There are 40 varsity sports at Staples High School. That may be the most in the state.
Twenty are girls teams. Eighteen are boys. Two are coed: sailing and fencing.
The latter is the newest Wrecker squad. Their first varsity season will be this winter.
Staples athletic director VJ Sarullo says that it takes at least 3 years as a club before a sport can attain varsity status. That’s to show that a program can sustain itself, in the years ahead.
The Staples club was founded 3 years ago, by PJ Loranger, Gleb Syomichev, Max Pieterbarg and Anna Pan ’22. (Syomichev was then recruited to fence at Division I Sacred Heart University.)
The squad won the state championship in 2022 and ’23, then finished second last winter. Pieterbarg capture the 2024 individual title.
The Staples fencing team hopes to continue its club success, now as a varsity sport. From left: Alessandro Alderucci, coach Delphine de Vore, Gleb Syomichev, PJ Loranger, Eric Wilson, and Max Piterbarg.
Fencing is not an expensive sport. Most funds will go to coaches, equipment and transportation. Fencers will be recognized at the Scholar-Athlete banquet in June.
Yet varsity status is important to the students attracted to it.
“Fencing is not like basketball, soccer or baseball, which you can pick up when you’re 4 and always find people to play with and against,” Sarullo notes.
“You really have to work at fencing to learn it, and find competition. These kids put so much time and energy into it. They deserve the recognition.”
As a club sport, fencers have practiced in areas like the cafeteria. Now, Sarullo will make sure they have a dedicated space to train.
En garde!
Only a few public high schools, like Guilford, have a fencing team. Staples will compete primarily against private schools and clubs. “We’ll take on anyone,” Sarullo says.
The Wrecker fencers will be well coached. Delphine de Vore — who, as club coach, helped the team earn varsity recognition — is a former world champion with the US junior women’s team. She has competed in over 30 countries.
She finished this past season as the national champion, and was an alternate for the 2024 Olympic Games. (The women’s foil squad — the weapon she fences — won gold.)
De Vore started fencing 16 years ago, at age 7. She was recruited by Columbia University, where she become an All-America second team selection.
Fencing appeals to athletes looking for a niche sport, de Vore says, and who appreciate its strong community spirit.
It attracts a wide range: musicians, artists, people into robotics, board game enthusiasts, and of course athletes from other sports.
Fencing demands “a mix of creativity, technique and tempo,” de Vore says.
She is excited that now, as a varsity sport, fencing will get more publicity, and Staples fencers will gain a bit more recognition.
Even if it’s not yet what football, soccer, basketball and lacrosse athletes enjoy.
================================================
Meanwhile, Staples High School fall sports are in full swing.
Football and field hockey hope to repeat as state champions. Girls and boys soccer and cross country, girls volleyball and swimming, and boys golf are all — as always — very competitive.
Another fall sport gets virtually no recognition. But the athletes work as hard as any others, away from the spotlight, in a far corner of the campus.
Boys water polo has been around for a decade or so. Still, it’s one of the most unheralded teams at Staples. (There’s a girls water polo team too; they play in spring.)
Danilo Sierra-Giraldo — who coaches both boys and girls — has slowly built a program. He’s developed a pipeline, through Parks & Recreation Department programs at Longshore and Staples.
Since the pandemic, he’s offered water polo in the summer on Long Island Sound, off Schlaet’s Point.
Water polo in the Sound.
Water polo is not an official Connecticut high school sport. The Wreckers compete against private schools like Hopkins, Horace Mann and Greenwich Country Day.
The Staples squad includes players from Weston, Norwalk and New Canaan. Like the rest of the team, they’re attracted to so many elements: the skill and stamina required, the physicality (athletes fight both the water, and opponents who can push and kick under the surface). the quirky uniqueness of the sport.
The Staples water polo players are very committed. Several travel to the West Coast — where the sport is very popular — to play in club tournaments in February, and the summer.
Staples’ new assistant coach, Kade Ramirez, has coached many players on his Connecticut Premier team in competitions out West.
A number of former Wreckers have gone on to play club water polo in college. Two — Quinn Wagner and Kai Ross — are playing in NCAA Division I.
Senior captain Leo Skatoff.
The photos here tell part of the story.
You can see the sport for yourself, at the Staples pool. The first home game of the season is today (Wednesday, September 25, 4:30 p.m.), vs. Horace Mann.
(Photos and hat tip/Ashley Skatoff)
(Where else but “06880” would you read about the Staples water polo and fencing teams? If you enjoy this type of coverage, please click here to support your hyper-local blog. Thank you!)
Good coverage. What regulatory body mandates a sport must be a club for three years before coming a varsity sport? Just curious but what percentage of Staples’ attendees actually participate in all the 40 sports?
The 3-year policy is Staples’. There are no regulations from the state governing body, the Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference. I’ll see if I can find out a percentage of Staples students involved in at least one sport.
Fascinating, thanks. And I applaud Staples for providing so many opportunities to compete in varsity sports. (By the way, in saying this I am not minimizing the opportunities to compete in club sports at Staples, or even intramural sports—which I recognize are yet a third form of sports participation at the high school. Those intramural sports experiences were some of the most enjoyable ones I had at Staples.)
