Fencing team deserved their day in the sun

One of the greatest things about participating in a sport is receiving a trophy.

This is why what the Penn State athletic department did to the Nittany Lion fencing team is so unfair. The fencing team won its third straight national title Sunday, but a few members of the men's team were not there to receive the trophy due to a decision made by the athletic department.

They made a choice not to let the men's team stay in Colorado Springs, Colo., for Sunday's competition because the men were finished competing. The only events Sunday were the final rounds of women's foil and epee, and then of course, the awards presentation.

"We're really disappointed," Nittany Lion senior Dean Jacobberger said.

The athletic department felt it was more important for the members of the team who were not competing to get back to State College for classes Monday rather than stay and receive the NCAA championship trophy.

They made this decision without asking the members of the team for any input, said Penn State Assistant Athletic Director Rich Lucas. The decision was based on the athletic department's desire to prevent athletes from missing as many classes as possible.

I agree with this policy under most circumstances, but I think the NCAA championships warrant a little more consideration. There was no governing rule for this situation other than Penn State's, which says athletes are not allowed to miss more than 75 hours of class time in a semester.

The athletic department should have asked the team what it thought. The students have a better idea of what classes they can and can't miss. They know how their professors react, not someone sitting in an office at the Bryce Jordan Center.

Students skip classes every day for worse reasons than staying to accept a national championship trophy. It is the student's decision whether to go to class. This should have been the same situation -- the fencers should have been asked whether they had to go back for class.

A few members of the team decided they were going to stay and arranged on their own a flight back Monday. The rest of the men's team was unable to stay because they were not excused from classes.

I understand this is a tough decision to make. There is no precedent to follow. Fencing is a unique sport. There are no other coed championships with the same situation.

"You want to win," Lucas said. "But you want to win within guidelines. We are concerned about keeping kids in the classroom."

Lucas, along with fencing coach Emmanuil Kaidanov, made the decision. They made it without consulting the fencers, and that is wrong.

There are a few places they could have turned to for guidance. They could have consulted the Academic Support Center for Student-Athletes.

They also could have turned to other schools. Notre Dame was in the same situation as Penn State. Notre Dame was the only other team in the country to qualify the maximum number of fencers.

The Fighting Irish, who had as good an opportunity to win the championship as Penn State, chose to let the whole team stay at the championships for the entire time.

"We try to stress the team concept at Notre Dame," Tom Kelly, associate athletic director at Notre Dame said. "We like our teams to travel together and to root for each other whenever possible."

Kelly went on to say Notre Dame does have a strict policy about missing classes. But the fencing team was not in danger of breaking that policy, so the school allowed the men to stay even though they were not competing Sunday.

Notre Dame, as did Penn State, had a few fencers go late to the tournament because of class conflicts. But Kelly said Notre Dame considers the men's and women's squads in fencing, and in any sport, to be one team and did not want to split up the team -- something Penn State fencer Sibyl Goldstein can relate to.

"The feeling of the whole team being there and getting the trophy," said Goldstein, the Lady Lion captain. "It's something you never forget."

Unfortunately, this is a feeling some members of the fencing team never might get to experience.