Senior Cathleen Shi has verbally committed to fence for the University of Pennsylvania, but let’s go back to the beginning of her fencing career. At just nine years old, Shi was introduced to the art of fencing by a family friend and was apprehensive about the physical contact aspect. “At first, I was really concerned because you’re hitting people with swords and it’s so dangerous. When I tried it out for the first time, I was like wow it’s kind of fun; hitting people and poking people. Eventually, it became more of a routine for me,” Shi said.
Currently, Shi studies saber fencing at the Capital Fencing Academy in North Bethesda under her coach Dariusz Gilman. “He really pushes you to be the best person you can be a part from fencing and that’s helped me keep my motivation up all these years,” Shi said.
Fencing has been an outlet for Shi’s emotions and has kept her interested in the sport for the past eight years. “It was very much a stress relief, since you’re exercising all the time and that has pushed me to pursue fencing even more,” Shi said.
In her pursuit of collegiate recruitment, she began cold emailing various collegiate coaches, Shi decided to reach out to the coach at her dream school, University of Pennsylvania. “For Penn, it was always my first choice before I began the recruitment process because I knew people on the team and they loved it so much. When I met the coach, he was my favorite coach that I talked to because he was so straightforward and answered all of my questions,” Shi said.
After an official visit to the UPenn campus, in November of her junior year, she was offered a verbal commitment. This was followed by her application and a likely letter that almost guarantees her admission. However, until she receives her formal acceptance, her offer could get revoked. “It’s a verbal commitment so at any point something could happen and it could be revoked and you’d have to find somewhere else. For him, I trust him so much that I didn’t believe that would happen at any point along the way,” Shi said.
The recruitment of college athletes is a relatively complex process, especially for new athletes without previous experience. “Basically, the recruitment process was very convoluted like no one teaches you how to do anything. For college applications, you know you fill out the application and do essays, but for recruitment you just cold email coaches and hope someone replies. It was very stressful because you know coaches are watching you at tournaments, but you don’t know who they were,” Shi said.
Shi recommends reaching out to coaches and following up with recent accomplishments and expressing continued interest in a particular college. “On top of your fencing results, it’s also your level of commitment to the school itself because I remember him saying to me: if I’m 100% committed to you, I have to be 100% to him. It’s very important that college coaches know that they are your number one pick,” Shi said.
Additionally, reaching out to coaches and getting to know them helped her ultimately pursue the UPenn. “For me, I set up zoom meetings with a lot of the coaches that I talked to and getting to know them personally and their programs. During this process, a lot of coaches are still trying to figure out who they want so they might be unsure, but he was so straightforward and it made me feel like he was trustworthy,” Shi said.
However, there are various rules and regulations put forth by the NCAA to ensure a fair contract between colleges and their athletes. “For ivies it’s different from other NCAA schools since signing the letter of intent is like the NCAA’s way of ensuring that college athletes are getting financial aid for when they play for a school. Ivy leagues don’t give financial aid, so we don’t sign a contract,” Shi said.
While Shi’s fencing skills were a major consideration for her offer, “I shot for an SAT score above 1500 which I feel like you should aim for when committing to an Ivy league school because they also hold academics really seriously,” Shi siad.
Shi is ultimately grateful for her friends and dad who have supported her throughout her fencing career. “He’s the one taking me to and from fencing; literally across the world and the country for tournaments. It motivates so much that he’s willing to support me through all of this and everyone I’ve met throughout the years,” Shi said.
Senior Elena Kim has been friends with Cathleen since their freshman year. “I’m always excited to support her when she goes away on her fencing competitions and hear what happened when she comes back. I am so proud of her and I wish her success and joy in her collegiate career,” Kim.
Shi finds motivation in her previous successes and reflects on how her previous experiences have shaped her. “I’m definitely most proud of the experiences I’ve had because every tournament is a new experience with new people. I’m also proud of the process that led me here. All those years of hard work and thinking more about what I’ve done to achieve all this has helped me move forward,” Shi said.
