Who would have thought that Lindsay Lohan would be an inspiration?

After watching Lohan’s best known—and most innocent—movie The Parent Trap, nine year old Simone Unwalla was inspired to become a fencer.

She’s continued ever since. Now a sophomore, Unwalla has been competing nationally since age ten.

She fences at the Virginia Academy of Fencing four times a week, for a total of ten hours. During that time, she does conditioning, drills, and practices her fencing for competitions.

Competitions are set up so that the fencers start in “pools of about seven people and then they cut out the bottom 20%. After that, it’s a bracket of direct elimination bouts [matches between two fencers],” said Unwalla.

She prepares for this grueling process by listening to music and doing warm ups such as drills, running and stretching. “I’m just focusing on what to do, it really is a mental and physical sport so you have to be pretty focused,” said Unwalla.

“From what I remember, fencing is all about defense; you have to take your time to learn your opponent’s tactics before you can attack. The sport requires a ton of focus and patience,” said senior Nicole Azmoudeh, a former fencer.

Through her years of competing, Unwalla has ranked sixth at Nationals, and second and third at a North American Cup.

This year, she also made the USA’s international team in the under 17 category. Being on the international team has allowed her to compete at world cups in Budapest, Hungary where she placed 19th, and Tauberbischofsheim, Germany where she placed 57th.

Not only has she competed around the world, Unwalla has also fenced against Olympians. “I’ve fenced a girl named Nzinga Prescod who went to London in the pools of a Division One competition. I didn’t win; she beat me,” said Unwalla. Her friends have been extremely supportive along the way.

“It’s so cool that Simone fences because no one does fencing and she stands out, and that’s awesome that she’s being her own person,” said sophomore Aubrey Zarella.

Unwalla’s next goal is to make the US national team for 19 and under and eventually make the senior team, which is the official US team. “I really love every aspect of the sport. It’s a lot of work and a lot of traveling, but it’s definitely worth the sacrifice,” said Unwalla.