2 New Brunswickers competing in Fencing World Cup
Sebastien Fournet, Graham Goodwin in Vancouver for international competition
Two weeks ago, Sebastien Fournet was getting excited for his fencing club's trip to British Columbia to watch a World Cup event in Vancouver.
Then he got an email telling him he was selected to compete.
"I didn't really know how to react, so first thing I did was call my mom and say 'I'm going to compete in Vancouver and not just watch,'" said Fournet.
"It's so huge. It's guys I've seen on TV, it's guys I watched this summer at the Paris Olympics, so I'm just overall really excited and I'm really grateful for the experience."
The 21-year-old University of New Brunswick computer science student is one of two New Brunswickers chosen to represent Canada at the Fencing World Cup, where they are competing on Friday.
He said there are several World Cup events a year as part of the international circuit, and each one welcomes fencers from countries across the world.
Alongside Fournet, 17-year-old Graham Goodwin will be competing.
Goodwin said the lead-up to finding out he was chosen was stressful.
"The whole time I was just waiting to not be selected and then eventually, I got in," he said.
Both athletes train at Damocles Fencing Club in Fredericton, and Damocles coach Marc-Andre LeBlanc said a New Brunswicker hasn't fenced in a World Cup competition since the early 2000s.
"There's been a little bit of a rebirth for the sport in the last couple of years," said LeBlanc.
Sport N.B. started to invest in the program a bit more after the last Canada Games, he said. where New Brunswick fencers took home three medals at that competition — including a silver medal by Goodwin, who called the experience a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
Extra funding allowed the club to mobilize and start to produce even better athletes, LeBlanc said. He was also part of a large club in Toronto that regularly trained national athletes, so he was able to take some of what he learned to New Brunswick and apply it, he said.
Winning a match in fencing is a really special feeling, said Fournet.
"It's a very stressful sport, because you're always on the edge of like, 'it's either I hit or I get hit,'" he said. "And the feeling of like, 'I finally succeeded and did everything I had to do, and … all those hours of training paid off.'
"I can't reproduce that feeling in anything else."
Fournet has always been interested in fencing, he said, but didn't actually get a chance to try it out until he was older.
So he didn't think he'd make it to this level — at least this soon, he said.
His biggest goal going into the competition is to absorb as much as he can and enjoy the experience, he said.
"I don't know the next time I'll have such an opportunity again," said Fournet.
"And I know that if I have fun and I'm enjoying the tournament … I'll perform to my best."
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
