On Tap with ... Eunice Chan

Q: Where are you from?

A: I’m from San Francisco, Bay Area, Calif: Los Altos, in the South Bay, right next to Palo Alto, where Stanford is.

Q: What is your role on the fencing team?

A: I’ve been captain of the women’s fencing team for last season and this season. I’m also on the women’s epee squad. There are three weapons — epee, sabre and foil.

Q: What does epee mean?

A: In epee, the whole body is target, from head to toe. Whoever scores first wins the touch. Epee is the type of fencing you see in movies. In sabre and foil, only certain parts of the body are the target, and there’s something called “right of way” with more specific rules. Epee is also the heaviest weapon.

Q: Do you have to speak French to fence?

A: Not at all. Official referees ref in French, but it’s easy enough. Sometimes they say “en garde” and “touche.” I don’t know a single word in French.

Q: How did you get started fencing?

A: I started when I was 10 when I watched “The Parent Trap.” I signed up for this four-week seminar, and at the end of it there was a tournament. There were only two girls — me and another girl — along with a bunch of boys. I actually ended up winning the tournament. It was the first time I was good at anything athletic. I thought, “I’m like Lindsay Lohan, and I can beat up a bunch of boys!”

Q: What is your favorite part about fencing?

A: There are so many things. In terms of the sport — just that it’s such a mentally challenging game — they call it physical chess. By the end of a bout, I’m more tired mentally than physically. It’s just a beautiful sport. In terms of fencing at Princeton, I love fencing in college. It’s so much more of a team sport in college. I’ve never had that team dynamic before. Just having that community and being able to look to other people for support — that’s what makes fencing in college great.

Get the best of the ‘Prince’ delivered straight to your inbox. Subscribe now »

Q: If you didn’t fence, what sport would you play?

A: Volleyball ... Wait, no, ice skating. I thought I wanted to be the next Michelle Kwan.

Q: What was your “welcome to college” moment?

A: Probably freshman year at Pre-Rade when one of my teammates saw me, picked me up and carried me through the gates.

Q: Does your team have any odd rituals or traditions?

A: Yes. We have all sorts of rituals. Before every meet, and before every important round, we do this cheer called “Roo Roo.” There’s a hilarious legend behind it, and it gets us really pumped up. I also love it when [junior epeeist] Jonathan Yergler yells “What time is it?” and we all yell back “It’s game time!” There’s also a really funny cheer that the girls do. I can’t tell you what it is, but it gets us really riled up.

On the way back from meets, we have something called bus wrestling with our teammates. I was terrible at it. I lost in like 20 seconds against my co-captain.

When we get back to campus [after] every meet, when we cross Lake Carnegie, we sing “Old Nassau.” We as a team are terrible singers, but we really get into it, especially the hand motions that go with the song. No matter how off-key or tired we are, we do the hand motions.

We play handball at the beginning of every practice. Our team could probably win some kind of handball championship, but I personally am just awful at the game. I can’t catch or throw a ball to save my life, which is probably why I fence.

It’s also a tradition every year for the epee squad to build a pyramid during our warmup.

Q: Do you have any odd rituals or traditions?

A: I have to wear one very specific pair of socks for every tournament. They’re black and white. They’re actually too small for me now, but I can’t compete without them.

Q: Who is your quirkiest teammate, and why?

A: I would say [junior epeeist] Hannah Safford because she enjoys many odd things. We have a bunch of responsibilities that we have to do before tournaments. She really enjoys taking everyone’s sandwich orders, and then she goes grocery shopping for the team. She’s bought stuff like Scrabble Cheese-Its and every kind of trail mix out there. She gets really into it — it’s almost an art form now.

Q: What is your favorite word?

A: I would say chlamydia, if it weren’t an STD. It’s a very pretty word. It’s a very elegant word. If it didn’t mean what it did, it [would be] a very beautiful word. I’m going to get so judged for this. I would consider it when naming my first-born child.

Q: What are you studying at Princeton?

A: English, also with a certificate in Hellenic Studies.

Q: Do you like Shakespeare?

A: I do like Shakespeare — “Richard III” and “Hamlet.”

Q: What has been your favorite class so far?

A: Probably a Hellenic Studies seminar I got to go to Greece for. I got to spend two weeks in various parts of Greece, seeing a lot of ruins and eating really good food. I made a lot of really close friends in that class while we were abroad. I also just love Greece, and the trip was completely free.

Q: What is the best thing about being an athlete on campus?

A: I think, besides all the cheesy parts of the answer that I could give, the free gear. It’s like Christmas. Specifically on the fencing team, we get free massages, which I definitely have taken advantage of. There are some seniors who have been fencing for four years who haven’t gotten massages, but they’re missing out.

Q: What is the worst thing about being an athlete on campus?

A: Getting to dinner late at Tower. We get here at 7 p.m., and there’s no more dessert and very little food left.

Q: If you could trade any physical attribute with one of your teammates, who would you trade with, what would you trade, and why?

A: I would trade my teammate [freshman epeeist] Kat Holmes for her height and her lunge because my teammates constantly make fun of me for being short. When we play handball, Kat literally picks me up and moves me wherever she wants. She is about 5 feet 11 inches. I can wear my tallest heels, and I’m still not as tall as her.

Q: If you were to break out into spontaneous song, what song would it be?

A: “Call Me Maybe” [by Carly Rae Jepsen]. [Sophomore foilist] Hyun-kyung Yuh and I have a choreographed dance to it.