Edward Chen Senior Profile

DURHAM, N.C. – Recently, GoDuke.com sat down with senior Edward Chen to learn more about the Plymouth, Minn.,native.

GoDuke.com: What has been your favorite place to compete with Fencing?
Eddie Chen: Probably the Duke home meets. I’m sure other people have said that too. It’s completely unreal being in that environment where a lot of your students are watching you... a lot of your classmate, friends, as well as your teammates cheering you on. Also the acoustics in the room are really crazy because it’s pretty closed, so you can hear everything. As far as favorite place to fence, I would probably say the regional meets because those meet matter a lot for qualifications for NCAAs and I really like the pressure.

GoDuke.com: What’s one lesson you learned competing in fencing that you use throughout the rest of your life?
EC: I would say the time management aspect of it, just because It was a really big part of my college career but I also want to do other things, so I had to prioritize things.

GoDuke.com: What’s your proudest academic achievement?
EC: Making it on to the ACC honor roll, and maintaining decent gradeS while balancing leadership in clubs, as well as being a varsity athlete and competing.

GoDuke.com: What does it mean for you to compete for Duke University?
EC: I would say Duke has a really rich history, especially with fencing. Coach Alex is one of the second longest tenured coaches behind Coach K. It has been unreal representing his legacy as well as the people that have competed under him-Becca Ward, Leslie Marks, Zach Mas just to name a few. You know it has been crazy being the next line of fencers to represent Duke. It has been great.

GoDuke.com: What will you miss most when your time at Duke is over?
EC: I would probably say the people. Everyone tells me that college is the time to meet as many people as possible just because you have a lot of similar minded people around you who are all driven to be successful and it has been really stimulating. That is probably what is going to be different about the real world, there are still smart people in the real world, but there is nothing like a Duke student.

GoDuke.com: Do you have a pre-meet or bout routine?
EC: yeah, I always listen to ‘All I do is Win’, it reminds me of the basketball games and the environment in Cameron Indoor as a Cameron Crazie. So that song pumps me up, and I always try to listen to that right before I compete otherwise I just do normal stretches and I have a playlist of like six songs that I always listen to before I compete.

GoDuke.com: Do you have a favorite memory with Coach Alex?
EC: At the home meets we were facing UNC, and I think we were pretty close to them in terms of points, and it came down to like the last few bouts. He got so excited and so pumped up and and was jumping up and down,but didn’t throw off the his suit or anything but it got all loosened up and he got a little loud. It was really entertaining to see, and he really encourage the team too so we got pretty excited about that.

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