USA Fencing

MILAN, Italy — They’re the first to arrive and the last to leave, putting in 16-hour days to prepare Team USA fencers for the rigors of competition and ensure that both their fencing gear and their bodies are in ideal condition.

They’re called the cadre — a passionate and talented group of individuals that includes a chief of mission, team captain, armorer, sports med providers and team leader.

The success of fencing, as with any sport, involves more than the athletes giving their all on the field of play and their coaches offering encouraging advice from the sidelines and during breaks.

That’s where the cadre comes in. Most of their work is done behind the scenes, starting well before the tournament begins and continuing after the medal ceremony confetti has been swept away. That means Team USA fans following from home likely won’t ever see them, but they absolutely see the results of their hard work.

The cadre’s role is exhaustive and exhausting. They must be onsite for every bout, every round, every weapon. But moments like Tuesday, when Eli Dershwitz OLY became the 2023 Senior Men’s Saber World Champion, make those long days worthwhile.

On Tuesday, the cadre arrived at the Milan Convention Center just after sunrise to support our Women’s Epee athletes. When Isis Washington informed the cadre she wanted to leave the team hotel at 6 a.m. to travel to the venue and start warming up, the cadre joined her on the walk over — on call to help in any way.

Among their many roles in Milan, Team Captain Dagmara Wozniak OLY and Team Leader Kate Reisinger keep track of the exact times when athletes are expected in the “call room,” which is where athletes get a final equipment check and gather before being introduced and led onto their strips. Wozniak, a three-time Olympian and 2016 bronze medalist, is ideally suited for the team captain role because she can relate to the athletes and their unique experiences.

Knowing that they have people like Wozniak in their corner, the athletes don’t have to stress over procedural details, meaning they and their coaches are able to focus on the bout and preparing for their opponent.

They also don’t have to stress about equipment. With her workshop on wheels, the uber-talented Team USA Armorer Liz Morey can fix any late-breaking equipment problem with lightning speed.

And if an athlete encounters any physical concerns before, during or after a bout, Team USA’s world-class sports med providers are there to quickly diagnose and treat any problems. Keeping 25 fencers on their feet for nine days of competition is, well, no small feat. But Dr. Peggy Chin, Dr. Adam Thompson, massage therapist Stephanie Weston and Mt. Sinai’s Dr. Mariam Zakhary are up to the challenge.

During every Team USA bout, cadre members add another role to their plates: Team USA superfans, ensuring that even in venues where we aren’t the “home team,” there’s still plenty of noise after every Team USA touch.

As Dershwitz continued winning round after round on Tuesday, the cadre stayed close by to make sure the eventual world champion needed only to worry about his path to the medal rounds.

When Dershwitz won gold, Dr. Thompson accompanied him to his anti-doping test while team leader Reisinger planned an impromptu gathering so the entire squad could welcome and congratulate Dershwitz when he finally returned to the hotel after 10 p.m.

But even then, more than 16 hours after the cadre’s day began, the work wasn’t done.

By the time Dershwitz was being congratulated in the hotel lobby, armorer Morey was already back at the team room, meticulously working on Nick Itkin OLY’s blades to make sure they were in peak condition for weapons check the next day.  

And when Dershwitz returned to the team room after his own 12-hour day that included six strenuous bouts and two separate medal ceremonies (one at the venue and one at the picturesque Porta Sempione), Dr. Thompson was there to provide treatment and help him recover for the start of Men’s Saber team competition just 36 hours later.

Sleep was short Tuesday night, and when Wednesday dawned on the start of the Women’s Foil round of 64, the cadre was there once more. When they arrived at the convention center at 6:30 a.m. Wednesday, the doors weren’t yet open.

While the cadre’s work during Worlds never stops, it began months earlier.

In the case of team leader Reisinger, USA Fencing’s Chief of Sport Performance, preparations for the Senior World Championships include properly registering athletes with the FIE and making travel arrangements for Team USA coaches and athletes scattered all across the country and around the world — a job she shares with Kaitlyn Litten and Jennifer Yamin. With more than 50 people flying from a dozen different airports with a range of arrival and departure dates, this was a planning puzzle that would give even the most experienced organizer a headache.

She also coordinated Team USA apparel (need to look sharp for those medal photos!), ensured the venue team area and hotel team room would be stocked with healthy snacks and hydration products (food is fuel!), and met with the FIE and tournament organizers to develop a complete picture of what to expect at the championships.

That would be a full plate even if things went perfectly smoothly. But things never do.

When issues arise during the tournament — logistical, political or otherwise — Reisinger and Chief of Mission Saul Mendoza are on the front lines to devise a solution.

And speaking of solutions, Dr. Chin, USA Fencing Director of Sports Medicine, is a wealth of them. Her work for Worlds began long before the tournament, too, as she connected with each athlete to support their training plan, help them stay healthy and work through any issues that arose.

There are no shortcuts on the journey to understanding an athlete’s physical conditioning. Chin’s detailed knowledge about the athletes’ needs comes from a combination of her professional experience, countless weekends of work on the ground at World Cup and Grand Prix events around the world, and many hours on the phone with athletes to support them between competitions.

Fencing is a physically demanding sport, and having Dr. Chin in our athletes’ corner gives them a decisive edge on the world’s biggest stages.

And that doesn’t just include the Senior Worlds. While this article focuses on that signature event, the entire USA Fencing Sport Performance Team — Reisinger, Dr. Chin, Litten, Yamin and Beth Mahr — works with talented cadre members throughout the Olympic and Paralympic fencing season. So whenever you see a smiling photo of a Team USA athlete on the medal stand at a Cadet, Junior, Senior, Veteran or Parafencing event, think of the folks just out of view and congratulate them, too.

• Chief of Mission: Saul Mendoza
• Team Captain: Dagmara Wozniak OLY
• Armorer: Liz Morey
• Sports Med: Dr. Peggy Chin and Dr. Adam Thompson; Stephanie Weston (Massage Therapist); Dr. Mariam Zakhary (Mt. Sinai Physician)
• Team Leader: Kate Reisinger
• Communications: Bryan Wendell