En Garde
His body tenses up in anticipation of the upcoming start.
Prêts
Allez
He shoots off the line, sword and body moving in unison, a single blur, towards his opponent.
And just like that, the bout is already over.
On Feb. 17, freshman Elijah Kim competed in the USA Fencing Junior Olympics hosted in Charlotte. Competing in the Cadet Men’s Saber division, Kim won the gold medal, defeating his opponent in the final match 15-7.
Kim has been fencing since he was young, starting first at the age of 10. Initially driven by the need to defeat his brother in lightsaber duels, Kim fell in love with the sport, continuing with this passion through middle school and into high school.
“There was one night I remember where I was playing with lightsabers, and my brother kept beating me in duels and so I said to my mom, ‘Mom, I want to go, and learn how to fence,so I can come back and beat him in a sword fight,’” Kim said. “Starting out, I (became) very passionate about the sport.”
Starting out was not an easy journey for Kim. Instead, the path to becoming a good fencer was full of learning experiences and struggles. Completely unaware of what fencing was when joining originally, Kim learned to adapt to the new sport, one different from anything he had experienced before. But, he certainly wasn’t a prodigy at the start. Through losing matches and gaining more experience as a fencer, Kim learned a valuable lesson on what differentiated a beginner fencer from an elite level one.
“I think the number one thing is to not think of yourself as like a small fish in a big pond. I realized that if you just believe in yourself, you can be like all these other guys who you think in your head are really good,” Kim said. “You’re not as bad as you think. Those guys aren’t as good as you think. They’re also human. Because in fencing, the mental aspect is the biggest part, because that can either win you the match or completely lose you the match.”
But Kim’s progression has not been just his alone. Kim attributes a lot of his success to the coaching he has received and the role models he has had around him during his journey. Having joined one of the top fencing clubs in the nation, Kim was surrounded by strong fencers who were some of the best in the nation, and he looked up to them as someone to become like.
“I would say there was a lot of role models were older than me at my club who I really looked up to when I was younger, and I wanted to become like them. There’s a lot of professional guys who I look up to, fencing wise, who I try to take lessons from and try to mature to be like,” Kim said.
Having reached the top as one of the best fencers in his age group in the nation, Kim has seen a lot of success in his fencing career, but the circumstances of his success are not lost on him. Leading up to Junior Nationals, Kim realized how lucky he was to be in that position.
“I realized that I’m so privileged to to have the coaches and have a group, because it takes a village, right?” Kim said. “I’m so fortunate to have that kind of base, especially to say, like how random is it that the Korean national coach came to Texas of all places to start up a fencing club that is now the best saber club for 8 years in a row. And so I’m just so I was just so grateful that everything worked out in my like to create that result.”
Kim’s journey has also had an affect on him as a person. According to Kim, the randomness of outcomes in fencing has put him in some vulnerable positions that have taught him valuable lessons in his spiritual journey.
“I think that it really because fencing is a sport where on any given day, anybody can win, right? There’s been cases in the past where I lose to somebody who’s just like, ‘who even is that?’ And I’m just like, ‘Why? Why am I fencing? Like, what is the point of all this?’ But through those kind of experiences where you lose to somebody who’s way worse, you find yourself in such a vulnerable position, and it’s in that moment that I feel like I grew the closest in my spiritual journey with God.” Kim said. “And I think that’s the number one thing that that has developed me as a person, I would say that yes, the different qualities are great, or that those like kind of virtues are important to learn, but I think those naturally come with with your character development when you walk close to God.”
As for Kim’s plans for the future, he hopes to get recruited by a college in the future and continue his academic journey there. As for a professional career in fencing, Kim doesn’t wish to go down that path, but he does have one long term goal he hopes to achieve in his fencing career.
“Qualification for fencing in the Olympics is really tough, so I don’t know,” Kim said. “I’ll see where it takes me, and whether it be at 2020 or 2032 or even 2036, that’s my goal, where I want to compete.”