We're joined by Magda Skarbonkiewicz, a 16-year-old saber fencer from Portland, Oregon, and the 2022 Cadet Women's Saber World Champion, and 2022 Junior Women's Saber World Champion.
In this episode of First to 15, we're joined by Magda Skarbonkiewicz, a 16-year-old saber fencer from Portland, Oregon. You might know Magda's name from such recent hits as 2021 Cadet Women's Saber World Champion, 2022 Cadet Women's Saber World Champion, and 2022 Junior Women's Saber World Champion.
First to 15: The Official Podcast of USA Fencing
Host: Bryan Wendell
Cover art: Manna Creations
Theme music: Brian Sanyshyn
[INTRO]
[00:00:01] BW: Hello, and welcome to First to 15, the official podcast of USA Fencing. I'm your host, Bryan Wendell, and in this show you're going to hear from some of the most inspiring, interesting, and insanely talented people in the sport we all love. First to 15 is for anyone in the fencing community and even for those just checking out fencing to see what it's all about. So whether you're an Olympian or Paralympian, a newcomer, a seasoned veteran, a fencing parent, a fan, or anyone else in this wonderful community, this podcast is for you. With that, let's get to today's episode. Enjoy.
[INTERVIEW]
[00:00:40] BW: Today, we're joined by Magda Skarbonkiewicz, a 16-year-old saber fencer from Portland, Oregon. Now, you might know Magda from such recent hits as 2021 Cadet Women's Saber World Champion, 2022 Cadet Women's Saber World Champion, and 2022 Junior Women's Saber World Champion. Hey, Magda, thanks so much for joining us.
[00:00:59] MS: Yeah, thank you for having me.
[00:01:01] BW: So I think the question, especially after that intro, that everybody's going to be wondering is are all those medals starting to get a little heavy around your neck when you wear them? Is it getting to be a little bit much?
[00:01:13] MS: I guess it can never be too much. I want to keep going. But, yeah, it is. It's heavy right now.
[00:01:20] BW: Yeah, sure. Absolutely. So let's talk about the 2022 Junior and Cadet Worlds, which as we're recording just was a week or so ago. In Dubai, you won the Cadet Women's Saber event. That was the second event that you won there in Dubai, and that's for the top under 17 fencers in the world. But the day before that, you won the Junior Women's Saber World Championship, which is for the top under 20 fencers. So I want to kind of go through like where your head was at after you won that junior medal because you had to know you were the favorite and had to be feeling the pressure going into the cadet event. So walk us through those hours between the two events and how you stayed focused and knew that you had to continue to fence at a high level.
[00:02:07] MS: Let's see. So right after that, it's like I didn't believe it, and I don't think I believed it for even after cadet. Honestly, those hours between, I know I was supposed to be sleeping. I only got like an hour and a half of sleep because I don't know if it's anxiety or just I was still like mind-blown or after junior. So I was like awake thinking, “What's the next event going to be tomorrow? How's that going to go? There's so much pressure. What if I really mess up in the cadet event?” It was a lot of overthinking, and so I didn't sleep like at all that night. But then in the morning, I think I had a cup of tea and just like really blasted music, so I get very energetic for that day.
[00:02:57] BW: Yeah. So doing all that on an hour or two of sleep is probably not recommended. But you found a way to make it work, obviously, right?
[00:03:02] MS: Not at all. No.
[00:03:07] BW: In general, how do you kind of plan your evening before a tournament? Obviously, in an ideal world, you're not going to be getting just an hour or two of sleep. But you have a routine that you like to do that has worked for you in the past as far as getting your equipment ready, that type of thing the night before.
[00:03:25] MS: Yeah. Usually, if I hadn't fenced the day before, I get all my equipment in my bag. I check again in the morning, just to make sure because the route there takes a while to get to the gym. I make sure I'm not doing much with anybody after dinner, and like I have an early dinner, big dinner. I just go to my room and rest, read, pray. Then right before, when everything's packed and I'm like about to fall asleep, I just think of how the day will go tomorrow and how I want it to go, but while also making sure I don't put too much pressure on myself.
