By Chris Paradis ’16, Staff Writer

This year, the Newark Academy Fencing Team has started off strong; however, the team has changed in a way that will undoubtedly influence its chemistry. This year, Ms. Ivanka Lucchetti left her role as the Head Coach of the Boys and Girls fencing teams. She had been the head coach since the 2006-2007 season, and played a major role during her 8 complete seasons as head coach. Her husband Marcos, who was an Olympic fencer in 1980, received an incredible opportunity to work as a coach for Ohio State University’s fencing team and so both moved out West.

While the Athletic Department hired two new coaches on an interim basis to replace the Lucchettis, Phillipe Brillant (head coach) and Lauren Phillips, the question presents itself: how will the fencers react to the loss of their old coach? George Haglund ‘16, an internationally competitive fencer who also competes for Newark Academy, commented that, “Our team has a knack for moving forward. While we all miss Ivanka, we are also ready to keep fencing at our highest level, no matter who replaces her.” The sense of community that surrounds the team is quite the bonding force.

Ivanka will be missed because of her deep influence in the start of many of the fencers’ careers at the Academy. Sydney Persing ‘15, a captain of the team, said, “There’s no way I’d be fencing nationally had I been introduced to the sport with another coach.” While Luchetti clearly encouraged many fencers to begin their careers, change can be productive as well. When asked if she was worried about the immediate future of the team, Persing replied, “We have two incredible coaches in Phil and Lauren, and I think that the change will be positive for our new fencers.”

However optimistic, the season has just begun, and the true effect on the team will become clearer as the season progresses. Fencing is an individual sport and this writer, who plays tennis, another individual sport, knows the difficulties that can arise when individual athletes compete together as a team. A key skill a coach needs to manage a group of individual athletes is the ability to simultaneously coach individuals and promote the idea of team. It is essential that new athletes who join the team understand their role is complex; Minutemen fencers do not play for just themselves anymore, but for every other member of the team. While the search continues, this period could potentially be beneficial to the team as it will be posed with unique challenges such as self-coaching and self-managing. The team will have to mature as a whole in order to succeed without a head coach, but Haglund and Persing, who are a good representation of the team pulse, have shown explicit confidence that these fencers are up to the task.