Solon teen rising to top of fencing scene

IOWA CITY — Winning a national championship is something most 16-year-old high school students only dream of.

Maggie Snider, a junior at Solon High School, is living the dream.

The daughter of Tad and Grace Snider, Maggie recently won her second championship at a national competition in the sport of fencing, taking first place in Division 1A Women's Epee at USA Fencing's North American Cup in Richmond, Va.

The win gives Maggie enough points to finish this season at the top of her division.

'No one can catch her now,' said Tad Snider, explaining that in fencing there are skill-based divisions and age-based divisions. Maggie competes based on skill level, which sometimes requires her to square off against adults. Division 1A is just below Division 1, the highest division. 'That's where Olympians come from,' Maggie points out.

She won her first national competition in April 2014, competing in Division 2.

Maggie said finishing first in her division gets her one step closer to her dream of fencing for a major NCAA program in college.

'It helps when colleges are looking at people,' Maggie said, noting a few of the schools on her initial list: Northwestern, Ohio State, Penn State, Notre Dame and Stanford. 'They are looking at juniors and seniors in high school, so this is a very important year. Having that will really help when I want to get onto a team. I'll likely be more on the radar now with coaches.

'And, it's really cool.'

Maggie began fencing at age 9 — after giving up dancing — and says she loves the sport because it offers one-on-one competition and requires physical and mental attributes.

'It's just as much a mind game as a physical game,' she said. 'If someone is tall and really strong, someone small might have some speed over them. They still have a chance and it might come down to the last point.'

Foil, epee and saber are the three different weapons used in fencing. Maggie's first weapon was foil, but she soon switched to epee. The epee — pronounced epp-pay — weighs about 27 ounces and has a stiffer, thicker blade and larger guard than the foil. Points are scored only with the point of the blade, but any spot on the body is an acceptable target.

'It's a lot like boxing,' explained Tad Snider. 'There aren't a lot of fancy rules. It's a contact sport and Maggie has bruises.'

Maggie trains four days a week at the Iowa City Fencing Center under the direction of the center's founder Judy O'Donnell and is coached in competition by 2012 USA Olympic head coach Roberto Sobalvarro.

'It's been tremendous,' said O'Donnell, who began coaching Maggie in 2009. 'She started as a little girl who didn't know how to hold a weapon and now she is scoring tremendous touches. She's developed so much as a fencer and a person and it's wonderful to see that.'

O'Donnell said Maggie has worked hard to become calm and confident while competing.

'Those are little things she's developed over the years,' she said. 'If she gets into a school with a really good program, she can continue to improve. A strong coach and a strong team will benefit her.'

Aside from her coaches, Maggie credits her parents — who both danced as members of the Houston Ballet — for showing her what it took to reach a high level of success in fencing.

'The big thing is my parents knew what it took to get good at athletics,' she said. 'They could help me get stronger faster. I'm further along than I would have been without that.'

Tad Snider says Maggie has always been an athletic kid.

'Honestly, she could have picked up any sport and done well. You could see she had ability from the beginning.'

But winning didn't come easy.

Starting with club competitions, Maggie competed in her first major competition at age 12 in Chicago.

'She got killed. She didn't win a single match,' said Tad Snider. 'She went up there and those city kids didn't mess around. We came back and she was a lot more driven.'

The following year, Maggie competed at regional tournaments in Omaha and St. Louis and then competed at her first national event, finishing in about 40th place out of about 150 fencers.

'That motivated her to push harder,' said Tad Snider.

At her most recent event, Maggie had 10 different matches, including a couple against adults, en route to winning the championship.

'This is like a major championship in golf,' explained Tad Snider. 'It's a national title and a major title.'

Up next is a Jan. 15 competition in Washington, D.C., followed by the

Junior Olympics in Feb. in Kansas City.

'The national tournaments are huge,' said Maggie. 'I love traveling. I have a lot of friends all over the country because it's taken me so many places.'

As for her future in fencing, Maggie said she's not training for the Olympics right now, but its certainly not something she wouldn't consider.

'Being an Olympian is a very rare and special thing. It's only four people every four years,' she said, explaining that most Olympic fencers are in their late 20s and, unlike a sport like gymnastics, there are many years to train after college. 'Of course I'd be interested in it, but I'm not setting super high expectations for myself. It would basically become a dream come true.'