Athlete of the Week is Great Neck South fencer Jun Ahn

Jun Ahn remembers his first time participating in the sport of fencing, but it wasn’t like he had much of a choice.

"My sister [Yuna] dragged me along to one of her club practices," Ahn recalled. "She was pretty enthusiastic about it, but I wasn’t at the time."

How much have things changed a little more than three years later. The Great Neck South freshman has exploded onto the Nassau fencing scene this season. The 14-year-old is 23-0 in foil this season for the 9-1 Rebels.

"When I get on the [fencing] strip, sometimes I don’t know my opponent, and I’ll freak out and panic," said Ahn, Newsday’s Athlete of the Week. "Sometimes I’m hyper and that isn’t necessarily a good thing, either. But I calm myself down and keeping a good mentality on the strip definitely helps your fencing."

Not only has Ahn been a great fencer this season, he’s also been a tremendous teammate according to his coach Josh Baravarian, who’s also Ahn’s biology teacher.

"In class he’s quiet and reserved," Baravarian said. "But at the meets, he’s full of energy. He’s happy, and he’s always smiling. He’s really come out of his shell."

Baravarian implements an interesting strategy during timeouts in his Rebels' bouts — he doesn’t coach. Instead, he has the fencers on the bench help the competing fencer with strategy.

"He goes in for timeouts and gives great tactical advice," the 10th-year coach said. "Even though the other kids are older than him, he just has a great sense of what’s happening on the strip, breaking down the other fencers and finding their weaknesses."

Ahn started giving words of wisdom to a few of his teammates on his club team — East Coast Fencing Club (Roslyn) — the past year or so.

"I think age doesn’t really matter on the strip," said Ahn, who has been competing with his club team since he’s 11. "There are really experienced fencers who are young in age, and some older fencers that may not really see what’s going on."

The Rebels are now preparing for the Nassau boys fencing playoffs, which start the last full week of February. The boys and girls fencing team championships take place on Feb. 26 at Oyster Bay. Still, Ahn tries not to look at his own win-loss record, but instead, focuses on the big picture.

"I don’t really set number goals like wins," Ahn said. "I want to do my best and I really want the team to do our best."