Noah Condiff, 15, was a basketball player when he happened to be watching the 2008 Summer Olympics with his mom.
Tactical planning is also a big part of Condiff’s training. Zeljkovic said all of the fencers on the national level are immensely talented, and a fencer needs to have a game plan and know who their opponent is if they want to be successful.
“On the national level, it’s very competitive,” Zeljkovic said. “Kids are trying to fight for points on the ranking list. If you’re a top-four fencer in the country, than you’re representing the United States.”
Condiff said the mental aspect of fencing is what he enjoys most. He said the sport requires a lot of thinking in a short amount of time.
“I like fencing because you really have to think,” he said.
Zeljkovic said Condiff is just one of a growing number of youth fencers in the area. Zeljkovic opened a fencing academy with his wife Jelena in Willow Grove, Pa., last year. This year, the academy expanded to a second location in a room at Unitarian Universalist Church in Cherry Hill, very close to Condiff’s home.
“From this area, we’ve had about 10 fencers that have come into our program,” Zeljkovic said. “That’s the reason why we came into here.”
Condiff plans to continue fencing well into the future. He is in the top-100 in the country for all fencers 16 years old and under, and he believes he can reach the top-20 in the next year. He hopes to eventually fence for a college and work his way higher up the national rankings.
“I hope by the time I go to college, I get to top eight in juniors,” he said.
