College Coaches & Olympians Sleep-Away Camp - day 1
Southborough, MA — Day 1 of the College Coaches & Olympians Sleep-Away Camp is in the books. Campers moved into the dorms at St. Mark's School, met their counselors and travel groups, and by lights-out had already fenced 395 bouts. Not a bad first day.
⚔️ Opening Ceremonies: 7 Olympians in One Room
Opening Ceremonies brought the whole camp together — 7 Olympians and coaches from some of the top college programs in the country welcoming our campers and sharing what this sport can do for them. The staff lineup this camp includes Daria Schneider (Harvard head coach), Olek Ochocki (Princeton), Slava Grigoriev (Yale), Arianna Klinkov (Cornell), and Michael Aufrichtig (Columbia), with Dennis Kolakowski (Northwestern) joining for Session 2 — plus Olympians and world champions like Eli Dershwitz and Akhi Spencer-El, and Olympic coaches Giovanni Sirovich — an Olympian himself and four-time Italian Olympic-team coach — and Peyman Fakhri, alongside camp director Tim Morehouse.
Right beside them: current collegiate fencers from those same programs — and TMFC's own older students serving as counselors. One day in, they're doing a great job leading their groups.
▶ Watch: Opening Ceremonies video (36 sec)
Inside Opening Ceremonies at the St. Mark's community center.
🍽 "Dinner Is Served!"
First Sunday dinner in the St. Mark's dining hall — long wood-paneled tables, teammates old and new, and plenty of pasta. (Food trucks roll in after evening practice all week for campers who signed up.)
🤺 Then We Fenced. A Lot.
After an evening warm-up on the lawn, all three weapons jumped straight into the Giant 5-Touch Day 1 Seeding Tournament — one huge pool per weapon on the 40+ metal strips set up on campus. By the end of the night, 86 campers had fenced 395 bouts: 197 in saber, 145 in foil, and 42 in épée, with épée even squeezing in its first champion brackets.
Parents followed every touch from home on the live TMFC scoreboard. As one camp parent put it, watching the numbers climb: "Each kid has to bout 44 times?!"
▶ Watch: Evening warm-up on the lawn
Warm-up on the lawn before evening practice.
📊 Day 1 by the numbers: 7 Olympians · coaches from Harvard, Princeton, Yale, Cornell, Columbia & Northwestern · 86 campers on the strip · 395 bouts fenced · 40+ metal strips · 2 helpings of pasta (minimum)
📅 What's Ahead This Week
Morning practices and private lessons, college theme days, a referee seminar with 2x U.S. Olympic team captain Jeff Bukantz, archery, swimming, the ropes course, Friday Night Matches, and Saturday's all-day camp tournament. We'll be sharing photos with camp families all week in the TMFC Connect camp hub.
Want in on the Summer of Champions? Session 2 (saber) runs August 9–16 at St. Mark's — and fall programs at all TMFC locations are enrolling now.
