At the club where senior Felix Zhao started fencing, everyone had a nickname. 

Zhao was first introduced to the sport in middle school P.E. teacher Ms. Pixie Roane’s 6th-grade gym class, where fencing is an educational unit. 

Interested in the sport, he joined the Wallingford-Swarthmore Panther Fencing Club, where Ms. Roane is the head coach. During practices, Ms. Roane noticed Zhao’s upbeat and energetic nature and gave him his nickname: Frisky. 

In 2018, when Zhao was in seventh grade, he qualified for the Summer Nationals tournament located in St. Louis, Missouri. After placing 235th out of 254 fencers, he decided he needed a change in his fencing education. 

He joined the Fencing Academy of Philadelphia, a larger club with more coaches and better competition. There, he doubled down on Epee as his fencing discipline of choice.

Fencing utilizes a rating system based on letters: U (unranked) is the lowest rating followed by E, then going up alphabetically to A, the highest rating in fencing. Zhao first earned his A in November of 2021 at a regional tournament in New Jersey. On April 8 of this year, he renewed his A and earned himself an A23, placing 7th out of 94 fencers and reaching the pinnacle of fencing status. 

Zhao values the dual components of fencing. 

“It’s a very good way to exercise,” he said “It’s a good mental exercise and a physical exercise. “It’s like physical chess—good for the body and good for the mind.” 

Having trained at FAP for six years, he’s earned a reputation for being intensely dedicated to the craft of fencing. Mark Doraszelski, a teammate of Zhao’s and a student at the Germantown Friends School, said Zhao’s best trait is his lunge, a critical move in fencing and one often used to score a point. 

“It’s fluid but explosive at the same time,” he said. “If you watch his tape, a lot of times the opponent will feint an attack, and [Zhao] will just calmly start an advance lunge and still catch them.” 

Zhao is continuing his fencing career at New York University this fall.