[00:00:09] WSN: Foil fencer Maria Stamos has a 62 percent win rate in her Violets collegiate career and has led NYU in foil victories since her sophomore year. The New York native has an extra year of NCAA eligibility due to COVID-19 and is using it to pursue her master’s in bioethics at the School of Global Public Health.

Besides finishing 20th in the 2021-22 NCAA Championships, Samos has earned spots in the United States Fencing Coaches Association All-American First Team in Division III foil and the USFCA Northeast All-Region Team. In the 2022-23 season, she made the Division III First Team All-American and was USFCA Division III Foil Athlete of the Year.

In this interview with WSN, Stamos details her fencing journey with the Violets and international competition, as well as the team spirit she loves despite the individual nature of fencing.

[00:00:56] WSN: So, you mentioned to me earlier today that you were at a fencing World Cup this weekend. Could you specify what that was and what you were doing there? 

[00:01:04] Stamos: There was a World Cup in Tunisia. And when you compete at these World Cups, you fight to get international points based on how you finish. And those international points will help me qualify for world championships and European championships this year. So I can represent Greece there. And it’s just a step down from the Olympics.

It’s like the next best thing you can get. So yeah, I was competing there for Greece. 

[00:01:27] WSN: Gotcha. And is this your first World Cup, or? 

[00:01:30] Maria Stamos: No, actually, I used to fence for the US when I was back in high school. I was in the cadet junior and senior travel team but I eventually decided to switch my country of representation to Greece.

So I’ve been fencing at the World Cup level since I was about 14 now. So about eight years, give or take. 

[00:01:51] WSN: Wow. Okay. How’re your prospects of making the world championships looking this season? 

[00:01:55] Maria Stamos: It’s looking pretty likely. I mean, I made the team last year, so, you know, no biggie. I can do it again.

[00:02:01] WSN: Amazing. I’m glad to hear that. And so switching to your collegiate career with NYU, you had an impressive 70% win rate last season, and you won multiple awards across all four years of competing, including the United States Fencing Coaches Association All American First Team in Division III, among a bunch of other achievements. 

[00:02:22] Maria Stamos: I wouldn’t say a bunch, but…

[00:02:24] WSN: It’s a long list. What’s been the kind of work that’s gone into that? You said you started when you were 14, so how has that progression been? 

[00:02:31] Maria Stamos: Well, I actually started fencing when I was 10 years old, so I’ve been doing it almost 13 years, but I really ramped up my training this season.

I started taking fencing a lot more seriously once I started fencing for Greece, and currently I practice from Mondays to Saturdays, and every day except for Wednesday, I have two trainings a day. I lift three times a week — two times a week with a personal trainer. So it’s a lot of fencing. Weekends we’re away at meets at the school, or I have international competitions, or I have nationals in Greece. So it’s been a lot of work

[00:03:04] WSN: You’ve mentioned that you’ve traveled a bunch for Greece and also just for a bunch of meets with NYU. How has that been for you managing a pre-med track last year and then also now being a graduate student?

[00:03:15] Maria Stamos: I mean, I’ve been doing this for a long time, so I’ve kind of figured out how to be very meticulous with my time. Like some days I have to have every half-hour perfectly slotted out for each individual task I need to do. But it also involves a lot of airplane Wi-Fi. I actually submitted my graduate school application from a plane on my way to Greek Nationals and the Wi-Fi cut out. And I was freaking out. I was going to the flight attendants like, ‘Guys, I need to get into grad school.’ It’s just every minute, really, you can spare you spend studying and you got to have at least one day a week to just keep yourself from burning out, see your friends, stuff like that. So, I figured it out over the years.

[00:03:54] WSN: I’m just a little curious, how much of your time do you actually spend on planes, at airports, just commuting? 

[00:04:00] Maria Stamos: Oh God. Let’s look at my Delta app. I don’t know if you can see how many miles I have. I have 390,000 lifetime miles. I travel quite a bit. 

[00:04:12] WSN: Okay. How have your parents been in just supporting you and all this with all the traveling and also just coming to NYU? 

