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WEST WINDSOR: Girls Fencer of the Year

Pirates’ Gao a model of success

By Justin Feil, Assistant Sports Editor
   Sharon Gao didn’t have many challenges this season, but that didn’t stop her from continuing to try to become the best fencer possible.
   Now a senior at West Windsor-Plainsboro High South, Gao’s dedication has taken her a long way in a short time. She didn’t start fencing until she was in eighth grade.
   ”I tried a bunch of different activities before — basketball, swimming, music and art,” Gao said. “I wanted to do a sport that was an individual sport. I like that I can control everything. Running is hard on its own, but you don’t have to think about it too much. Fencing was called the physical chess. I was looking at fencing and archery. I found fencing at my local Chinese school.”
   Gao also enjoyed quite a bit of early success, even if she wasn’t putting tons of time into it. When she moved on to different coaches and started taking it more seriously, she got even better.
   ”The better the coaches I had, the more inclined I was to go to practice,” said Gao, who fences foil. “It hasn’t changed that much. In the beginning, I was always thinking about fencing. I was always thinking how I could improve. I got my dad to buy me books. There’s so much to fencing, you can never learn everything about it.
   ”I do that less now. I know the basics. I spend more time physically training. I go to tournaments. I keep a journal of what I learn. I think less and do more.”
   Gao still makes notes for herself on everything from strategies to diet to sleep habits to find out what makes her fence at her best. In her final high school season, she found plenty of success.
   Gao won all but one bout this season on the A strip. She led the Pirate girls to the District 2 foil championship, and second in the state squad championship though they beat winner Northern Highlands head-to-head. WW-P South also advanced to the state tournament as a team where it advanced to the quarterfinals.
   Gao’s one loss came against Claire Ponticello of Moorestown Friends in the state squad tournament, a loss that she blames on a weapon malfunction. Skeptical? Gao beat Ponticello, 5-0, in their rematch in the Tournament of Champions on her way to a perfect day to capture the individual foil title.
   Sharon Gao is the Princeton Packet Girls Fencer of the Year.
   ”Sharon was able to pull everything together,” said Pirates head coach Ed Chang. “Every time I talk to her about fencing, it’s not like I can add anything to what she knows. I can engage her in a conversation about her performance and how she’s executing. Sharon is always thinking about how she’s doing and what she can do better and what she can do differently to be a better fencer.”
   Chang has seen steady growth and maturation out of Gao during her career at WW-P South. This year was the culmination of it. After a strong start to her career as a freshman, an injury cost her some of her sophomore year, and last year she battled through a season in which she was frustrated largely by things that she could not control, like officiating. This season, she returned despite several top level New Jersey fencers not coming out.
   ”Going into this year, I was going in reluctantly,” Gao said. “But I was pretty glad I did it. It was a lot of fun this year. I was glad I did it this year.”
   Gao continued to rise outside of school. She earned her A level at a North American Cup event early in the season. She is ranked 16th nationally in junior girls, 30th among senior women.
   ”She’s really comfortable this year doing what she was doing,” Chang said. “It showed with her record. Her record speaks for itself in terms of how comfortable she was. I cannot remember a bout that somebody scored more than three points on her. Her level of comfort at being on the strip has gotten to the point where everything is moving together in unison.
   ”She was already pretty good. She did improve a lot. She’ll tell you that she improved a lot. Her scale is more on the national and international level. At the high school level, because of the people that dropped out of the pool this year, that made it that much easier for Sharon. But if you look at her national and international stats, this has probably been the most productive year for her.”
   Gao was happy to see her individual success, but even happier that it was accompanied by team success, which has not always been the case. She teamed up with Becky Shi and Kristen Kemnitzer for the squad success.
   ”Kristen and Becky really gave Sharon the confidence to say that her performance wasn’t going to waste,” Chang said. “She had a strong team under her and together they could really do something great and they did.
   ”Unfortunately, points wise they only took second to Northern Highlands. They won every matchup they had. That is a first for girls foil. These past two years have been historic for High School South. Our accomplishments and accolades have been greater than anything in the previous four years. Historically, we’re making ripples.”
   Gao enjoyed being a part of history. She saw a positive change in the Pirates this season.
   ”It was exciting to go to squad states and get second,” Gao said. “Second didn’t feel that bad because we beat the team that won. It was really gratifying to do that. It wasn’t just me. It was the whole squad.
   ”I think the whole team took fencing a lot more seriously this year,” she added. “A lot of the JV fencers, they decided to go to group lessons. It was an overall change in tone from not caring to more serious. I think the team dynamics improved too. Everyone seemed to be more supportive. No one blamed each other for losing.”
   Gao showed in her own growth what dedication can do, even for those fencers that start as late as she did.
   ”For all the other girls,” Chang said, “She’s always been a model of what is possible.”
   Gao is looking forward to the next possibilities. She will have to decide where she will fence next year when she receives her college acceptance at the end of the month.”It’s exciting to not know what’s going to happen,” Gao said, “but wherever it’s going to happen, it’s going to be good.
   ”I’m really excited to see how far I can get. I don’t know if I want to take fencing to the next level. I don’t know if I want to go for an Olympic run or if I’m good enough.”
   Gao knows there is stiff competition, even just in her age range of foil fencers. College will bring a much more significant challenge than her final scholastic year did, and Gao is looking to continue the progress that made her a state champion five years after she took up the sport.
   ”I have to practice more,” she said. “My physical conditioning is good, but you can always do better. I’ve been getting extremely lazy lately. Another thing would be to fix my mistakes. I need to fix things to the most minute detail. A lot of small things that are habitual now, when you put them together, they hinder my fencing.
   ”My technical skill is still improving, but not at the same pace as before. I started late — that’s a bad thing — but I still can improve a lot compared to my peers. But I don’t know my full potential.”