Coach foresaw a fencing future
McGuffin to compete for Northwestern
With her official signing last month, Chloe McGuffin, 17, committed to Northwestern University and its fencing program, shaping her future for the next four years, starting next fall.
Her private coach, Dave Blake, was a prophet, forecasting four years ago that the Lexington teenager would attend Northwestern and fence. Still a novice at the time, McGuffin wasn't as confident.
"I told him I wouldn't; I just didn't think I was good enough to fence collegiately," said McGuffin, a senior at Boston University Academy in Boston. "I guess I never gave it a real thought about doing something serious with fencing until after he told me he saw that potential in me."
Blake's intuition was correct. And McGuffin soon will be the third fencer under Blake's tutelage to move on to the Wildcat fencing program. This past summer, competing at the national tournament run by the US Fencing Association, McGuffin met Northwestern head coach Laurie Schiller for the first time.
Four months later, that meeting turned into a four-year commitment.
"Chloe has seen a lot of opportunities in fencing and she's taken advantage of each one," said Blake, owner of Prise de Fer Fencing Club in Billerica. "I'm not surprised she was recruited by Northwestern. She was quite strong at the state [high school] tournament and in the national spotlight. She's very persistent and doesn't discourage easily. I think that will help her adapt to fencing at the next level."
Blake, also the head fencing coach at Concord-Carlisle High School, started coaching McGuffin individually when she was in the ninth grade. Before adding private lessons, McGuffin spent one year competing on the BU Academy team as an eighth-grader. Now, she spends her time fencing for both squads, fencing about 15 hours a week.
In February, McGuffin led her school's girls' epee team to second place at the state championship. Her 2007 accolades include earning 118th place at the Junior Olympics Women's Epee competition, being named a member of the Massachusetts All-Star Fencing team, taking first at the Concord-Carlisle invitational, and placing 13th in the North American Cup E Division 3 Women's Epee.
"I'm pretty nervous about juggling the workload," McGuffin said.
"I've been really involved in things, but I know that college fencing is going to be a big commitment, so I'm nervous about that adjustment."
Judging from McGuffin's academic resume, balancing athletics and education won't present a new challenge.
An honors student in linear algebra and human infectious diseases, McGuffin volunteers as a BU Academy peer tutor and a fencing instructor at Prise de Fer. Her senior thesis will focus on an experiment she formulated herself. She will join a Northwestern program that placed fifth at last year's NCAA Fencing championships.
"My biology teacher was my first fencing coach," McGuffin said. "Never did I think it would get me to where I am going. I'm now preparing for my final season at BUA and then I'm just so excited about Northwestern and all the cool things I can experience. I can't wait." 