[00:04:19] Maria Stamos: My mom is the most supportive person out there. She goes with me to all of these World Cups since I was little. And then if she can’t make it, then she can’t make it, but we always take an extra day to visit the place we’re going to — go to the museum, see the culture and everything. And she’s just always had my back. She’s always at every competition she can make. She’s always cheering for me when she can when her hands aren’t too busy shaking from nerves. But yeah, she’s been my rock through all this.

[00:04:46] WSN: What’s been the favorite country you’ve been to? 

[00:04:49] Maria Stamos: Oh my God, that’s a really good question. It’s going to be basic, but I’m going to say Italy, because I’ve been there so many times for trainings. I’ve been all over Italy, so I think just because I’ve seen so much of it, I have a greater appreciation for it than other countries, but a close second would be Austria. 

[00:05:06] WSN: Nice, very cool. Okay, and then switching back to fencing here at NYU, you’ve been competing here for four, five years, including that COVID year. What’s been something that you’ve taken away from the last four years? 

[00:05:22] Maria Stamos: Honestly, I think the greatest thing that’s changed for me over the past four years is I rediscovered my love for fencing with the fencing team. I hit a very big slump before COVID, and during COVID I was like, ‘Oh my God, I think I want to quit fencing. I can’t take this anymore.’ 

And then my sophomore year when the team restarted, and over the past two years, every year I’ve been growing to love fencing more and more. So honestly, I would say that the team kind of saved me as a fencer.

So I think my biggest takeaway is, I like fencing now again. 

[00:05:58] WSN: Yeah, how has that been for you? You know, falling out of love with a sport that you’ve been doing since you were 10 years old and then, you know, finally finding that love again here, of all places.

[00:06:08] Maria Stamos: I never thought I’d be able to get to that point and the fact that I have all of my teammates with me like that, it just makes it much more meaningful because now I’m not doing it because I feel like I have to, I’m doing it because I want to, and that has just made the rest of my life easier because fencing is such a big part of my life. It takes up so much of my time so the fact that I can enjoy it again makes my life so much better.

[00:06:30] WSN: Yeah, and that leads me into the next question. So fencing is one of those individual sports, you’re out there on the mat by yourself against one singular other opponent. How does that kind of team aspect play into that, and what’s that been like playing an individual sport but always having a team around you?

[00:06:46] Maria Stamos: So the interesting thing about fencing at the collegiate level is that it’s completely different from fencing on the individual level. Because while, yes, you are going one-on-one, your record is individual, you know that saying where it’s, like, shared sadness is half the sadness, shared happiness is double the happiness?

It’s kind of like that. If you win together, it’s so hype. Everyone’s going crazy, losing their minds, screaming. And if you lose, then it doesn’t hurt as much. Because, yes, you do have a team, and you do feel like you’re letting them down, in a sense. But they also have your back, and they’re gonna pick you right back up. It’s a lot easier, I think, to fence at the collegiate level because you just have that family behind you. 

[00:07:26] WSN: So you’re listed as one of the captains of the team. Could you just explain that role and how you’ve fulfilled it and how you’ve led the team?

[00:07:32] Maria Stamos: A lot of the part of being a captain is you got to do a lot of paperwork, you got to get a lot of spreadsheets done. You got to organize a lot of meeting times, you got to get information and communications done in the beginning of the season. Before the season officially starts, you have to lead practices and you have to come up with all the footwork, the warmups, how you’re going to get everyone involved and introduced to each other.

And then during the season, it’s a lot of uplifting and teaching moments, I would say. I remember, there’s this girl on the team, her name is Aurora. Love her to pieces. And we were at a meet, and she was struggling with the timing of a certain action. So in between our meet, I stood in front of her and I made her do the drill over and over and over again until she got it right.

And every time she messed up, I’d be like, ‘No, this is what you did wrong. Do it this way.’ And then she’d do it correctly. And then she’d do something else and I’d be like, ‘No, this is how you do it.’ And she would get it correctly and then she’d use that in the bout. 

And a bigger aspect is strip coaching, because you’re not always going to have your coach next to you. Sometimes, the captains or other teammates have to step in, and we can call timeouts during matches. We can go coach them real quick. 

