64 Days

Sorry it's been so long since I've posted, but last week I was extremely busy with travel and competition in Seoul, Korea. I posted three times the week before so I will be posting three times this week as well to make up for not posting last week.

On wednesday I left for a World Cup in Seoul, Korea. Though I made the top 16, which is a decent result (though my world ranking is 11 so it is about where I was projected to place), I was disappointed by my performance in my last bout. In my last bout I lost to my teammate, Race Imboden (who ended up with his second career medal at a Senior World Cup so it was a good day for him),  but I did not fence the way I should have. I was not moving well and he was outsmarting me in most aspects of the bout. Though he fenced well and it is to his credit that he did so well, but I also did not fence the way I should have and nowhere near the caliber I will have to fence at to medal at the Olympics this summer. My last bout wasn't so strong, but my first two to make the top 16 were quite strong. Unfortunately since my other teammate (and club mate from San Francisco; Race is from New York) Gerek Meinhardt lost a couple bouts in the first round the day before, his seeding going into the second day was not too good. I had an exemption from the first day because of my top 16 world ranking, but drew him for my first bout of the day. It was a strong bout that went back-and-forth with about three or four lead changers, but in the end I was able to pull out a close 15-13 victory to make the top 32. I fenced extremely focused and collected, and I was able to carry that over to my next bout with Huang Liangcai, a strong Chinese fencer who has been on the Chinese Senior National Team for countless years. I won the bout in decisive fashion with a score of 15-6; a showing that  I wanted to also carry over to my next bout with Race. Unfortunately, the competition was poorly organized and my bout was almost 2 hours late. I guess my momentum stopped there and I was unable to pull through in my next bout.

Despite a bad loss to my teammate, I could not stay disappointed for long because I had to focus on the team event the next day. For our first bout to make the top 8, we drew Egypt. We fenced well and won the bout without much hassle but that put us against China, two-time defending team World Champions and a team we have never beaten (but had come within 5 touches; which in a team event is very close because bouts go to 45), to make the medal rounds. Though the team felt quite confident coming into the bout because we've been so close to beating them countless times, we were in for a very unpleasant surprise. As the anchor of our team, I fenced my first bout against China's number 3 fencer (Zhu Jun who had placed 4th in the Beijing Olympic Games, and was a silver medalist in the 2009 Senior World Championships) but something didn't seem right. My opponent, who lately had not been fencing well and seemed sluggish and disinterested on the strip this past season, fenced with a tenacity I had not seen since his silver medal finish at the World Championships. For the first time, this Chinese team was truly taking us seriously and from the very beginning I knew today's bout was going to be different than every other bout we've fenced with them before. I lost the first leg 5-2, but after the next couple bouts, the Chinese extended their lead to 15-6. With no American fencer even scoring 5 touches on an opponent yet, I stood up to fence Huang, the Chinese I had defeated strongly the day before. Though I had fenced hi the day before, the opponent that stood before resembled nothing of the one I had fenced the day before; he was much more composed, focused, and determined. I was not able to pull out a big run against him, and only was able to split touches, 5-5. With the rest of the team losing their bouts, going into the last bout we were losing 40-18; a deficit that seemed impossible to conquer, especially in three minutes. Though the bout seemed just about over, I was able to go on a 14-5 run against the strongest Chinese fencer, Lei Sheng. I fenced calm and collected and though I was not able to win the bout, at least I brought it to a somewhat respectable score (45-32). It was a bad bout for Team USA, but the Chinese Team was fencing with a tenacity we had never seen before, and one that we will be seeing at the Olympics. It was a good wake-up call because if we are going to beat China at the Olympics, that is the team we are going to have to beat. Not the disinterested, lackadaisical Chinese Team that we had come close to beating the past few years, but the amped up, focus Chinese Team that had just obliterated us. I was the only one on the team that was able to score 5 touches in a single bout that match, though it is hard to blame Race who was battling fatigue from a phenomenal bronze medal finish the day before. But if we are going to beat the Chinese Team and medal at the Olympics, we surely are going to fence much better than that as a team. We can't have only one single person pulling all the weight (in this case it was me, for I had scored 21 of our 32 touches the whole bout) against such a strong team, or any team at that. With a dismayed team that just got destroyed, our hopes were down and we couldn't win our next bout against Russia to fence out the 5-8 places. In the final leg of the bout, I was down 40-36 (or maybe 35 or 37, I don't quite remember) and was able to bring the score to 43-43, but I lost focus and couldn't bring in the last two touches as Russia won 45-43. I really blame myself for that loss because this is really the first time that I have down my team as the anchor. Though I came into that last bout down by a few touches and even though I ended up positive in the match (more touches scored than scored against throughout the whole bout, like me against China), I still lost the bout after bringing the team back to a position to win. This is the first time that this has happened to me and I took it really hard, because before this I had either won every high pressure situation in team events, or we were being blown out and didn't have any realistic chance to win. This was a good chance to grow though because just as any great athlete knows, "failure gives me strength" (to quote a great athlete himself: Michael Jordan). In the next, and last, bout against Ukraine, I was down 40-39 going into the last bout, but was able to pull through for Team USA with a 45-41 victory.

