Fitch fencing coach Chris Stocker reflects on career as retirement approaches
GROTON, Conn. — When Chris Stocker became the coach of the fencing team at Fitch High School in 2005, he had no prior experience with the ancient dueling sport. As a seasoned coach and athlete, however, Chris knew he had what it takes to lead a team. “I did some coaching my senior year of high school,” he recounts of his time at Loomis Chaffee Boarding School in Windsor, CT, “and that really helped me gain the confidence I needed to lead as a coach.” After high school, Chris went on to get a B.S. in Kinesiology and a B.A. in Early Childhood Education, both of which would prepare him for his career ahead. Today, having coached fencing for 18 years, Chris is getting ready to retire.
Chris got his start in the realm of sports as a young boy growing up in Granby, CT, where he played baseball and soccer. During middle school, his father’s job in the oil industry brought him and his family overseas to Saudi Arabia, where they lived for three years. Upon returning to the U.S. and finishing high school, Chris went on to play club baseball and joined the cheerleading team at the University of Colorado at Boulder, where he remembers performing at women’s basketball games.
A year later, in 1988, Chris met his wife Cindy while hanging out by the pool one day. “We happened to live in the same apartment complex near campus,” he shares, “and it was just one of those instant connections.” So instant, in fact, that Chris proposed after three weeks! “The team loves to hear the story of how we met while we’re on the long drive home coming back from states,” Chris says with a smile.
Chris’ interest in fencing developed in 2005, when one of his colleagues at Electric Boat invited him to observe a match at Ledyard High School. “That must have struck a chord,” says Chris, who’d been coaching his children’s soccer and baseball teams for years, but had no formal training in the sport of fencing. When a fellow parent and school staff member formed an official team at Fitch High School that same year, Chris felt called to step in as the assistant coach and “armourer,” a title referring to the person responsible for maintaining weapons and equipment.
For the first two years, fencing was considered a club sport at Fitch High School. By 2008, the team not only became a varsity sport, but also gained recognition within the Eastern Connecticut Conference. With Chris coaching three days a week for Fitch for the first three years, and then completing a year of coaching to help start New London’s team, fencing quickly became a huge part of his life. “I’m actually building an épée right now,” Chris laughs while discussing his coaching career.
An épée is one of the three primary weapons used in fencing, with the other two being a “foil” and a “sabre.” In his role as an armourer, Chris is responsible for checking the equipment to ensure it’s safe and ready for a match. “During a match or a ‘bout,’” Chris explains, “you can lose a point before even starting if your weapon or equipment fails,” emphasizing the strict nature of the rules of fencing.
The team at Fitch currently participates in both foil and épée competitions, and athletes compete on what’s known as a “fencing strip,” which Chris compares to other sports’ fields of play like a baseball diamond or a football field. Foilists wear a metal jacket called a lamé, which designates target areas of attack for their opponent. “Fencing is like physical chess,” says Chris, referring to the action-reaction component of the sport. “If you want your opponent to do something, you have to prompt them with a certain action,” he explains. Players are also connected to a cord that registers touches in order to keep score.
After 14 years of competition and with two state women’s épée team titles and 17 ECC championships under his coaching belt, Chris has made the bittersweet decision to retire at the end of this year. “If I didn’t have anything else to do,” he says, “I’d probably try to keep a toe in, but at some point, the break has to happen,” he shares. Chris has spent the ‘22 – ’23 school year training his successor, Michael Brayman, and feels confident the team is in good hands. In retirement, Chris looks forward to spending more quality time with his mother, a quilter who has made several quilts for school fundraisers and teacher gifts.
While championships and trophies are notable, Chris says his biggest takeaway from his coaching career is the confidence-building he witnesses in the students. “These are kids who may not fit the traditional mold of sports like baseball or basketball,” he says, “and they’re very bright students. Fencing requires a lot of forethought.” The ‘22-’23 school year is the second year the class valedictorian has been on the team.
As he approaches retirement this year, Chris expresses deep gratitude to the other coaches within the ECC who guided him along the way when he joined their ranks in 2005. “It is to them that I thank every season for making this sport at the high school possible,” says Chris.
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