Traffic flowed in a steady stream down Union Turnpike, the main road that lines one side of the St. John’s University campus. The chatter in the line at the halal cart made a quiet discussion impossible. Destiny McIntosh, a member of the University’s women’s fencing team, told me about the practice she had just came from. McIntosh, a junior, fences foil, one of the three weapons in the sport and has done so for nine years. An order of lamb over rice and a short walk later, she entered the women’s locker room - which is occupied by members of multiple St. John’s teams. Her fencing equipment sits in her locker, which she settles down in front of to eat. There is something in common about every athlete that enters the locker room, and that is the presence of the brand Under Armour, which sponsors athletics here. Sponsorships are seen across the board when it comes to Division fencing and the world of advertising carries over to the professional sphere of the sport, with athletes not only being sponsored by brands, but also becoming brand ambassadors, appearing in advertisements, and entering into modeling for clothing brands. “Fencing is absolutely gaining popularity. It's appearing more in media, but that's because the athletes within the sport are actively trying to put themselves out there in order to make a living,” said Monica Aksamit, a saber fencer and bronze medalist in the 2016 Olympic games. The sport has recently been incorporated in more advertisements, broadening opportunities for fencers who worked independently as models to now incorporate their sport into their jobs and for fencers to make money through brand ambassadorships to support their training and competition fees. A recent advertisement that incorporates fencing is the No.7 Makeup advertisement featuring Ms. Aksamit. The video featured the brand’s makeup products, with the colors splashing across the scene with every attack made by Aksamit and her opponent. “It's been incredible to work with the brand. Shooting the advert was so much fun and a wonderful experience. I met many great people and in my opinion created a unique commercial. The brand sent me more makeup and skincare products than I know what to do with so that's obviously been fantastic,” Ms. Aksamit said of the collaboration with the brand. Fencing has also been incorporated in a commercial for the new Surface Pro, which began broadcasting in the late summer of 2017; Nike’s new ‘Women in Sports’ advertisement, and some older advertisements for companies such as Ascics (2011) and Mitsubishi Electric (2012). Aside from video advertisements, fencers have been making the move into the fashion industry through modeling much more consistently and frequently. Many higher level fencers from all countries are featured as models for various clothing companies. A few fencers who do this are American foil fencer Race Imboden, Ms. Aksamit, Division I foil fencer Hunter Williams-Burrows, American foil fencer Miles Chamley-Watson, French foil fencer Ysaora Thibus, and Austrian foil fencer Rene Pranz. American saber fencer Ibtihaj Muhammad is not a model, but a designer of a line of clothing geared toward Muslim women called Louella. Ms. Aksamit recently was featured on the cover of Trend Prive Magazine. “It was pretty surreal to see myself on the cover of a magazine. It's always been a goal of mine for that to happen. And I didn't really think it was a realistic goal. Turns out that I was wrong,” she said. Mr. Imboden can be seen walking the runway and having stills taken for brands like Rag and Bone and Bottega Veneta. Mr. Williams-Burrows recently signed with Crawford Models. In an article for “Fashionista”, Mr. Imboden details how modeling and fencing promote each other ( he was recruited by an agency in New York after being seen by a scout at his first Olympic games): “When I got back from the games, I had built up a little press around myself. Things were starting to take shape, and I was able to fence full-time. Fencing doesn't have the publicity that modeling does, but by modeling I get publicity for my fencing as well because my stuff is either [framed in the context of] me as an athlete or they look me up. I let them bounce off each other,” Mr. Imboden said. Many fencers see an advantage when attempting to enter the fashion industry. Ms. McIntosh believes it gives those individuals a competitive edge when looking for a modeling agency. Khalil Thompson, a saber fencer who previously attended Penn State University and a member of the Peter Westbrook fencing community, also agrees: “I think that being an athlete and having a brand along with knowledge of the fashion industry and a good sense of fashion helps.” Ms. Aksamit on the other hand, already had ties to the fashion industry before she began fencing full time and there was far from harmony between the two professions. “...I would have been in the industry regardless. I almost signed with a major modeling agency when I was 15 but they told me that I had to choose between fencing and modeling, and as you can guess I chose fencing.” Sponsorships, which are closely tied with the fashion and fitness industries, make it easier on higher-level fencers to train and to afford the travel, equipment, and other fees required for competition. It is another way for athletes to make money besides modeling and being featured in ads. “Having sponsors makes my life a lot less stressful. Fencing costs money, a lot of money actually. I commute to practice, I travel to compete. Obviously I also have to eat. It's really difficult to work and train so having sponsors makes it a lot easier to focus on training rather than finding ways to pay the bills and stressing about that,” Ms. Aksamit said. Mr. Chamley-Watson is sponsored by Red Bull, and this can be seen on his fencing mask. The brand also wrote an article featuring the fencer, highlighting his achievements in both fencing and modeling, titled “This Man Is Foiling Preconceptions About Fencing.” His particular sponsorship has turned into mutual promotion instead of a one way promotion with some cash in return. Red Bull also sponsors four other Olympic-level fencers: Switzerland’s epee fencer Max Heinzer; Alexander Choupenitch, a foil fencer for the Czech Republic; Rossella Fiamingo, an epee fencer for Italy; and Ukrainian saber fencer Olga Kharlan. Ms. Aksamit has found sponsorship from Polish & Slavic Credit Union. She posts on her social media to raise awareness of their business and had filmed a video about their scholarship program; in return for this they pay her. The relationship between sponsors and college athletes is not as direct. Companies sponsor a certain school - for athletic wear companies like Nike and Under Armour provide clothing - and the school distributed the clothing to their athletes, who have to wear it for practice and competition. “[The benefit of sponsored collegiate athletics]...depends on the person. Some people use it to further their goals. Some people get cocky about it and think because the school is sponsored by someone, they also are...unless the sponsorship is coming directly to the person it is just in general for the school,” Ms. McIntosh said. In an article by Sheena Butler-Young for Footwear News, it is said how brands such as Nike and Under Armour sponsor collegiate athletics for a variety of reasons, one of the main reasons being an intention to “build long-term, personal and financially-rewarding relationships with these athletes… the logic is that the odds of nabbing that athlete as an endorser later on becomes more likely.” In fencing however, this does not seem to hold true for the majority of fencers. Most find their sponsors outside of their college fencing career, since ranking is based on an individual’s points in the national and international ranking systems, not solely in the college system. This means that the sponsorships given to schools usually, but not always, fail to keep a firm hold on their fencing teams after college, or even practice outside of the team during college. Ms. Aksamit, who attended Penn State, said: “To be honest, the brands that sponsored Penn State aren't brands that sponsor me currently and I love the brands that I've been working with.” Ms. McIntosh, whose University is sponsored by Under Armour does not turn to that brand outside of the school’s athletics. “I like Nike, Adidas...I go for comfort, fashion, and price - [SJU being sponsored by Underarmour] does not really influence me. It depends more on if you are a ‘big brand person’ and I am not that person.” Mr. Thompson is a prime example of a fencer who does not fall into this trend. He still favors Nike, which is partnered with Penn State. “... it did. We weren’t allowed to wear other brands during practice besides Nike and to this day I still wear Nike apparel,” he said.
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