Jan. 24, 2008

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. - This weekend the North Carolina women's fencing team will travel to State College, Pa. for dual meet competition. On Saturday Penn State is hosting a dual meet where the women will face Temple, Haverford and Drew. The Tar Heels then travel to Evanston, Ill. for the Northwestern Dual Meets on February 2 and 3.

TarHeelBlue.com sat down with sophomore sabre fencer Patti Sanders to discuss the upcoming weekend.

How are you and the team preparing for this weekend's competition?
"For this weekend, obviously I'm going to practice and I'm working as hard as I can in practice. We're also doing extra lessons during the week and lesson sessions. I had a lesson session today at 7 a.m. with the rest of my squad. I'm trying to eat healthy, stay hydrated and rested and ready to go. Mentally I'm trying to prepare just a calm mindset. I think the team's doing the same thing."

How will you and the team handle this long weekend where you'll be traveling to two different states?
"It is really hard. A lot of times you have to sleep on the bus, you have to do homework on the bus and you have to stay nourished, even on the road. Sometimes it's really hard. It can be really difficult to get a good meal or get your work done and it's hard to sleep on the bus, especially if someone's talking or watching a movie. I just bring my iPod, energy bars and water on the bus with me."

You boast a 74 percent winning percentage this season. Do you attribute your success to anything in particular?
"Nothing really specific I think just to be a little more relaxed on the strip and more calm and confident in my actions. In practice I've also been more focused when we do lessons and drills and individual bout work and I think that's helped a lot as far as preparing my mind for what I need to do when I go and fence in competition. In competition I always try to stay as calm and as focused as possible and communicate as much as I can with my coach and my squad mates."

How has the team improved since the beginning of the season?
"Since the beginning of the season I've seen a lot more camaraderie with all of us, which it's natural and happens every year, but this year it was really nice to see everyone coming together, squads caring about what other squads are doing, the men supporting the women, the women supporting the men as much as possible and really becoming a part of every bout, the whole team. Also the actual level of fencing, I've seen people from last year and the beginning of the season that have really improved."

What are your goals and expectations for yourself as you finish out the season?
"My personal goal is to go to the NCAA championships. I don't really have any expectations. There are a few technical things and things that I like to add to my game that I'd like to fix. As far as that I'm going to try and work on that as much as possible in practice and try to develop a stronger program and be more confident in it and recognize the certain situations that I can use it in."