Many athletes at colleges are recruited out of high school, awarded scholarships and have the potential to reach professional league status.

Edina Daughtery, senior German translation and business major, still represents NIU as a fencer, however, and finds success when she has time to compete. Daughtery is a Romania native, the daughter of a national fencing coach in Germany and has been fencing for 14 years.

Daughtery practices mostly by herself due to time constraints, and said it is a definite disadvantage.

“The most I can do is some work out to get my wrists strengthened to be able to hold my weapon for longer periods of time,” Daughtery said. ”Maybe I poke my couch with my foil a few times to get the feel for my foil. I do find this a disadvantage for sure. If I could practice and receive the private fencing lessons from coaches like most fencers, I could get better and my foil tip would probably also be more precise.”

Despite the lack of training, Daughtery has managed to qualify for two different divisions at Summer Nationals at the end of June in foil fencing.

“It is a testament to the solid foundation she built with her training in Europe,” said Mike Papp of the Rockford Fencing club. “Once she shakes off some rust, so to speak, I think she will have a good shot at earning a medal.”

Daughtery fences both sabre and foil, but has qualified for the Summer Nationals in foil. Foil requires the fencer to land points only on the torso, as the head, arms and legs are illegal to strike.

Daughtery knows it’s a big opportunity, but has still yet to decide if she will go.

“I would love to go as long as I can afford the whole trip and registration fees,” Daughtery said. “I will represent NIU at the finals and will be one of the few qualified from Illinois.”