But, coming back to varsity status: it’s not clear to me what distinguishes a varsity sport from a club sport. I looked at the CIAC site and saw that they hold state championships for what appear to be only 26 sports (and that’s including all boys’ and girls’ sports).
Neither sailing nor fencing was listed there. (I suppose this means that perhaps some other entity is overseeing fencing possibly because there are not enough teams competing to establish a state championship per CIAC guidelines?)
Finally, even though water polo has “only” club status, my hat’s off to those team members as that is physically a tough sport to play in terms of stamina.
Varsity status includes, among other things, financial support from the school (rather than relying solely on fundraising); certification of coaches (rather than simply hiring whoever is available); logistical help in areas like transportation; access to reliable practice and game facilities (rather than scrambling to find whatever space is available), and recognition at the annual Scholar-Athlete banquet in June.
And I’m sorry if I didn’t make it clear: Both boys and girls water polo are varsity sports at Staples.
Thanks for all of that further info. And again kudos to Staples to making the commitment in resources, etc to such a variety of sports (as it does with such a variety of other extracurricular activities).
Fred, Staples AD VJ Sarullo says that last year, 987 students (61% of the school population) participated in at least one interscholastic sport. This fall alone, there are 558 participants.
Wow, that is impressive (and I would imagine a much higher percentage than when we were in high school. And I wouldn’t attribute such an increase in participation solely to the important passage of Title IX. There are clearly more sports to be a part of, period.) Thanks.
Thanks Dan for the update. Agree, Fred although in college, Title IX plays an important part of female participation for it means federal bucks if not in compliance. I attribute much of the participation now at the high school level due to getting the students started at a young age which is great. Lord, we had Little League and that was about it. That said, I have heard too many stories of very good athletes being totally burned out by 12th grade and quitting athletics. Pity.
Staples Sailing is very proud to be the school’s first co-ed varsity sport and is celebrating its 20th year this year. And you’re right–the team doesn’t fall under the CIAC umbrella, rather they compete under NESSA (New England Schools Sailing Association). Locally Staples Sailing competes against public schools like Fairfield Ludlowe, Darien and Greenwich High, and privates like GFA, Brunswick and Greenwich Academy. What a gift, for all the athletes named in this piece to be provided a path, and be given the opportunity, to compete against others matching their passion!
Congratulations to both teams with a special shout-out to Delphine DeVore, from her first grade teacher, when she was fairly new in fencing…So proud of you!
Delphine is the best! She loves fencing and teaching it and it shows.
I’m thinking thumb wrestling. Also finger pointing. Not the middle finger though. Index fingers only.
There is only one “Scooter” in this domain, Buck. Please abide as The Dude did for many years on this blog.
Mine is spelled differently. With two o’s. Yours has three o’s. You were first and chose three o’s. I respected the rules and mine has only two o’s. If you want to go to two, make me an offer.
My keyboard got stuck. A bottle of prune juice and Geritol?
One final thing here: I hope they long ago rectified the system with respect to awarding varsity letters. Interestingly, during our time in high school (1968-71), there was no such thing as awarding a varsity letter to male athletes (although female athletes could earn one by playing in at least 1/3 of all contests in a single season).
Male athletes could instead earn a blazer—which I believe was deemed the property of the school—but you had to accrue a good number of points to qualify for it (and which I never did notwithstanding my three years of participation with Staples soccer).
It was at best a convoluted system.
We had neither, Fred. Letter sweaters were somewhat COOL in college until I saw a rerun of “Ozzie & Harriett.” Actually, only fraternity jackets for the super jocks was a status symbol in ’66.
I didn’t earn a varsity letter at Staples. But I did at BJHS in football. Our team went 0-5 and we still were awarded letters. WTF? I wore my BJHS letter sweater proudly until last year when I gained weight and it didn’t fit.
Love your coverage!
Thanks!!! Yours isn’t bad either!!!
Staples Fencing is fantastic for many reasons, one of which is that boys and girls can join the team with no experience whatsoever. This is unique as many sports require participation since age 5-6, and allows for students who would not have had the opportunity to be a part of a team sport to join and benefit from the fitness training, camaraderie and instruction of the truly outstanding coach, Delphine DeVore. As Staples Fencing was a club sport last year, Delphine was unpaid and VOLUNTEERED her time attending practice 2x per week, mentoring the captains, providing best-in-class instruction to everyone from beginners to CT State Champions, fostering a positive, inclusive environment, organizing and supporting the fencers with opportunities to scrimmage and one-on-one coaching during competitions. Delphine did all of this while Fencing for Columbia and competing globally (with great success!) in the lead-up to the Olympics. Delphine is exactly the coach a parent wish for their child and an inspiration and role model who has a clear, actionable vision for Westport to be the fencing epicenter of Connecticut. I am sure there are many more exciting things ahead for Staples Fencing and am very excited that the program is now a varsity sport which will allow the program and athletes to have more support and opportunities for recognition.
Fencing is for rich kids. As a Marine “brat,” we used real swords and no protective gear. Semper Fi.