Looking up to her older brother at fencing practice, young Sabine Desamours (Warrenton, Va.) was fascinated by the sport of fencing. At just seven years old, she briefly began fencing after watching her brother practice and compete, starting with foil as her weapon. After a few years, she picked the sport up again, and by age 12 she was fencing competitively.
By this time Desamours chose to switch to epee as her weapon of choice, due to the simplicity of the rules the weapon follows whereas with other weapons technicalities and subjective opinion can cause confusion.
"Epee is pretty straightforward - either you hit or you don't," Desamours said.
Moving through high school, Desamours progressively began advancing to a higher level, and it was only natural for her to begin to consider fencing as a factor when looking at colleges.After coming to visit her brother up in Happy Valley through the years, she fell in love with Penn State's campus. On top of the perks of having family at Penn State and the beautiful campus, coming to Penn State meant she would be able work with her former coach, Alexei Sintchinov, again and reconnect with some fencers she had known through competing.
When it came to finally applying to be a student at Penn State, for Desamours it was a stressful experience but one well worth it. The college application process is hectic for any prospective student, but throwing in a pandemic and the prospect of becoming a D1 athlete, and things get a little crazier.
"I wanted to get them in, and then I thought whatever happens after that, happens," Desamours said. "I just wanted to make sure everything was in and that I tried my best."
Since arriving at Penn State this fall, Desamours says the highlight of her experience has been meeting everyone on the team and getting to know them better. Now that she's settled on campus though, Desamours wants to fully soak the season in.
"My goal is to just try my best and experience everything," Desamours said. "This is my first time doing any of this so I just want to see what it's like and build off of that."
So far this season, Desamours tied for bronze at the Garret Open, the sole home meet this semester and has sights set on success for the rest of the year. As for the rest of her collegiate career, she hopes to qualify for and experience the environment of the NCAAs.
"I want to at least qualify for NCAAs - maybe once, maybe twice, maybe all four years," Desamours said. "I would love to experience it at least once while I'm here."
With four years ahead of her, Desamours is excited for what the rest of the season will hold for her and the team.