I am now back in San Francisco, and as you can tell by the late time of this post, suffering from a little bit of jet lag. I got off the plane yesterday, but that didn't mean I had a break, for I ended up spending a little more than 4 hours at the gym that same day. Today I studied some fencing videos and got back to fencing practice. Luckily I have a 3-4 week break before my next competition (I am actually skipping the next one in two weeks because it is the same day as my graduation), so it will give me more than enough time to focus on my training and conditioning.

64 days before the Games- with only a couple competitions left before the Olympics, I am starting to really feel something boil up inside of me. I need to take my game to the next level.

74 Days

The media summit today was out of this world, definitely something new, fun, and exciting! I started off with breakfast where I met future Olympic teammate Ariel (who happens to be a table tennis player from the bay area as well) before I was off to over an hour of broadcast stations. When I stepped in the first room, I was completely stunned, not by the way the room was set up or how professional it was, but because my first interviewers weren't even conducting the interview with English! CCTV did their research and found out that I speak mandarin, so here I am in the middle of the room with two young, Caucasian individuals speaking to me in perfect Chinese. I definitely wasn't ready for that and it served as a good wake-up call. It was extremely fun though because I was able to use my Chinese and hopefully expand the audience that is looking for me in London. For the next hour or so, I moved from room to room, doing interviews for different stations such as ESPN, NBC, and even a station that broadcasts the games to the American troops all over the world. This was far from the end though, because after an hour and fifteen minutes of interviews (they kept me on a tight schedule), I was off to an hour of photo shoots. They had nine different stations set up for different organizations and networks, and they had me go from one to the next (with foil and mask in hand) for photo shoot after photo shoot after photo shoot. After the photo shoots, I had about fifteen minutes before I had a round table interview where various reporters from different sources go back and forth to the different tables of athletes. For me, it was basically an hour and a half of straight talking and sharing my story, which was great and I hope people really get to follow my journey because of this. After the roundtable interviews, I was finally able to have lunch in the US Olympic cafeteria with the other athletes on the team. After lunch came a personal, twenty minute interview (with I believe someone with NBC or the USOC, it's hard to remember at times), only to lead into my one on one with NBC. NBC had me get into my full fencing gear, put me through makeup and touch up before putting me before one of the craziest things I have ever seen. They had me in front of a green screen, using a huge camera that could rotate and move in all directions (like a professional movie grade camera) to record a couple shots of me which they are going to use in a CGI of all the athletes going to London, walking together in a video. By this time I was already exhausted, but I had a long interview with E! and then another long one with NBC again. At this point, I am completely exhausted and ready to just hang out before the Texas barbecue they are hosting for Team USA, but they had me go for another video shoot that they will use on Team USA's YouTube channel. After a long day's fun but tiring work, I went to the athlete lounge where I went to relax and use Internet. After hanging out for a good 15 minutes of using internet and watching the golf channel (it was already on, I didn't go to it myself), Michael Phelps walks in, grabs a candy bar and starts chatting up about golf. Definitely a crazy, fun, exciting day that isn't even over; I'm posting this before the Team USA Texas barbecue that starts in about thirty minutes. I will hope to post photos soon, but for those of you who have Facebook, you can see some of the photos already at U.S. Fencing Association's Facebook page. 74 days until the Games- the media summit really got me thinking about how close the Games are and the grandeur of the event. It's coming.

75 Days

Sorry I didn't post on friday like I said I would, I got busy with training, fencing, and other prior obligations. To make up for it though, I will be posting when I'm in Dallas at the media summit because I'm sure I will have a lot to share.

Since tuesday, like I expected, the fencing really did get turned up a notch. Though I've been hitting the gym every day as well, when I go to fencing, people are showing up to fence. A lot of fencers have been busy studying for APs and IBs, as well as some who have been injured (especially Gerek Meinhardt) so fencing has been relatively slow. Yesterday though, almost everyone was there, which was nice change because I was able to really get some good fencing in with a lot of strong fencers with different styles. That coupled with my last swim practice with the Drew Swim Team and a whole week of weights and fencing, and you have a sore individual writing this blog the next day.

As far as the weights go, I think I have a pretty good routine that targets the muscles fencers use. I am focusing on fast-twitch muscle fibers (which help with sprints, fast reaction times, and explosive actions) in the biceps, triceps, forearms, quadriceps, and other muscles in the legs for explosive lunges, parries, extensions, circles, and other fencing actions. This means low repetitions of high weights as opposed to high repetitions of low weights that trains slow-twitch muscle fibers that are more essential to endurance. Though fencing bouts can take a long time, I still think that it is more important to train fast-twitch muscle fibers because there are constantly breaks with the referee making calls, one minute break period, etc. I will posting a full workout schedule near the end of my Senior Project. Today I leave for Dallas so I will be posting photos (if I'm allowed to) of the media summit when I get there.

