Lunging back and forward across home plate on the baseball field, OVS freshman James Yang Chenghan undergoes a self-led fencing practice everyday after school.
He has no coach. No one has to check to make sure he has showed up to practice. And yet, he is one of the most highly disciplined athletes at the Upper Campus.
“He’s resilient,” Upper Campus Athletic Director Hank Pankratz said. “He’s out there rain or shine.”
As his independent sport, James devotedly coaches and trains himself in the sport he started at the age of 5 in his home city of Shanghai, China. By chance alone, when walking through a shopping mall with his parents, he stumbled across a fencing academy. From first glance alone James was intrigued and so subsequently followed the beginning of his fencing career.
As his skills developed, his fencing increased to a high level of competitive rigor and he began attending many competitions in the Shanghai area. He was a member of the Wanguo club in Shanghai, where in 2022 he and his team won first place at a competition.
James, a first-year international student, wanted the ability to continue fencing and maintain his advanced skill repertoire. The solution was for him to continue fencing as an independent sport.
“I wanted to do something that I really liked,” he said.
What he considers a limited practice, other Ojai Valley School students have viewed as a true feat of determination. Practicing at the same time as other fall sports and in a viewing vicinity of James, the OVS girl’s volleyball team has frequently stopped to watch and admire James’ devotion to the sport.
OVS student and girls volleyball player Chloe Ronning has looked over and made note of James’ resolve.
“It’s really just inspiring how you look over and see him doing entirely his own thing day after day,” Chloe said. “It takes a lot of determination and persistence to put practice every single day into something when you don’t have anyone prompting you to do it.”
James ‘passion for fencing is steadfast in that he plans on continuing fencing throughout and hopefully after high school, despite the current limitations he faces.
An obstacle James is met with is that he is the only student who has shown a keen interest in fencing at the school, resulting in him practicing alone. A goal of James’s is to increase awareness and participation.
“I really want more people to know that fencing is a very good and interesting exercise,” said James.
James’ many years of dedication are displayed on the field every day, drawing the attention of people in the area. His demonstrated enthusiasm and love is a result of his long-committed relationship with fencing.
“It’s just a really cool, fantastic sport,” he said.
