First to 15: The USA Fencing Podcast

In this episode of First to 15, we're joined by Natalie Dostert, Team USA's women's epee national head coach. Before taking the lead of Team USA’s women’s epee program in January 2022, Natalie coached our cadet and junior women’s epee teams, trained several U.S. national team members and guided athletes to international medals. The list of fencers she has worked with is too long to name, but just...

In this episode of First to 15, we're joined by Felicia and Iris Zimmermann , USA Fencing Hall of Famers and Olympians.  Felicia Zimmermann is a foil fencer who competed at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta and the 2000 Olympics in Sydney. At Stanford, Felicia was the first woman to win NCAA titles in both foil and epee. She was also the U.S. national champion in foil four times and helped the USA win...

In this episode of First to 15, we're joined by Aaron Luo , a Vet-40 Men’s Epee Fencer and member of Fencers Club in New York City. Aaron is also the proud father — and coach — of two fencing sons — 9-year-old Alexander and 6-year-old Sebastian.   And when he’s not fencing or cheering on his boys, Aaron is the CEO of two companies, including Caraa, a sport bag and accessory company, and Mercado Fa...

In this episode of First to 15, we're joined three-time Paralympian and 2004 Paralympic Bronze Medalist Scott Rodgers. It was 1993 when Scott was first introduced to what was then called wheelchair fencing and is now known in the U.S. as parafencing. He quickly learned he was pretty good at it, and before long he was earning medals at the national and then international level. Speaking of internat...

In this episode of First to 15, we're joined by saber fencer and 2020 Olympian Khalil Thompson.  Khalil is currently ranked in the top 50 in the world in men's saber. He represented Team USA at the 2019 Senior World Championships, the Tokyo Olympics and the 2022 Senior World Championships. And he's a three-time national champion in the Division I Men's Saber Team Event as a member of the team from...

In this episode of First to 15, we're joined by Laura Decker, one of the top fencing referees in the country and regularly chosen to officiate at the highest levels of national and international competition.  She was recently the lone American referee at the 2022 Fencing World Championships in Cairo, Egypt. Laura graduated from Caltech, where she was the first female fencer from that school to qua...

In this episode of First to 15, we're joined by Eric Momberg, head coach of the fencing team at Lawrence University in Appleton, Wis.  Before Eric joined the Vikings of NCAA’s Division III, he was an assistant coach for the women's team at Northwestern University, where he earned Coach of the Year honors and led the Wildcats to two conference championships.  Before that, he coached fencers to more...

In this episode of First to 15, we're joined by Sylvie Binder, a recent graduate from Columbia University who had an impressive collegiate career, including being named a first-team All-American three times and winning both the NCAA team championship and the NCAA individual women’s foil title in 2019. She graduated in 2022 and was the Ivy League’s nominee for the NCAA Woman of the Year Award.   As...

In this episode of First to 15, we're joined by "The Fencing Coach" himself, Damien Lehfeldt.  Damien has been writing The Fencing Coach blog since 2012. That’s the same year he helped coach Team USA’s Suzanne Stetinius to the London Olympics in Modern Pentathlon. He’s now a coach at Nova Fencing Club in Virginia. Damien is a former epee fencer who had a successful career at Brandeis University, w...

In this episode of First to 15, we're joined by Phil Andrews, CEO of USA Fencing.  Listen for a frank and entertaining conversation about Phil's time as an ice hockey player, what he's most proud of from his time as CEO of USA Weightlifting, his commitment to transparency at USA Fencing and much more.  Read (or subscribe to) 5 Minutes With Phil , a monthly newsletter Connect with Phil on Instagram...

In this episode of First to 15, we're joined by Chris O’Loughlin, an epee fencer and 1992 Olympian who has been an individual national champion at pretty much every level — junior, NCAA, senior and veteran. In June, voters across the country elected O’Loughlin into the USA Fencing Hall of Fame as part of the Class of 2023, which means he’ll be inducted next summer in Phoenix. See all the members o...

In this episode of First to 15, we're joined by Supriya Nair, who fences with the Rain City Fencing Center in Washington state.  Supriya had always heard from her coaches that pre-bout warmups were important, but — being the curious future scientist that she is — she wondered if there was any quantitative data to prove it. So she set out to investigate this for herself — using special equipment to...

In this episode of First to 15, we're joined by Em Beihold , a 23-year-old epee fencer who is a 2020 graduate of UC San Diego, where she twice qualified for the NCAA Championships and helped her school win the league title two times.  After college, Beihold embarked on a successful career as a singer-songwriter. Her hit song “Numb Little Bug” — a powerful pop anthem born out of a conversation abou...

In this episode of First to 15, we're joined by Jeidus DeSeranno, a rising star in the world of men's foil at just 14 years old. Visit the USA Fencing website Follow USA Fencing on Instagram Read a transcript for this episode First to 15: The Official Podcast of USA Fencing Host: Bryan Wendell Cover art: Manna Creations Theme music: Brian Sanyshyn -- First to 15: The Official Podcast of USA Fencin...

In this episode of First to 15, we're joined by Daryl Homer, three-time Olympian and 2016 Summer Olympics silver medalist in men's saber.  Follow Daryl Homer on Instagram Visit the USA Fencing website Follow USA Fencing on Instagram Read a transcript for this episode First to 15: The Official Podcast of USA Fencing Host: Bryan Wendell Cover art: Manna Creations Theme music: Brian Sanyshyn -- First...

In this episode of First to 15, we're joined by Hadley Husisian, an 18-year-old epee fencer from Oakton, Va., and the reigning junior world champion in women’s epee. Hadley represents the Fencers Club Inc., Elite Fencing Academy and DC Fencers Club.   Meet USA Fencing's 2022 Senior World Team Visit the USA Fencing website Follow us on Instagram First to 15: The Official Podcast of USA Fencing Host...

In this episode of First to 15, we're joined by Tim French, a foil coach at the Round Rock Fencing Club in Round Rock, Texas — which is near Austin. Tim is a product of the Round Rock Fencing Club himself and actually fenced at the U.S. Air Force Academy. He was an All-American there and fenced at the NCAA Championships, placing as high as eighth in men’s epee.   Learn about the Round Rock Fencing...

In this episode of First to 15, we're joined by Magda Skarbonkiewicz, a 16-year-old saber fencer from Portland, Oregon. You might know Magda's name from such recent hits as 2021 Cadet Women's Saber World Champion, 2022 Cadet Women's Saber World Champion, and 2022 Junior Women's Saber World Champion.  Read our coverage of the saber events at the 2022 Junior & Cadet Worlds Read our full recap of the...

In this episode of First to 15, we're joined by  Lee Kiefer, Olympic champion and the most successful women’s foil fencer in U.S. history.  Follow Lee Kiefer on Instagram Watch Lee Kiefer's Today show interview Visit the USA Fencing website Follow USA Fencing on Instagram First to 15: The Official Podcast of USA Fencing Host: Bryan Wendell Cover art: Manna Creations Theme music: Brian Sanyshyn --...