[00:04:01] BW: What about – You talked about a big meal kind of early the night before. What are you doing for nutrition on the day of? Are you grabbing a quick bite between rounds? Or how are you staying fueled during the day?
[00:04:15] MS: I’m a carb loader, and I eat a lot during tournaments. I know a lot of people, they like to not eat at all, like just like a small snack or something. But like every bout, I have to eat at least a granola bar or a banana or a piece of fruit. Then during like the big breaks, I have like a sandwich or two. I also have dates, which is like my key food because it helps a lot. But I definitely weigh more, and my dad's at nationals. I'll eat like chicken tenders and fries during my bouts, and people look at me like I’m crazy.
[00:04:52] BW: So if you want to be world champion, eat some dates and chicken tenders and fries. That’s the secret formula.
[00:04:59] MS: Yeah. Then I'm pretty sure it's like a soda and dates for the caffeine because I don't drink coffee. It’s not healthy.
[00:05:06] BW: Yeah. You got to stay energetic, right?
[00:05:08] MS: Yeah.
[00:05:10] BW: It just occurs to me that you're 16 and flying to Dubai in early April, as you did. It means you miss some schoolwork and had to kind of rearrange your schedule. So how do you keep everything in your life balanced, devoting the time that you need to both school and to, obviously, fencing at a really high level?
[00:05:29] MS: Oh, boy. I made sure I've good connections with the teachers and also let them know weeks before. Like in the early year, I made sure they knew I was responsible. So I wasn't just going on these sporadically just like big events without telling them. For Dubai, because I was so busy, I had to catch up with all my homework the week after. So I just like kept repeatedly letting them know, “I'm almost done with my work. I promise. I'm working.” But it can be a lot sometimes. Last week, I didn't have any time for anything else but homework. Then the week before, nothing else but fencing. So it's hard to balance sometimes. But once everything slows down a little, then it gets more balanced.
[00:06:13] BW: Do you have like a Google Calendar or something like that, that you use to keep track of everything that's going on in your life? Or what's your secret there?
[00:06:21] MS: Not really. I like to have like a little planner on my iPad that I like write all my homework done and what day I want to get it done. But for like the events, I just think about it a couple of weeks before and know what's going to happen. Because I'm telling my teachers so much when I'm going to be gone repeatedly, it just sticks in my head, so I know.
[00:06:45] BW: So all of this that you have to do, the international travel is a result of your success in fencing, right? That's how you get to travel internationally is that you are really highly ranked. So I'm curious, when did you first realize that, “Hey, not only is fencing fun, but I'm actually really good at it, and I could take this out of the country,” right? When did that occur to you?
[00:07:07] MS: Maybe when I started doing better when I was out of the youth events, because youth events mattered. But it's like once you're out of that and you get to like cadet and junior, that's when it really starts mattering. So when I made like a top eight in cadet for the first time, and my dad said I could start going internationally, I'm like, “Are you sure?” Because it's like my first international was like when I was 13 or 14. So it was a little crazy that for a sport like this, you'd be able to travel internationally at such a young age.
[00:07:39] BW: Yeah. I think that's part of the appeal, is getting to go overseas. You're in high school but getting to visit some of these places that a lot of people just see on TV, right? So on an international trip like this, I'm curious what the schedule is like. Do you have time for sightseeing? I mean, you're in Dubai. So did you go look at the Burj Khalifa and go look at some of the sand dunes that are around the city? Or is it just all your entire times in the center where the where the fencing tournament was taking place?
[00:08:08] MS: To be honest, other trips, I'll have like half a day to go see things. But for Dubai, there was so much going on like COVID testing, finding where to get food. We had so much, and I had three events that I didn't have time to leave the hotel really, and our hotel was so far away from everything. So I wasn't able to sightsee in Dubai, really. My dad got to go, so I was jealous. But other international events, yeah, I usually have like a half a day or like a day to go see some things and like just different time slots when we can sneak out of the fencing world and go see.
