Fencing Is Their Forte

feature | FENCING AT MASTERS

RIGHT: Suzie Paxton '88, left, and Francisco Martin, right, celebrated the dedication of the Francisco Martin Fencing Room in 2015.

For a sport that thrives on ferocity and a fair degree of aggression on the piste, there’s a lot of love and affection for the fencing program from current students and alumnae/i for both the team and its dedicated coach, Francisco Martin.

FENCING

Fencing is a distinctive, and justifiable, point of pride for The Masters School community. Over the last four decades, Masters’ tranquil Dobbs Ferry campus has been the launching pad for an Olympic medalist and numerous national and international fencing champions. Its reputation in the sport has attracted students from around the U.S. and the world — drawn not only by the results individual students have achieved but also by the opportunity to be coached by Francisco Martin, who served as the head fencing coach for more than 30 years. Retired for the past three years, Martin — affectionately known as Patxi by his fencers — has returned to Masters to assist current head coach Clara Meere-Weigel ’15, who was one of his student fencers.

Martin is particularly proud that one of his former student fencers is the head coach. “Clara is doing a fantastic job on the team,” he said. “I’m very proud of those kids who are now running the team. I love the School and built the team with a lot of love.”

IS THEIR FORTE

Ethan Yankey ’22, who came to Masters from the Caribbean island of Dominica, chose the School because of the fencing program. “It was a big part of my coming to Masters,” he says. Yankey is on the boys varsity team as an épée fencer.

Similarly, Sunny Shi ’22 came to Masters from her hometown of Shenzhen, China, eager to continue the fencing career she had begun as a fourth grader. During the past season, she had only one loss. Heading to Cornell in the fall, Shi says she hopes to join the university’s Division I fencing team.

So what’s in the “secret sauce” that has contributed to Masters’ strength in fencing?

“[Francisco] has a gravitas where he tends to walk into a room and everyone will listen to him automatically,” Meere-Weigel says. “When he was my coach, he coached in a unique way. There’s a lot of technique in terms of disengaging and blade work. But he taught me a lot more about how to read your opponents and turn that into your success in a bout.”

That extra insight into his players and their opponents is not surprising, given that Martin is a fencing master from the Academy in France and has been trained in psychology and physical conditioning. That training also helped him “learn how to detect talent,” Martin shares. “Students had to have the talent and potential to develop the ability.”

Martin takes an individual approach to his fencers. “Some people are good at foil, not at saber,” he says. “I recommend the weapon that’s best suited for each student.”

As a championship fencer himself — Martin won six Spanish National Championships — the Basque native has spent his career at the highest levels of fencing. He was the team captain for the U.S. Olympic Fencing team for eight years, starting in 2012. He has also coached the national team and been a referee in fencing for the past 30 years.

Yet even with all the champions and successes, winning is not the only objective, which perhaps explains some of the magic at Masters.

It’s about “the development of your character,” Yankey says. “It’s never about winning. It’s about having a good experience. The beautiful thing about fencing is how you control your mind. The sky’s the limit as long as you reach for the stars.”

LEFT: As head fencing coach for more than three decades, Francisco Martin has helped generations of fencers develop their skills and talents.

LEFT: Upper school fencers celebrate a successful match this past winter. Suzie Paxton ’88, an Olympic fencer in 1996 and a Masters School trustee, freely acknowledges that Mr. Martin is the reason she became a fencer.

“Patxi made it fun,” says Paxton, who turned her expertise into a role as an NBC fencing analyst for the 2004 Athens Olympics. “He was inspiring, and he wants to win — but it’s winning because everything comes together, and you’ve executed the plan. He’s like a second father. Whether you win, lose or draw, it doesn’t change how he feels about you. You get back in the gym and work harder. We’re all a work in progress, and you’re always trying to figure out how to do things better. Winning is not the ultimate goal. It was the joy of working towards the goal.”

Fencing captured Paxton’s passion because, she explains, it’s “about body, mind and spirit. It’s mental. It’s physical chess. You have to keep yourself composed. In fencing you’re focused and find joy in being part of the process and the team.”

Petar Agatonovic ’18 was another student who came to Masters because of the “legendary Francisco Martin.” A student fencer at Sacred Heart University in Connecticut, he is currently an assistant fencing coach at Masters.

”Francisco is not only legendary but one of the most honest and caring people I know,” Agatonovic says. ”We became family friends. When I listened to Francisco [in a bout], I was victorious. Francisco coached to my strength and tapped into my ability. Francisco was always supportive. He saw I was a decent fencer and knew I could go the distance.” Agatonovic concedes that he put more pressure on himself than Martin ever did. ”He knew when I needed a timeout, to let me breathe and relax,” he says. “He is definitely a mentor.”

Paxton believes fencing enhances the School’s ability to attract interesting students. “When a school offers a portfolio of different activities and introduces students to a sport like fencing, it makes for richer students,” she says. “It doesn’t mean they have to be champions. It’s one more tool in their toolbox.”

That legacy will endure. The fencing room in the Maureen Fonseca Center for Athletics and Arts was named in his honor, and, as Agatonovic says, “At Masters, fencing will always be a staple as long as Francisco’s name stays on the wall.”