Sadie Valencia, a senior varsity sabre fencer at Wayne Hills, recently placed second at counties. She’s been fencing since her freshman year and taking lessons since she was in seventh grade. Sadie is involved in numerous clubs and programs, including but not limited to both Italian National Honor Society and Club, Tri-M, Patriot 5, Quizbowl, and Esports. She also participates in many things outside of school, including her job at Trader Joe’s and her playing in the New Jersey Youth Symphony Orchestra, as well as the Caldwell Honor’s Band. Still, she finds enough time to excel as a fencer.
Sadie, initially, never had plans to be a fencer, but had been enrolled in lessons after her brother’s missed opportunity. “After the first lesson I took, I was like, ‘I don’t want to do this ever again,’” she joked, “But then, in eighth grade, two of my friends were both doing fencing, so I decided to do so too.”
The encouragement she received clearly allowed her to take off in her fencing career, given her second-place achievement. When asked about how it felt to get such a placement, Sadie recounted how shocked she felt, “I originally thought I was placing third. I was really happy that I placed at least in the top three. I was also really proud that my hard work finally paid off after three years of starting.”
Sadie pushed herself to get to where she is today, training tirelessly to work towards her efficiency on sabre. In addition to her practices at Wayne Hills, she’d attend clubs every Monday and Wednesday. “Taking every practice seriously, using practice as a chance to improve myself, and learning from my mistakes were the most important things in my training process.” This process would help her with patience, as well as with growing as a fencer.
The fencing season length can sometimes vary from team to team, but Sadie always found a fun moment in the season regardless. Even when she’d experience a loss or feel unhappy with her performance, she’d still look on the bright side.
In all her four seasons, her favorite part was spending time with her friends when competing. “On multiple occasions on away meets, either the guys or the girls would have a speaker. We’d start singing and play really loud music,” she laughed, “Even if we lost, we’d have a really good attitude during the regular season and during our last meet.”
Even nearing the end of the fencing season, Sadie continues her fencing career. As a senior, she has committed to Fairleigh Dickinson University for D1 fencing. She expressed that she was incredibly excited for this new opportunity, especially since she was considering not doing it at all back in middle school. She’s incredibly grateful that she made the decision to continue.
For any incoming fencers, or current fencers, Sadie says, “I think whatever happens, happens. Either good or bad, experience-wise. If you lose to an opponent, it happens.” Just like she does, Sadie encourages others to simply think positive rather than pessimistically about their futures and potential. Congratulations to Sadie Valencia on her phenomenal fencing performance this season!
