Northwestern University Athletics
Behind The Mask: 2014 Preseason Recap
1/5/2015 12:00:00 AM | Women's Fencing
Northwestern junior Jen Yamin is back this week with the latest entry in her popular fencing blog, Behind The Mask. This week she looks back at the fall quarter and ahead to an exciting collegiate season.
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Hello 'Cats!
After a long and productive preseason, the Wildcats are more than ready for the season to start in a few weeks. But before we dive into what's ahead, check out our preseason recap:
The preseason began with the annual USFA Burton Open, where the Wildcats fenced strong and earned lots of hardware. Although the competition was held just shortly after our training week out on the beach, we were able to get our footwork and point control in tune just in time for competition. We then hit the strips for a hard week of practice in order to prepare for our first travel trip to Portland, Oregon.
The North American Cup in Portland was a great opportunity not only for our team to bond on the road, but also to fence some of the best in the country. Even though fencing at a national level is different from the format of collegiate meets, we were still able to assess our own strengths and weaknesses since we could focus on our individual performances. Returning from the NAC, each squad worked on specific drills that addressed the areas we needed to improve most.
Following our road trip we were back at home for the USFA Remenyik Open at the Henry Crown Sports Pavilion, where the Wildcats earned most of the top finishes. We then held our annual Purple-White meet during practice in order to introduce the collegiate format to our freshmen. Whereas the freshmen had been competing as individuals for the majority of their fencing careers, they now had to adjust to an entirely new format in college. In fencing, transitioning from an individual focus to a team one isn't always the easiest, but our group of freshmen were quick to catch on.
The next weekend we held the Northwestern Duals against Purdue, Wisconsin, Chicago, Lawrence, Iowa, Michigan State, Michigan, Minnesota, Florida, Bradley, Swarthmore and Indiana. The freshmen proved their ability to transition to the collegiate format and fenced incredibly well out on the strip. This was the first and only meet in the preseason where we fence collectively in the same format as the meets that take place during the season. Based on our undefeated performance at NU Duals, I am feeling very confident in our team for the season.
The next road trip for the Wildcats was close to home in South Bend, Indiana. At the second annual Notre Dame Elite Invitational, we competed in a team competition against the Fighting Irish. Although we came up short, I could not have been more proud of the teams' performance that day. As you'll be able to see in the video recap below, each fencer left it all out on the strip:
A "Behind the Mask" blog post wouldn't be complete without a shoutout, so this one goes out to our new assistant coach Zach Moss. Coach Moss, although only a Wildcat for a few months, has contributed immensely to the team. We are all benefitting from his footwork drills and exercises that require a type of discipline many of us have never had to match before. So thanks Zach for all you bring to the team and welcome to Northwestern!
Thanks for reading and as always, go 'Cats!
Jen
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