When 13-year-old Lola Possick of Weehawken returns to the Mustard Seed School in Hoboken to begin her eighth grade year next month, she’s going to have a lot of stories to tell about what she did on her summer vacation.
For one, Possick can tell her classmates and teachers that she attended a training camp in Budapest, Hungary and visited Paris on a vacation.
But more importantly, Possick can brag a little that she is a national fencing champion for a third time.
That’s right, Possick won her third straight national fencing championship in the sabre weapon category at the national tourney held in St. Louis in July.
It’s one thing to be a national champion once. But three times? It’s astounding.
Possick was reached via phone after attending the fencing camp in Hungary before heading to Paris.
“The setup was the same as years past, but the competition was different,” Possick said. “Because of that, my whole mindset was different. I felt that there was a little bit of pressure on me to win again. I felt like I needed to do well. I knew I was the strongest competitor, but a lot of things can happen. I knew what to expect this time, so it made things different.”
Possick was able to compete in her own age classification, which she won, but she also finished fifth in the nation in the 14-and-under age group and remarkably placed third among those 16-and-under.
“I thought that was a pretty big deal, considering I was facing girls much older than me,” Possick said. “Because of it, I got a new rating. It was a big accomplishment for me.”
Possick said that she felt fairly confident because she had won on the national stage twice before.
“Going into the tournament, I knew that I could do really well,” Possick said. “I was training very hard beforehand. I felt pretty good.”
Possick was asked what it was like to be considered a three-time national champion.
“It’s pretty nice,” Possick said. “When I tell people that I’m a fencer, they immediately ask, ‘Are you good at it?’ Well, now I can say I’m a three-time national champion. It feels pretty good to know you’re pretty good at a sport you love to do.”
Before the trip to Europe, Possick had been busy training at the Advanced Fitness and Fencing Academy (AFFA) in Garwood, under the watchful eyes of renowned fencing coach Jerome Guth, a former French national champion who was also an assistant coach at Penn State University.
It was AFFA that enrolled Possick in the Budapest training camp.
“I’ve learned so many new techniques,” Possick said. “I’ve already changed my way of thinking. I’m a smarter fencer now. And that makes me a better fencer.”
Possick was asked about the trip to Hungary.
“It was such a good experience,” Possick said. “I was fencing with people from Hungary and training with fencers from Venezuela, Italy and other parts of the United States. I made a lot of new friends. It was a lot of fun overall. So yeah, I’ve had a packed summer this year.”
Possick said that she will continue to train with the ultimate goal on the horizon.
“My goal would be the 2024 Olympics [in Paris],” Possick said. “That was always the first goal I had in mind. I think I can move up to the older category [14-and-under] with all the new little things I’ve learned. Some of the little things I used won’t work in the older category, so I have to get better.”
That is if Possick wants to become a four-time national champion next summer.
“For now, it’s definitely something I can hold on to,” Possick said. “No matter what happens next, I can always say that I won the national tournament. But this year, because I’ve been to so many places, will stay in my mind. I’ll remember it for a very long time.” …
Marist standout basketball player Breanna Frazier, a three-time Hudson Reporter All-Area honoree, has given a verbal commitment to attend Central Florida University, an NCAA Division I program, in the fall of 2019.
Frazier will have a chance to become a rare four-time All-Area recipient this season for the Lady Royal Knights and head coach Reggie Quinn…
It didn’t matter that the temperatures climbed into the high 90s recently. It meant that the high school football season will quickly be upon us. The local teams began practices in earnest last week and will already have scrimmages scheduled for the beginning of the season later this month. Some teams will open the 2018 season before Labor Day on the weekend of Aug. 31-Sept. 1. It starts earlier and earlier each year. – Jim Hague.
Jim Hague can be reached at OGSMAR@aol.com.