[00:08:44] BW: Yeah, yeah. So it truly is a business trip, right?
[00:08:47] MS: Yes. It’s full business. Oh, my goodness.
[00:08:50] BW: Part of the other side of an international tournament is your competitors are coming from dozens of different countries. Is it truly fierce competition throughout? Or do you chat with some of these other athletes from other countries and make friendships outside of Team USA?
[00:09:06] MS: Yeah. I definitely – At first, I was like really shy, so like I don’t know if they like me. I don't know if they want to talk or if they know that much English. But it's like once you get to like really talk to people or you like find some small connection, it’s really great because you get to know people all around the world and meet some really good people that you'll see at all these tournaments and just be really happy to see.
[00:09:31] BW: That's awesome. You've got your own teammates there too from Team USA. When I watched the videos from the tournament and looked at some of the photos from Dubai, I noticed it appeared like everybody from Team USA was so supportive of one another and of you on your two championships. Is that true? Is it a really good supportive environment because fencing is an individual sport in a lot of sense? So is there that team camaraderie as well?
[00:09:57] MS: Yeah. Like you said, it's an individual sport, so you'd think it was like really competitive. But the day before, a couple days before, me and the other girls on the Team USA for saber, we hung out the whole day, really got to know each other. Like we did some really fun things, so we were close. Yeah. It was like really nice because they're really supportive. There's like no negative things that happen. So it's just really nice that once you get to know these teammates, who are all individual fencers, it builds the team more because I know I will be fencing with all the girls and the guys too for Team USA in the future. So it's nice to have those good connections now and know them now, instead of trying to get to know them in small little time slots.
[00:10:46] BW: Yeah, absolutely. I think that's great. So you've mentioned your dad a couple of times, and that's Adam. Right? He's a former division one national champion himself. So you've got championship blood, in a sense. But what is it like having him be your coach and not just your dad but also your coach? What's that like?
[00:11:06] MS: It's really nice because sometimes, it's like you get stressed and stuff. But like at the end of the day, it's nice to have them in your corner always. I know he's always going to be there for me no matter what. Sometimes, it can be stressful. We have like early morning lessons. I’m like, “Oh.” But I've gotten better throughout the years like cooperating at these like random times, just because – I don't know. It's just like nice because we travel, and then we can talk about fencing also to figure out the opponents, and we have a strong relationship as coach and fencer and then daughter and dad.
[00:11:43] BW: Yeah. That's awesome. That's so cool to see. So what about during about – You've got a break where you come over, and maybe he's identified something that you could try to work on. As a fencer, as an athlete, what's helpful to you in that moment from a coach? What are you looking for from your coach during a bout or in pools maybe between bouts that can really make a difference for you?
[00:12:08] MS: I think, first, it's just words of encouragement I think help because then it's like, “Oh, no. I know I'm doing okay, and I'm on the right track.” But also, he'll tell me smaller things I need to fix. But if it's like a total change, he won't usually tell me that because I can't make the change instantly. So as long as he like drills it a little into my head like, “Oh, you should go slower,” because I'm often really fast, then I'll try going slower or just following the smaller things he says. But, yeah, it's nicer to have like words of encouragement but then also staying calm. Because when he gets excited, then I'll get really excited, and I have to stay calm to keep fencing well.
[00:12:46] BW: Yeah, yeah. I think that makes a ton of sense. So when you win a tournament like junior and cadet worlds, and you come back, and there's all this attention because you've become a world champion, obviously, that's huge. But it's also kind of limited to the world of fencing, right? So you're a big name in the world of fencing. But maybe when you go back to Oregon, not everybody there knows that there was even a fencing tournament happening. I bring that up because I wonder what can we do to help introduce more young people to the sport and help grow the sport because we see the benefit of it. We know it's an incredible sport that has a lot of lifelong benefits for people young and old. But we need more people to check it out. So in your mind, what would maybe get some more people in the door?
