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.
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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)
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