RALEIGH, N.C. — One college sport that often flies under the radar is fencing. Only 46 colleges in the United States have programs across all divisions, which forms a tight-knit community. That’s a part of the draw of the sport.
UNC junior Zhiyan Qian didn’t always plan on becoming a fencer.
“I used to be a swimmer, but then I had, like a… I started developing like an allergic reaction to the water,” she said.
This prompted a change of sport around the time Qian and her family moved to the United States.
“My dad’s job transferred to the U.S., and we got transferred with another family. And their daughter did fencing,” Qian said.
The sport is now ingrained in the East Chapel Hill High School alum, who chose to stay local and compete at the collegiate level.
“I grew up around UNC. I just love UNC’s culture. I really enjoy our team’s culture. I think we have… I might be biased, but I think we have the best fencing team culture out of all the NCAA sports,” she said.
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is one of just two college fencing programs in the state, resulting in a close circle that many try to stay involved in as long as they can.
“Honestly, I think the greatest thing is just being able to connect with other fencers. And I’ve become some really good friends with some coaches and some fencers and other referees. So it’s just the connections that I’m able to have via reffing that I wasn’t able to do just from fencing,” she said.
The way Qian stays plugged in, beyond competing, is through refereeing. This is a skill she learned locally, at Apex Fencing Academy, and that extra connection and understanding has only increased her love for the sport.
“They were just trying to develop some new referees and then so I got hooked with that. I got hooked on that. And it just started, I guess like becoming… like I started going to more regional tournaments and then national tournaments. And it just became a thing for me,” she said.
What started with a training in Apex turned into Qian becoming a USA Fencing-certified referee, giving her unique perspective on her craft.
“It definitely helps me learn more about fencing and things that I can watch out for when I’m fencing because I know how the referees are seeing the calls,” Qian said.
This is all in an effort to continue to grow relationships she’s built across the sport, hoping to stay connected after she’s done competing.
“As much as I love fencing, I just… I think maybe sometimes it can be, get a little too busy for me to be fencing regularly. So I definitely see reffing as my long-term commitment to the sport,” Qian said.
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