[00:13:34] MS: I think maybe making it more accessible because it's a very expensive sport to do. So it's limited to a lot of people. If we can find some way to like start small camps that aren't as expensive and just help these people be able to not only start at that beginners level but also be able to build themselves up higher without having to like think very much about all the other things that comes with everything when it's not just fencing, if that makes sense.
[00:14:09] BW: Yeah, yeah. No, that makes perfect sense, opening the door for more people to try it and experience it. When you talk to your friends who aren't fencers themselves, what are some of their misconceptions maybe that that you'd like to clear up about fencing in general or maybe even saber specifically?
[00:14:27] MS: There are so many misconceptions. I think they think it’s from the movie like a Zorro or Three Musketeers. I had someone once ask if I did it on horses and like jousting. I'm like, “I'm sorry. I don't do jousting on horses or fencing.” So like I showed her like a phone, and she's like, “Oh, yeah. Like that on horses.” I’m like, “No.” Or people would just like – I think they often think it's like foil or epee, so they start poking you with like pencils or – I don't know. So it’s like yeah. Or they say also that they can beat you in fencing. I'm like, “If I started basketball right away, I don't think I could beat you if you're a pro, but I don't know.”
[00:15:09] BW: Yeah, yeah. Exactly. You got to take them up on that. Give them a mask and a saber and just say, “Hey, yeah. Try it,” right?
[00:15:17] MS: Yeah.
[00:15:18] BW: That is funny. So now that you're a world champion in both events, what's next for you? Where do you hope to take your fencing career in the next two, three, four years and beyond?
[00:15:30] MS: Right now, I'm trying to like get close or make senior team because that's putting me on track for 2024 Olympics. The going from cadet and junior to senior is a big jump, and they’re like different levels. So just trying to navigate the two different worlds and get better at changing my fencing style to work better against the senior levels because they're all like big time people. We have Olympians at the senior World Cups and world champions, World Cup medalists. It's like they're really good, so like just trying to figure out and build my mental strength. So I don't doubt myself as much in bouts with bigger fencers because if I can really put my mind to it, there’s chances I can beat them. I just have to be able to do that first.
[00:16:26] BW: Yeah. I think that's a great outlook. So in your mind, the path there is just continual improvement, right? Not just sitting around and looking at your gold medals but continuing to improve and get better every day, right?
[00:16:40] MS: Yeah.
[00:16:42] BW: Yeah. I think that's a great outlook. So finally, kind of a broad question, what is it about fencing that you love so much that does keep you coming back and putting in those hours day after day?
[00:16:55] MS: Yeah. Fencing can be really tough to stick to because you have so much going on, and it's a lot of mental strength. It's like 50-50 or even more. I think it's just being able to travel to these events and get better. I get this experience. I get to see these places and keeping my goal in mind, my small goals that I want to stick to. Then once I achieve those, I'm over there trying to get to the big goal. So it's just like climbing that ladder of small goals to reach the big goal.
[00:17:30] BW: That is awesome. We'll be cheering for you as you climb that ladder.
[00:17:34] MS: Thank you.
[00:17:34] BW: Magda Skarbonkiewicz, thank you so much for joining us today on the podcast, and best of luck to you the rest of the season and beyond.
[00:17:41] MS: Thank you for having me. Thank you.
[END OF INTERVIEW]
[00:17:45] BW: Thanks for listening to First to 15, the official podcast of USA Fencing. We'll be back with our next conversation in a couple of weeks. In the meantime, you can stay up to date on all the latest fencing news by following us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter. If you liked this podcast, please help us grow and reach more people by leaving us a rating or review. Until next time, I'm Bryan Wendell, and I hope to see you real soon out on the Strip. Bye.
[END]