WSN: Welcome back to In the Huddle, a podcast by the Washington Square News. I’m Sidney Snider, the Sports Editor at WSN, and today I’m joined by Aurora Aschettino, a fencer on NYU’s fencing team. Thank you for joining me, Aurora.
Aschettino: Thank you for having me, Sidney.
WSN: Yes, super excited. First off, how did you get into fencing? It’s kind of more of a niche sport, so I’m curious how you got into it.
Aschettino: Okay. Like, most fencers will say their parents. My parents made me do it. I really wanted nothing to do with it at all. I thought it was, like, super nerdy and dorky, which it is.
But I was like a big volleyball player in high school and the volleyball and fencing seat for varsity conflicted. So, I wanted to do volleyball, but then I just had a horrible, like killing-my-spirit volleyball coach. And then I was like, I don’t wanna do this anymore. And I loved it so much. It literally killed my spirit so hard. And that was J.V. and then, so I was actually offered a spot on the fencing team in eighth grade, but I turned it down because I thought it was nerdy and dorky.
WSN: Right. And you wanted to do volleyball?
Aschettino: I’ll quote. Oh, yes. And I’ll quote my friend, she said it was social suicide to do.
WSN: Oh no.
Aschettino: Yeah. Um, but then I quit volleyball and I was like, you know what, let’s do this. So as a freshman, I joined the team. I was so bad. I was like on the bench and then I joined my fencing club and started doing some lessons. Shout out East Coast Fencing Club, my goat. And that was, I did like three lessons and then COVID happened. So then I really started training with my club on Zoom — so Zoom fencing. And then in, like, July 2020, we went back in person like gloves, masks under the mask. That’s when I really started. And so this was like, I started at my club in 2020 and then I started really competing in 2021.
WSN: Okay, so that would’ve been your sophomore year of high school?
Aschettino: Yeah.
WSN: And correct me if I’m wrong, but I think the recruiting process starts that year, sophomore, junior -ish, year of high school. So how did that look for you?
Aschettino: So a lot of fencers start very young, so that was a very special case, but I’m a very competitive person, so I don’t like losing so…and honestly, like my coach was like my…he’s like my favorite person in the world, so it was very easy to want to be there. And I love my clubmates and like, I would go six days a week when I, during my junior, senior year, I’d be there for five hours a day.
WSN: Wow.
Aschettino: Yeah. That was a little overkill. I didn’t really do much even. I would, like, do my homework and then I’d, like, hit the target and, like, run. But there’s a rating system in fencing. Um, and right now I’m a B, but I got my E in like April 2021. And then my D in August 2021. And then I was a D for like a year. Okay. And that’s in August. September 2021 is when I started emailing coaches. I started getting, like, regional results. Um, but I just really wanted to email everyone.
WSN: It’s all one division.
Aschettino: Yeah, it’s, it’s open division. Like our NCAA championships are with Division I schools like Columbia, Notre Dame.
WSN: So their other sports would be D-I, whereas ours are D-III, but it’s all kind of open and together.
Aschettino: I was at other schools, my top school. Honestly, I, I had an offer from Tufts [University] and I was basically gonna go there, and then I hadn’t really heard much from NYU and then the coach switched over to Ben [Bratton]. Yeah, and then, you know, it’s October senior year and I’m ready to ED Tufts. And I get an email from Ben and he is like, ‘You wanna zoom?’ I was like, okay, like, can’t hurt. And then he was like, we need women’s foilists, like, he basically just offered me on the spot and I was like, ‘Oh, wait.’ And I actually didn’t wanna go here.
WSN: Okay.
Aschettino: ‘Cause my sister goes
WSN: Right. So your older sister goes here? She’s a senior this year.
Aschettino: But yeah, I was like, I don’t wanna go there. No, no, no, no. And then I got an offer and I was like, do I wanna go here? And then my mom was like, she didn’t wanna sway me because it was my decision. Then, yeah, I basically was like, ‘Sorry, Tufts, like, don’t mean to…’ Three, two of my other teammates from my year did the same thing to Tufts. So they lost their recruits like right before ED.
WSN: To other schools or all here?
Aschettino: We were all gonna go to Tufts and then we all came here.
WSN: So that was your journey here. And now you’re here, you’re a sophomore. This is your second season with Benjamin Bratton, head coach and all of your teammates here. Can you talk to me about what the training schedule is like?
Aschettino: Yeah, so last year we had four practices a week. This year, each squad has three, three two-hour practices. My schedule is Monday, Wednesday, Friday — 11:00 to 1:00 Monday, Wednesday, 12:00 to 2:00 on Fridays. And then we have lift on Tuesday, Thursday, 2:00 to 3:00. But a lot of people, like, go to clubs. Like a lot of people go to Fencers Club or Manhattan Fencing Center. Sometimes I’ll go home, take the LIRR back to East Coast Fencing Club so I feel like three doesn’t sound like a lot, and it really isn’t — I trained a lot more in high school. There’s a lot of putting in your own work into it.
WSN: So here at NYU and other colleges, when is the fencing season? When are your competitions?
Aschettino: It’s technically the winter season. But it’s basically year-round. Like, we had our first, we went to October NAC [North American Cup] and that was like the first week of October. So it was like we were back to campus for a month and then bam, we’re competing. And the last competition was NCAAs. But people are competing this weekend at April NAC, Division I championships, which I don’t wanna go all the way to LA — we have a couple people there, and then there’s summer nationals in July. There’s like a little break, but there’s still, like, little competitions.
WSN: So do you represent your college throughout the summer as well?
Aschettino: Yeah, I usually train in my club. I represent my club and NYU. But like usually I’m more club skewed.
WSN: So you have two more years here at NYU on the fencing team. What’s next after that in terms of fencing?
Aschettino: I don’t know. I started so late. I don’t know. I mean, I guess it depends, like jobs, like I would still, like, dabble. I don’t believe I’m going to the Olympics, but it’s a sport you can do for the rest of your life. But at April championships…there are vet events…so, and that goes all the way up to vet 80.
WSN: What about reffing? Is that something that you can get into if you’re missing the sport?
Aschettino: Yeah, so I actually do referee high school fencing.
WSN: Okay. You’re already there.
Aschettino: Yeah. And I need to get certified to referee in, like, little tournaments. I don’t wanna do any big tournaments because I am someone who will yell at a referee. So, I’ve done that a little bit.
WSN: Awesome. Well, thank you so much for speaking with me today.
Aschettino: Yes. Thank you for having me.
Contact Sidney Snider at [email protected].
