15-year-old NJ fencer for Team USA hopes to foil opponents at championship Sunday in Egypt

Lola Possick focuses most of her time on becoming a better fencer.

Whether training at her fencing club in Garwood or working on her strength and conditioning, the 15-year-old from Weehawken dedicates at least five days each week to the sport she loves. Even during last year’s COVID lockdown, she practiced her footwork via Zoom sessions and conditioned at home.

This weekend, her hard work will have paid off.

Possick will be suiting up in her red, white and blue mask on Sunday to represent the United States in Egypt, at the 2021 Junior and Cadet World Championships. The teen is one of 38 athletes from across the country who will be representing Team USA at the international competition in Cairo, and is among eight New Jerseyans slated to compete.

“I never thought I’d be able to go to World Championships,” Possick said. “I’d hear about people that get to go that were on the national team. It’s always been kind of intimidating. So it’s definitely awesome to get to go now and represent Team USA.”

Though only 15, the top-ranked fencer is no stranger to competing at an elite level. She is a four-time national champion who won the U-17 World Cup in Mödling, Austria, and brought home a gold medal with Team USA in Gödöllo, Hungary.

Still, there’s something about competing in Cairo this weekend that feels different.

“This is World Championships,” Possick said. “It’s a much bigger deal.”

Possick has been fencing for nine years. She picked up the sport after watching her older brother, Owen, who also fences. She would sit in on his practices. She was drawn by how creative and free fencers could be, and how, after learning the basics, they could develop their own styles. Other activities she tried, such as ballet and tennis, never stuck. 

After about a year of watching from the sidelines, Possick decided to give the sport a go, and she hasn't looked back.

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“She’s been a talent from the start, and she’s had success in every age group that she’s competed in,” said Aleksander Ochocki, founder and head coach at Advance Fencing & Fitness Academy, where Possick is a member. “She’s been one of the top in the country since she started the sport.”

When Possick is on the fencing strip, it’s hard to differentiate her 5’10’’ frame from the other fencers when suited up in her Team USA gear. Once her bout begins, though, her athleticism stands out — every step is deliberate, every jab is punctuated.

Possick, who will compete for the Cadet Women’s Individual Saber title in Cairo, is calculated in her bouts, but also free and fearless, her coach said. She is a hard worker who, as a student at Kent Place School in Summit, doesn’t lose sight of academics.

Once her fencing career concludes, she said, she hopes to purse a career in sports medicine so she can continue working with athletes.

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She juggles fencing while also being a regular North Jersey teen who enjoys hiking, camping with her family, small art projects and, in the summer months, bicycling along the New York City skyline.

“Between fencing practices here four or five times a week, conditioning with the strength and conditioning coach, [watching] videos and then, on top of that, being a full-time student and being an honor roll student — it’s a lot,” Ochocki said. “And all the travel. She’s always doing homework on airplanes and in hotels and everything else. It’s impressive.”

Ochocki — who is also a former national team member and national champion — has watched fencing's popularity grow in New Jersey over the years. He credits the growth to the dozens of high schools that now have programs.

“The sport has really grown — in New Jersey especially — but in the country as well. And the level has gone so much higher that it’s so much more competitive,” said Ochocki, a Clark native. “There’s more clubs. There’s more athletes. There’s so many more talents in the sport."

The East Coast is a hotbed for fencing, with many Garden State fencers crossing the Hudson River to train in New York, Ochocki said. Part of his motivation behind opening his own club was to accommodate fencers’ busy schedules by offering them options that didn’t involve an hourlong commute to the city.

New Jersey is home to a number of Olympic hopefuls with their eyes on the summer games in Tokyo. There’s Jacqueline Dubrovich from Riverdale, and siblings Kamali and Khalil Thompson of Teaneck.

The state is also home to former Olympic medalists, including Ibtihaj Muhammad, who in 2016 became the first American woman to compete in the Olympics in hijab. The bronze medalist, five-time Senior World medalist and World Champion hails from Maplewood.

Possick’s ultimate goal is to become another New Jerseyan to compete in the Olympics and, along the way, inspire younger fencers to follow in her footsteps.

Early in her career, Possick remembers seeing posters of two-time Olympic champion Mariel Zagunis inside the club where she trained. At 7 years old, when Possick was still navigating the sport, she had someone to look up to. Now, the tables have turned. 

When it was announced at her club that Possick would be competing at the World Championships, she remembers the expressions on the younger fencers’ faces: mouths open, wide-eyed and admiring her the way she admired Zagunis.

“My Olympic dream — that’s always kind of just been where I wanted to get to,” Possick said. “But I think a really big part of that is having people look up to you, and inspiring people, which is something I really hope I’m doing as I move forward in my career.”

Melanie Anzidei is a reporter for NorthJersey.com. To get unlimited access to the latest news, please subscribe or activate your digital account today.

Email: anzidei@northjersey.com

Twitter: @melanieanzidei