height, handedness, rating, and ranking in the subject line, to catch the coach’s attention. Is this a good idea?

Do coaches arrange official visits over the summer? Or would it make sense to do some this spring (since he is already a senior, so no worries about violating rules before end of junior year)?

Thanks in advance for any advice!

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“I have read that it’s a good idea to list the fencer’s name, height, handedness, rating, and ranking in the subject line,”

That’s a long subject line!

We have gone with just [Fencers name], Class of [college year] [Gender/Weapon Type] Prospect and that has worked well enough for us…

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I was thinking something like (not real info): “John Smith, 6’1”, RH, foil, A17, 18th Juniors." But I can’t remember now where I read that recommendation.

Did you contact just the head coach, just the weapon coach, both, someone else? Or did your student’s club coach handle it? I think we’re a little handicapped in having a coach who doesn’t know many college coaches.

Will coaches look at a prospect, or arrange an official visit, before tests scores are in and NCAA eligibility is approved?

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@corraleno, if you peruse past posts (I know there is a lot to digest), you will see that most fencers approach colleges during the winter of their junior year. very top recruits are often in touch with colleges earlier. it is very advisable to have your standardized test scores in-hand, as any academic review will require these. most colleges have a recruiting form which i believe is directed to the head coach. in any case, it is usually the head coach with whom you are meeting. it is possible the coach for your son’s weapon may also weigh-in. most club coaches are not equipped to handle this. there are a few well-connected coaches with the kind of clout to help, but they are not the norm in my experience.in any case, you are not really ‘handicapped’ in this respect as recruiting is pretty straightforward, particularly for fencers at your son’s level. i am familiar with a few top fencers who took a gap year or who otherwise delayed their entry into the recruiting pool.whatever the advantages your son’s gap year experience has on admission, his fencing will remain the primary factor in his recruitment. he sounds like a great candidate and I can only imagine his enhanced fencing and academic opportunities will render him an even better one. good luck! p.s. agree with sevendad – this is a very long subjectline…lol

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@corraleno I would agree with sevendad with the concise subject line as he described. In terms of recruitment timeline, your son is the equivalent of a high school junior. So sending out an email letter of introduction/interest now would be appropriate, addressed to the head coaches of each school your son’s interested in. Do not expect any of the coaches to approach you, despite how great of a fencer your son may be, your son will have to make the first contact. Most of the time, if the coaches are very interested in the fencer, you will receive a quick response, in some cases as fast as a few minutes of sending the email, but in most cases within a couple days. Many of the elite fencers I know already contacted the coaches, and good number of them have already received unofficial commitment from the coaches (since nothing is official until after July 1). However, not quite sure about your son’s situation since he is already a senior, if an official commitment can be given sooner?

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With the NCAA fencing championships concluding last week, college coaches have much more time to focus on their recruiting needs. This is the perfect time to contact them.

An introductory email detailing all your specifics is a good way to start, and you may want to try to schedule some SN meetings if you can. With your status as a current senior, you may not be subject to the same NCAA restrictions with respect to these sort of meetings as rising seniors. A SN meeting would be a good way to introduce yourself to the coaches, and a face-to-face encounter given your plans of taking a gap year, would be helpful for both parties.

The term Official Visit means a visit, paid by the school, for a finite amount of time, when classes are in session. One cannot have an official visit during the summer. Unofficial visits, on the other hand, can occur at any time and are at your expense; they do not have to occur while school is in session.

As you have a senior, perhaps you can schedule an OV this spring before school ends. Waiting for the Fall 2017 for an OV may be too late from a recruiting standpoint.

In our recruiting process, we always had our son put the name of the school in bold in the subject line of his emails to coaches in addition to all the other info we included. While this may seem silly, we felt this would make it less likely our son would send an email to the wrong coach and it made it simpler to file/organize the responses.