[00:08:45] WSN: Have you enjoyed that? Because you’ve been, again, playing this sport since you were 10 years old, almost giving back to the sport that you started at a young age. Is that something that you might want to do later in life as well?

[00:08:56] Maria Stamos: Coaching? 

[00:08:56] WSN: Yeah. 

[00:08:57] Maria Stamos: I mean, I don’t think coaching is something I would pursue as a career, but it would be something I’d do volunteer work for. Currently, I’m involved with PISTE Academy, which was founded by Olympian Nzingha Prescod, and it basically is a non-profit that provides free fencing lessons and free tutoring to underserved communities. And I volunteered with them tutoring a few years ago, over the summer leading a little summer camp for the kids. So that would be giving back and that was really rewarding, really fulfilling. 

[00:09:26] WSN: Do you mind if I ask you why you chose pre-med and just trying to go into medicine?

[00:09:30] Maria Stamos: Can I get a little gross? Okay. When I was little, I had this doctor, my pediatrician, I was maybe two years old or something. And he drew my blood for some reason and I just remember staring at it and thinking it was the coolest thing ever. I was like, ‘Mom, this is awesome. What is going on?’

And I do come from a family of doctors, like my mother, my stepdad, my grandfather, they were all doctors. So I guess it’s in my blood, but I don’t know, every time that someone asks me, ‘Why pre-med?’ It’s just I’ve always known I wanted to be a doctor since I was two, really. I’ve just always wanted to do it. I guess it’s not a super satisfying answer, but that’s the truth. 

[00:10:07] WSN: How’d you get into fencing? 

[00:10:09] Maria Stamos: This is a really hilarious story in my opinion. So, I was nine years old, I was a little bit chubby, I tried every single sport under the sun. You know, soccer, swimming, tennis, ballet, modern dance, other forms of dance that I hated. 

And my mother sits me down one day, and she goes, ‘Maria, you gotta do a sport. It’s either figure skating or fencing.’ And I said, ‘Mom, I want to do figure skating.’ And she said, ‘You’re doing fencing.’ And then I started fencing.

[00:10:40] WSN: Was there a little pushback from you at the very start, then? Because fencing is one of those sports that requires a lot of self discipline in terms of just getting the drills down.

[00:10:47] Maria Stamos: A lot of discipline, but I really didn’t take it seriously at first. I was a little demon child at the training center. But I think I loved it immediately, I don’t know. There were moments where I was like, ‘Mom, I don’t want to go to practice, I don’t want to, I’m tired. I want to play video games.’ But you know, that’s normal, I guess. 

[00:11:05] WSN: Outside of fencing, outside of all the traveling and outside of school, what else do you like to do? So you mentioned video games earlier. 

[00:11:13] Maria Stamos: That’s one. That’s one. I had a Minecraft phase when I was in middle school.

[00:11:17] WSN: Well, me too. 

[00:11:18] Maria Stamos: It’s going to sound so lame. I love baking and cooking and writing and reading. I did get a minor in creative writing, like specifically in poetry. So I guess I’m a little bit of a poetry freak that way. But I also love drawing and painting. So I guess those six things I’m big on. 

[00:11:38] WSN: I mean, how do you find time to do that? 

[00:11:40] Maria Stamos: Oh, I don’t. 

[00:11:41] WSN: Oh, you don’t?

[00:11:45] Maria Stamos: It’s rare, but when I do have a few spare hours, I’m like, ‘Hmm. I need to cram as much creative energy into these hours as possible.’ And then I’ll bake three things in one sitting and draw like two paintings. 

[00:11:58] WSN: Well, that’s sick, because now you have a storage full of just cookies or whatever it is.

[00:12:02] Maria Stamos: Yeah, and then I never eat them. 

[00:12:05] WSN: What’s your favorite thing about fencing at NYU?

[00:12:08] Maria Stamos: The team, easy. They’re the best. They’re honestly the best. This is a funny memory. I remember one time we went to a meet in Boston. This is my sophomore year on the team. And we got snowed in, all the schools pulled out. And we all ordered takeout into the hotel rooms and then we went outside and we had a huge snowball fight. I think that’s one of my favorite moments on the team, because it really just feels like a giant family. Everyone’s so sweet and funny and we just vibe together really well. I don’t know, I love them. 

