Cebula at Princeton.

Anne Cebula, BC ’20, took bronze at her second-ever Epee Junior World Cup in February. She’ll join teammate Gianna Vierheller on Team USA at the Junior World Championships come April, but until then she’s focused on calming her nerves with the help of the Bee Gees.

Although many elite fencers start their careers young, Cebula didn’t learn the sport until high school. She had been enraptured by the beauty of the sport since catching it on TV during the 2008 Olympics, but “my parents looked into it for about 10 minutes and realized that it’s thousands of dollars,” she said.

Her high school, however, had a free fencing club that taught Cebula the basic moves, and after her freshman year she was able to attend a week-long summer program at Fencers Club, where she now trains. Cebula’s promise became clear when she took first place at the program’s final tournament, although she initially didn’t expect much to come of playing the sport. “I just wanted to get good. I wanted to beat everyone in the room and then the room would get bigger and the room would get harder,” she said.

Although she attended Fordham immediately after graduating high school, the school’s lack of fencing team and small size frustrated Cebula. “I thought Barnard was small,” she said, “But Fordham was tiny, and it was stiflingly so.” Her transfer to Barnard enabled her to join a collegiate team for the first time. “Now that I’m on Columbia and I’m on a team, everyone’s been so welcoming and I’m really thankful for that,” she said.

Now that she’s firmly back in the world of competitive fencing, Cebula continues to enjoy it because “endorphins, man, endorphins!” And the sport isn’t just about the physical rush, she said. She referred to fencing as “physical chess” and “kind of like boxing with blades.” In fact, the mental component is one of her favorite parts. “I think it’s so great to step out of a classroom and workout the brain in some other way,” she said.

Because fencing is such a mentally tough sport, Cebula found that the hardest part of large competitions was psyching herself up. “I would beat myself up mentally before I even saw my opponent,” she said. And the atmosphere before matches is not particularly friendly. “Because it’s an individualistic combat sport, everyone is usually isolated, headphones blasting, not really talking to each other. It’s very jarring,” Cebula said.

In order to overcome her nerves, she visualizes all the moves she’s practiced in preparation. “I think visualizing what you do at practice and telling yourself, ‘I got this. I’ve done these moves a thousand times. I could do it a thousand more’ really helps.” And, like her competitors, Cebula uses music to help pump her up. “My taste changes year to year, but right now it’s classic disco, like the Bee Gees,” she said.

As she advances to ever-larger competitions, Cebula said she enjoys the more intense crowd energy. In her semi-final match against Switzerland’s Demetra Solari at this year’s Junior World Cup, she said, “it was like the whole world is against you.” But at the same time, “that was memorable for me because I’ve never fenced in front of such a huge crowd. Even though it was against me, the energy is great.”

Although Cebula won’t be fencing at tomorrow’s NCAA Championships, she will be at the Junior World Cup in April, classic disco playlists and all.

Photo via gocolumbialions.com