On another note, on wednesday Elizabeth Cook from CBS channel 5 came to do a story on me and my family. It was cool experience with an obviously very experienced reporter, and I'm excited to see the outcome (she says it should come out sometime next week). Though she focuses exclusively on my family for the segment (she had an idea of a "fencing family" story), all I've accomplished would not have been possible without the help of my other coaches (especially Dean Hinton who has been a coach of mine since the beginning of my career), my teammates (who have been working hard, training with me, and pushing me to the next level the whole time), Drew School, and all the other friends and family that have given me constant support throughout the years. None of this would have happened without these guys and I really need to thank them for all I've accomplished.

75 days until the Games- The proximity to the Games are starting to really get to me, and I think this media summit is going to really get me thinking about it.

79 Days

Fencing this week has been a little sluggish for my teammate (Gerek Meinhardt), who will be in London as well as the replacement athlete for the team event, is visiting his sister in Maine with a well needed (and deserved) break. With many of my other teammates still in school or not in training anymore, there has not been many people for me to train with at the club this week. I think it'll pick up this week though, I will be leaving for Seoul, Korea, for a World Cup (which I placed third in last year so it's an important one for me) in only a little over a week. With my next weekend being in Dallas for a media summit (which I'll cover later in this post, I'm actually pretty excited about it), I'm not going to have much time to fence otherwise. Luckily due to my Senior Project, I can make up for this lack of fencing with extra time at the gym. This week I've spent at least 3 hours a day at the Presidio YMCA working on my regimen, and I'm starting to feel some of the results already. My body feels stronger and I feel more energetic than normal.
With all this work though, I needed some sort of break so on Sunday I met up with a friend and watched The Avengers. It was an insane movie: two and a half hours of pure action and laughs. Definitely a well needed break to all the training I've been doing, sometimes i just have to kick back and relax.

About my Media Summit I mentioned earlier, I'm going to be flying to Dallas, Texas, on saturday for it. Basically, NBC is gathering about 115 of the nation's top athletes (2012 Olympic hopefuls and qualified athletes) for a huge two day event of press conferences, photo shoots, interviews, the whole nine yards. Though I'm already getting used to some of the media attention back home in San Francisco, this will really be a first for me because this is the first time where I have to go somewhere for a full day (well two actually, which is even crazier) of just meeting with the press. There are supposed to be more than 400 members of the press involved in the whole thing! I'll get a chance to stand up with high profile athletes in other sports (I've been told that athletes, such as Michael Phelps and Shawn Johnson just to name a couple, have done it before/may be doing it this year, but I'm not positive) and share my story and opinions. I'm really looking forward to this because not only can I help raise the awareness of myself and fencing as a sport, but I will also get a chance to meet with a lot of my future teammates who I will see again in London. It should definitely be a cool experience and I will definitely be updating my blog there (hopefully with pictures as well).

79 days until the Games- still hasn't really hit me, but I'm definitely starting to feel some of the pressure already.

86 Days

Coming back from my Grand Prix event in Wakayama, Japan, on monday, I am a little disappointed. Though I broke into the top 32 at a Grand Prix for the first time since last year, my performance was hardly spectacular. I definitely didn't fence the way a fencer in the top 16 in the world should, and even though I lost to a Miyake, pretty tough Japanese fencer (I believe he was selected to the Olympic Team, but I'm not positive yet), I didn't execute the way I should have. My actions were wild and my movement was spastic. I guess the short turnaround from the Junior World Championships in Moscow and the Olympic Announcement in Virginia Beach really affected my fencing. At least I'll be home for a couple weeks to train now before my next trip: in two weeks I fly to Dallas for a big Media Summit with a lot of other Olympians. Then two days after I get back, I'm off the Seoul, Korea, for the World Cup I placed third at last year. All the while, I'll be studying for AP Tests, even taking my physics one on one of those two days between Dallas and Seoul. It's a ridiculous schedule but I've gotten used to it over the years.

Today was my first real day of training during this Senior Project, but even though I was supposed to fence today, my teammates and I decided to cancel practice because on of them had hurt his hamstring in Wakayama. With the others either in school or not training (unfortunately two of my teammates just missed the Olympic Team, one for USA and one for Canada), it's tough sometimes to get practice in. I'll probably make up today and tomorrow (tomorrow I'll be missing it because of the Drew Music Concert, I'm playing piano) by going in extra hours on friday and saturday. Even though I missed practice today, I stayed extra late at the gym today. I got some well-needed conditioning in by playing basketball for a couple hours, then hit the weights for about an hour more. I'm ridiculously sore as I write this. Tomorrow I'll keep up my regimen by swimming for a couple hours (I'm alternating between weights and swimming everyday as my cross-training) before I go back to Drew for my AP Physics class, and then to the concert.  It's going to be a long day tomorrow....

For those of you who are wondering, I'll be posting a full workout regimen for fencers trying to compete at their highest level later on during my project. I first need to see what weights and repetitions are best for  fencing; I'm still experimenting a little bit but I think I've found a good workout routine.

86 days until the Games- hasn't hit me yet, but I think there will just be some spontaneous time where I fully realize how close it is and what I'm about to do