HAVERFORD, Pa. – The Haverford College women's fencing team has had a busy month of February with competitions every weekend, including a road trip to Massachusetts, the EWFC Championships, and the upcoming Alumnae Weekend. However, those weekends probably seem like quick trips for Amira Abujbara '17 after the Fords' foilist and co-captain made the trip to Bahrain for the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Fencing Championships as she is also a member of the Qatar national team.
Bahrain borders Qatar where Abujbara grew up as a child. The GCC Fencing Championships are a biennial international athletics competition from nations within the Gulf Cooperation Council, including Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, UAE, Oman, Bahrain, and Qatar. The championships were first held in 1986.
Abujbara's rise to international competitions has come in quick succession.
"[Joining the fencing team at Haverford] was sort of a whirlwind process," explained Abujbara. "I walked on my sophomore year at Haverford and that was the first time I had fenced although I had been doing sports most of my life."
Despite seemingly long odds to rise in the sport so quickly, natural athletic ability seems to run in her family as her older sister, Tala, came to the United States where she enrolled at Williams College. With a similar narrative, Tala Abujbara walked on to the crew team at Williams and also established herself as a team captain before her graduation. Continuing her international career, Tala Abujbara has already competed in four World Rowing Cups and two Rowing World Championships while continuing to train for future international competitions.
In addition to fencing at Haverford under head coach Chris Spencer, Amira Abujbara started training with a private coach in Qatar during her junior season during the College's break. However, it would not be long before that private coach in Qatar quickly saw her talents and recommended Abujbara to the national team coaches. She would officially be welcomed to the national team over this past winter break.
Training with two teams at once came to a head earlier this month when Abujbara was scheduled to fence at the GCC Fencing Championships for Qatar during the same week the Haverford College women's fencing team was scheduled to compete at the Drew Invitational.
After her team competed in Massachusetts at the Sollee Invitational on Sunday, Abujbara took an 11 hour flight to her hometown of Doha, Qatar and much quicker 20 minute flight to the country of Bahrain. The competition was scheduled for Thursday and Friday. In spite of the whirlwind schedule, Abujbara took home a bronze medal for her individual performance. On the following day, she helped lead her the Qatar national team to second place in the team portion of the competition.
"It was a stressful week from Sunday to Sunday as I had four full days of fencing competition, but there is no way that I could complain about that because it was so fun."
In addition to her success in Bahrain, Abujbara still managed to help lead a very successful foil squad as Haverford notched a victory against Brown out of the traditionally strong Ivy League as she recorded five wins at the Sollee Invitational. Starting and finishing her week in the Unites States, Abujbara won seven bouts at the Drew Invitational, helping the Fords to wins versus The College of New Jersey, Queens, and Lafayette.
Even though it did not show in her results on the strips, Abujbara began to feel the effects of her travel at Drew as she was very thankful for the bye rounds in fencing that are provided.
"It was pretty exhausting. I definitely napped during the competition."
Even fencing at an international level, Abujbara is quick to point out that fencing at Haverford is where she got her start and is still very important to her growth and development in the sport.
"One thing I definitely took out of fencing from the national team is that I just need to be adaptable because I was going into a competition where I had different teammates, coaches, styles, languages, and cultures that I had to navigate while trying to compete. [Haverford and Qatar] both help me grow as a fencer and build experience."
Looking ahead to the remaining schedule at Haverford, Abujbara definitely plays the role of team captain as she "wants everyone to just do their best" in the final weeks of the season. Additionally, she is also looking to qualify for the NCAA Regional for the first time in her career.
Abujbara will graduate from Haverford this spring with a degree in English and a minor in environmental studies. However, she still wants to continue fencing. Abujbara has an eye on the 2019 Asian Games, which are similar to the Olympics with countries from Asia.
No matter where her international competitions carry her, Abujbara will never forget the friendships and comradery that Haverford and the fencing team has provided.
"I am just really grateful for the team here. I have had so many great coaches but also, for example, my co-captain Alexandra [Morrison] has literally been there since I started fencing and teaching me. I consider them just as influential as any other coach. I just really appreciate the team and they just help me grow as a fencer and a person."