First to 15: The USA Fencing Podcast

About First to 15: The USA Fencing Podcast

Welcome to the official podcast of USA Fencing! In each episode, we’ll talk to someone interesting within the fencing world, including young fencers just learning the sport, coaches, experts from outside of fencing, fencing parents, referees, Olympians and Paralympians, and many more. Ready? Set? Fence!

Publisher

USA Fencing

Category

education · sports

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

2 May 2022

Latest episode

10 Jun 2026

Latest episodes

4 of 94 episodes have a transcript.

1. 

   10 Jun 2026TRANSCRIPT

   Brandon Rochelle on the How and Why of the Events Restructure

   Tournament Committee Chair Brandon Rochelle explains to host Bryan Wendell the necessity and impact of USA Fencing's upcoming events restructure for fencers, parents, and coaches.

2. 

   4 May 2026TRANSCRIPT

   Brad Suchorski on the Work Behind College Fencing’s Growth

   College fencing growth does not happen by accident. In this episode of First to 15, Bryan Wendell sits down with Brad Suchorski, USA Fencing’s Director of Membership, Service and Growth, to talk about the work happening behind the scenes to expand and sustain college fencing in the United States. They discuss the spring NCAA Championships at Notre Dame, the significance of separate men’s and women’s team titles, why schools add sports in the first place, and how USA Fencing works with colleges and universities to make the case for fencing. Brad also explains how recruiting tools like College Connect, college fairs and Recruiting 101 sessions fit into the bigger picture — and why growing college fencing means supporting both new and existing programs. If you’ve ever wondered how a school actually adds fencing, or what families should understand about the college fencing landscape, this episode is for you.

3. 

   16 Mar 2026TRANSCRIPT

   Deep Patel on Going from Beginner to Captain to Coach

   What if you picked up a fencing weapon for the first time in college… and just a few years later you were team captain — and then coaching? That’s the reality for Deep Patel, whose rapid rise through fencing is a powerful reminder that “starting late” doesn’t mean you can’t become great. Hosted by Bryan Wendell, this episode follows Deep’s path from team-sport athlete (soccer and lacrosse) to collegiate sabre walk-on, to leadership, to coaching — including a stop at the Tim Morehouse Fencing Corps coaching program and his current role coaching sabre at Badger Fencing Club in Madison. Along the way, Deep breaks down what transferred from other sports (and what didn’t), why learning the rules matters more than most beginners realize, and how new fencers can accelerate growth with the right habits and mindset. If you’re a college fencer, a late starter, a parent, or a coach looking to help walk-ons thrive — this one is packed with practical takeaways and energy.

Inside a recent episode

Brandon Rochelle on the How and Why of the Events Restructure

Published 10 Jun 2026 · Transcript excerpt

[…] And then the national level tournaments, you've got international. So I think there's a very clear stair-step progression that happens in cadet and junior and division one, the senior level, where there's a lot of different types of competitions already for that. When you get into the veteran category, for example, there's not really a super well-developed local structure for that, for example. Got you. And you only have a couple of international events a year at that level. So we wanted to try it out where we had a lot of different data options available to us at different types of levels of tournament, beginning at local, going all the way to international and cadet junior division one lends itself, I think, very easily to that. […]

Who has been a guest on First to 15: The USA Fencing Podcast

Names identified in recent episode analyses. Showing up to five guests.

• Brandon Rochelle
• Luao Yang
• Will Morrill
• Emilio Gonzalez

Reach and audience

Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.

Apple Podcasts (US)

5.0 / 5

33 ratings

Spotify

5.0 / 5

52 ratings

Podcast Authority Score: 65 / 100

A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.

Quality

77

Social presence

97

YouTube

0

Engagement

85

Contact First to 15: The USA Fencing Podcast

Guest appearances

Books guests

Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.

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