Scarsdale's Reza Merchant Wins 2021 ACC Epee Fencing Tournament

Reza Merchant, SHS Class of 2020 and freshman at UNC-Chapel Hill won the 2021 Men's epee fencing tournament at the ACC championship at UNC on February 27-28, 2021. The individual event was held on Saturday and the team event on Sunday. Reza went 8-3 in pool bouts and was seeded #1 in the semifinals. He went on to win the semis and the finals on Saturday. For the Sunday team competition, UNC lost a close playoff to Duke. Even though Reza and the UNC team did not win the men's tournament, Reza was awarded the ACC Men's fencing MVP. He went 6-1 in his team bouts.

There were no spectators allowed but this was shown on the ACC Network TV with ESPN.

Reza started fencing when he was nine years old and went on a playdate with a friend to the New Amsterdam Fencing Academy in Port Chester. He was hooked immediately. It took him a while to pick up the technique and begin to fence competitively. His club coach, Joe Fisher, and the veteran (adult) fencers at the club were a huge influence on him throughout his early development years from the age of 11 – 18. He returned the favor as he began helping the younger fencers at the club -- training them, preparing them for tournaments and setting them on their competitive journeys as well.

Scarsdale High School does not have a fencing program, so Reza fenced at New Amsterdam Fencing Academy under the guidance of coach Joe Fisher, who won the NCAAs himself when he was a collegiate fencer. Reza trained four to five times a week and went for weekly practice bouts at a club in lower Manhattan where he fenced college and aspiring Olympic fencers. He also attended regional and national tournaments two to three weekends a month.

He was an All-American fencer in 2017-18 and 2018-19 for epee. They weren't able to complete their 2019-2020 season. He was an "A" rated fencer and was on the US National rankings list as a Cadet (U17) and a Junior (U20). He turned 18 in August 2020. He qualified for the US Junior Olympics five times from 2016-2020.

Reza was recruited to fence for UNC-Chapel Hill, though during his recruiting year he was carrying an injury and under-performed relative to his potential and previous records. But the UNC-CH coach, Matt Jednak, saw his potential and Reza loves fencing at Chapel Hill and has flourished under Jednak’s direction.

Since March 2020 the entire USA fencing calendar was shut down significantly impacting elite fencers in the US. The typical college fencing program, which starts in November, was also disrupted. The UNC-CH team practiced as a "bubble" and could only practice in pods of twelve or less. In their first few weeks at school, someone tested positive for Covid-19 and the entire team was sent to solitary quarantine for two weeks, with their meals brought to them once a day. Since then they have all been negative. The season this year started in late January, instead of November. The fencing team had to head back to campus on January 3 to test, quarantine and then start team practices. They will have four tournaments this year compared to eight to ten events in a usual year, before heading into NCAA championships. A few teams, including #1 ranked Notre Dame, were unable to attend the tournament due to Covid-19 protocols. Notre Dame will show up to the NCAA finals which will be held end-March.