[00:12:40] WSN: Yeah, I mean, that makes sense. I mean, do you spend a lot of time with them? Just like training every day?

[00:12:45] Maria Stamos: Yeah, yeah. We train together three days a week, and then weekends we have meets and then we’re friends outside of that too. So, I’d say I spend a lot of time with them. 

[00:12:54] WSN: Has there been any team bonding activities?

[00:12:56] Maria Stamos: Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. We have a lot of those. Yeah, we have a lot of those — that’s what the captains take care of. 

[00:13:02] WSN: Do you have a favorite one across your four years besides the snowball fight? 

[00:13:05] Maria Stamos: We do host an annual season opener at the very beginning of the semester of the school year where we just invite everyone. We have a giant party with  throwback music, a lot of Pitbull. We have a lot of snacks and everyone just gets to know each other. And yeah, I’d say that’s one of my things to do with the team. I always host. 

[00:13:25] WSN: Do you have any superstitions that you do before a bout or any lucky bracelets?

[00:13:32] Maria Stamos: I always have to redo my hair before I go up. Otherwise, it just bothers me. If it’s, like, a little untidy, I can’t do it.

[00:13:41] WSN: How does that work? Because your head is in a mask for most of it, right? Is that something that you have to keep doing every time, or?

[00:13:48] Maria Stamos: I mean, not necessarily. There is a rule that your hair can’t be touching your lamé, which is like the jacket, so you do have to put it up in a specific way. It could be a bun. It could be a ponytail that you shove into your mask, but I usually do a low bun, and then it gets messed up anyway. And then I have to redo it because it’s bothering me. 

[00:14:04] WSN: I saw you fence foil, right?

[00:14:06] Maria Stamos: Yes. 

[00:14:06] WSN: Any deviations from that over the last four or five years? Or is that something you’ve kind of stuck to? 

[00:14:12] Maria Stamos: We have this one practice after the season ends and everyone switches weapons and fences each other. And I tried out épée for the first time in my life, and I’m very proud to say I beat [alumni] Ian Sanders 5-2, who got 3rd place at NCAA Nationals in his senior year. So I would say I’m a little bit of a killer when it comes to épée. 

Did I ever pick up an épée ever again? No. I’m gonna stick with my infinite winning record and my bragging rights. But in terms of competition, I did have to fence sabre at one meet last year against LIU [Long Island University]  and I won two matches against them out of three. So that was pretty fun. 

[00:14:57] WSN: Yeah, did you expect that or was it just a little fun ? 

[00:15:00] Maria Stamos: Our coach just looked at us, and he’s like, ‘Foil girls, you’re fencing sabre. Go.’ We’re like, ‘Okay, sure.’ 

[00:15:07] WSN: Looking ahead to the rest of the year, I think you guys have a couple more meets this year and then going into next year as well. Any expectations that you set for yourself or for the team, any goals? 

[00:15:16] Maria Stamos: I have been taught that expectations will kill you in fencing. So I try to have no expectations, because then you can’t disappoint yourself. And also you don’t get frozen from your expectations and being scared of fulfilling them. 

Goals I do have. I do want to qualify for NCAAs, like I did my sophomore year. And I just hope we can qualify as many people as we possibly can because we have a really strong team this year — I think it’s one of the strongest we’ve had in a few years, so I am hopeful for this season.

[00:15:49] WSN: Yeah, and then your last year of eligibility as well. How do you feel about that? 

[00:15:53] Maria Stamos: Actually, not my last year of eligibility. 

[00:15:55] WSN: Oh, really? Okay. 

[00:15:57] Maria Stamos: No, because — I actually only found this out like a month ago — but NCAA gave everyone a fifth year who was affected by COVID. So guess who’s taking two years to do their masters? Me! 

[00:16:10] WSN: That’s amazing. 

[00:16:12] Maria Stamos: Can’t get rid of me. 

Contact Jonathan Mak at [email protected].