15 year old Grace Ding is a highly ranked national fencer who currently attends the AMSA Charter School as a sophomore. At the age of 9, Grace began her fencing career through her Chinese School and took lessons from a local coach. Since then, Grace trains about three to four times per week for an hour and a half and competes year round, excepting the summer.
Grace fences foil, a style of fencing with a sword based off of the Italian rapier and is largely based on technique. The only target for this brand of fencing is the torso, ensuring safety but also offering an offensive challenge, as the fencers have a relatively small target. Through her dedication and practice, Grace has a firm grasp of technique and has won herself a national reputation in the sport.
As far as competitions go, Grace competes strongly and has created a name for herself in the fencing community. Ranked 7th in the nation out of about three hundred other fencers in her age group, Grace competes in division one with an A rating; the highest qualifications available. As she is under seventeen, Grace competes in the Cadet age group, but with her high ratings she is also eligible to compete in higher age groups and currently competes against some adversaries that are nineteen years old.
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Grace began her competition season well last Friday, October 11th, competing at a national tournament in Milwaukee. This national competition as well as others allows fencers to compete for selection for World Championship teams. Grace competed among about one hundred fifty other adversaries and placed third, earning a bronze medal for the women’s foil event in her age group. The tournaments are played in a bracket fashion, beginning with a round of 256’s, then 128’s, then 64’s, and et cetera. At this competition, Grace lost in the round of 4s, in the semifinals, but one all her other matches.
Fencing plays a dominant role in Grace’s life and is a great indicator of her work ethic. Grace is able to be successful in fencing while also keeping up with rigorous classes and her interest in robotics. Hopefully, her dedication to the sport and her work ethic will pay off and lead her to be a part of the United States’ Olympic Team.
