Local Student Wins Fencing Tournaments

A local 13-year-old girl skilled with the saber won first place in a recent fencing tournament. 

Veronica Olga Czyzewski, of West Caldwell, parried and battled her way to win the North American Cup in Richmond, Va., on April 14. A seventh-grade student attending Grover Cleveland Middle School, Czyzewski beat out more than 5,000 fencers in the tournament from Canada, Mexico and the United States. 

"I am extremely proud of this most recent achievement, since I trained extremely hard for it and met my goal of winning," said Czyzewski in an email. 

Czyzewski has been been training for the past five years under coaches Janusz Mlynek and Aleks Ochocki at the Polish American Fencing School in Linden. 

Czyzewski is currently ranked 2nd in the nation in Youth 12 Ranking List and is one of only four girls in the United States to earn a C ranking. (To put the C ranking in context, Olympians are A ranked and the lowest ranking is E). 

A week after the tournament in Virginia, Czyzewski competed in the Pan American Youth Games in Cancun, Mexico, on April 22. This tournament featured athletes every single country in the western hemisphere.

At the Pan American Youth Games, Czyzewski received a gold medal for the Youth 14 Women’s Saber. There was a total of 17 girls ranked No. 1 in their country for this age group.

In the final bout in the Pan American Youth Games, Czyzewski beat Haydy Buenorosto, of Mexico, 15-6.

To add to her accomplishments, Czyzewski competed as the only American girl.

"I highly recommend this sport for kids," said Czyzewski in an email. "It brings out the intelligence and elegance in children. I fell in love with this sport the moment I held a saber (sword) in my hand."