The Jersey Journal, 20-Jul-18
By Adrienne Romero
At just 13 years old, Lola Possick already knows what it's like to be the nation's best.
The Weehawken teenager won her third national fencing championship earlier this summer when she bested a field of 115 fencers from around the country at USA Fencing's 2018 National Championships and July Challenge in St. Louis.
"You're in the moment," she said. "It's really fun and you're just in the moment and there's so much adrenaline that you don't wanna think about anything else."
Lola secured her championship by placing first in the Youth 12 category (for fencers born between 2005 and 2008) at the tournament, but also competed in the Youth 14 and Cadet categories. She took home fifth place out of 163 fencers and third out of 151 fencers, in the Youth 12 and 14 categories, respectively, earning an "A" ranking in the process.
Fencers are given one of six letter classifications (A, B, C, D, E, U) with A being the highest and U (unclassified) being the lowest. Reaching "A" classification has been Lola's greatest accomplishment so far, she said.
"That was a really big deal," Lola said. "'A' is the best you can get so I'm really, really happy about that."
Along with earning the highest letter rating, she also walked away with the No. 1 spot out of the Youth 12 Woman's Saber. Saber is one of the three types of fencing; foil and epee being the other two.
However, it wasn't Lola who first picked up the sword in the family – it was her older brother, Owen.
"He was looking for a sport and he just tried everything. He tried swimming, he tried basketball, and then the fencing camp at my club in Jersey City, and he really liked it," she said. "Every Saturday, Monday, and Wednesday I had to go there. I'd watch him fence for like two hours."
When she was 7, she followed her in then-12-year-old brother's footsteps into the fencing world at Cobra Fencing Club in Downtown Jersey City. She brought home her first national championship in 2015 at just 10 years old under former Olympian Steve Kaplan.
Lola recalled how "unexpected" capturing her first national title was because she had just turned 10 and was a year younger than the oldest fencers at the competition.
"I was aiming to get third and then I just happened to make it to the finals," she said. "I actually had to compete against my teammate and then I (won) 10-9. So that was very, very close. That was really fun."
She then successfully defended her trophy at the Summer National Championships in Dallas in 2016.
The Hudson County native now trains at the Advance Fencing and Fitness Academy in Garwood under Jerome Guth, who is a French national sabre champion as well as a former Penn State University and Olympic qualifiers coach.
During the summer, the 13-year-old dedicates much of her time to training camps, preparing for her next challenge. However, it's not the training or winning that captures Lola's heart the most – it's traveling and making new friends that she enjoys most about fencing.
"You get to travel so much and you meet lots of new people, you just kind of get connected...," she said. "Now, I just kind of know everyone, so we all kind of know each other."
She now has her sights set on cracking the Top 20 rankings in the 16-and-under division, which would qualify her to participate in international competition. She's currently ranked No. 22.
"That would be really exciting because I've never gone outside the country for a tournament," she said. "I've gone outside the country for a training camp – I've gone to Italy and Spain and that was really, really fun."
