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12/28/2022 09:43 AMJess Hansard loves the sport of fencing. He makes it a point to find himself on the strip as often as possible throughout the year, competing in tournaments around Connecticut and across the country. This year he adds a new perspective to the sport he loves, serving as a senior captain of the North Haven fencing team.
North Haven Head Coach Jim Harris is grateful to have Jess as a captain this year, as he appreciates Jess’ ability to focus on the task at hand while never losing sight of the joy that should come with doing something you love.
“He’s everything you’d want in an athlete, says Harris. “He’s everything you’d want in a leader, he has this amazing ability to treat everything he’s doing with the utmost respect, without taking everything too seriously... he understands that at the root of it he should be enjoying what he’s doing so he’s always having fun, and I think that sends a good message to everyone else on the team.”
Jess fences épée, the style of fencing most resembling an actual swordfight. This technique requires skill as well as strategy, and the ability to think one step ahead of your opponent. To succeed at this style, Jess has developed a defensive game thus far in his career, biding his time and taking advantage of any mistakes made by his opponents.
“In épée, it’s a very cagey sport because if you make any inaccuracy or wrong movement in your feet, like you step a little too close to your opponent, they will take you down quickly,” says Jess. “Playing defensively is being able to recognize those trick moments. In foil and sabre it’s very straightforward, you see them attacking and you do the correct thing. You take turns. It’s essentially a game of saying I am better than you. But in épée it’s all about tricking your opponent.”
When not fencing for North Haven, Jess is constantly in search of opportunities to hone his craft. He tests his skill against Olympic gold medalists and college coaches. Jess feels he can learn something different from everyone he encounters on the strip.
“Over the summer, I trained with a bunch of really cool, experienced people in the fencing community. I fenced with a gold medalist in women’s epée for the Olympics, fenced with the head coach of Yale. Every single coach around the world has different things to teach. Fencing’s not a sport where there’s one exact answer on the correct way to fence, but there are multiple answers that all work in different scenarios. Each coach pushes for one thing to teach you, but my philosophy is that I like to learn a little bit from all of them.”
Jess developed his defensive style over years of épée practice. As he heads into his senior season, he is bringing to it an increased focus on the offensive side of his game, taking lessons from offseason bouts to improve any weak spots he feels he has. Some of the lessons he learns from losses have been the most valuable.
“Over the offseason I definitely practiced on how to set up more attacks and how to be a better fencer offensively,” says Jess. “I used to only play defense, but after I encountered loss after loss against another defensive player who was better at defense than I was, I realized I needed to have more avenues for ways to fence in order to be more successful.”
Coach Harris echoes this focus on strategy and technique, as he believes Jess has worked to put together the total package on the strip. The offseason focus on improving his offensive game has allowed him to develop into a well-rounded fencer.
“[He has improved] his technique,” says Harris. “He’s left-handed so that gives him a sort of natural advantage, particularly when he’s starting. He’s always had a lot of passion for the sport; I think what he’s really done over the last year, [is] he’s become much more of a tactician, he knows how to do things. Now he’s experimenting with when to do things, why he wants to do things, really focusing on strategy.”
Jess has a sister Anna, who is also on the team. Anna was new to fencing last season but took up the sport quickly, earning a strong state finish last year. Coach Harris recalls the only time he has ever seen Jess nervous is when he is watching his sister’s matches. Regardless of his or Anna’s personal accolades, Jess is going to gauge this year’s success based on how well North Haven performs as a team.
“I’m looking forward to a great season,” says Jess. “We have a bunch of new fencers, and we have a lot of old fencers as well, we have all the assets this year to do great, compete in states, maybe get a placement in the top four. With most teams…you have to build from the ground up, this year we have a really strong set of returning fencers but we also have a strong foundation going into the next years going forward, so I’m really looking forward to the team’s future overall.”