Nov. 10, 2008

Hello, my name is Courtney Zemkosky and I am a captain of the Cleveland State fencing team. We competed Saturday November 1, 2008 down at Ohio State University. I had fun at the competition with my fellow teammates. We enjoyed cheering on our new members as they competed for the first time with our team; they did really well too.

Fencing is a not only a physical sport, but a mental sport as well. It is challenging at times to keep a positive mentality when the bouts are not ending in your favor. I think that is something a few of us learned this past weekend. One of the most important things to keep in mind about any sport is that when you lose, get something out of it and build from it that is how you better yourself as an athlete.

I think one of the most exciting moments of the competition, for me, was when our new teammate, from the epee squad, Laura Duval, beat one of the girls from Bowling Green University. The bout was close and when time ran out, they were tied, sending them into overtime. I eagerly watched as my new teammate took the win, helping us to a victory over Bowling Green.

Another great aspect of this weekend was, all the support we received from our new teammates who were unable to compete this past weekend due to NCAA clearinghouse requirements. One of our new teammates helped us load our equipment in the vans before we left and then four others came down to OSU to cheer us on. These new teammates are really helping the nucleus of our team and I am very optimistic for the future of our program because of them. I look forward to getting them cleared so that they can join us at our next meet.

Overall, I feel our team did really well this weekend, although records may not show it. We are down quite a few people from last season, but are rebuilding and should have a more complete team by our home meet in January.

I look forward to practicing with the team and working on different techniques I learned this weekend. I want to thank both my coaches Andy Tulleners and Vincent Cianciola for all their assistance this weekend, without them, it would not have gone nearly as well. Please come out and support us at the Cleveland State Invitational on January 25, 2009 in Woodling Gym.