L ifestyles /C ulture
Philly Faces: Maia Weintraub
P H I LLY FACES
JESSE BERNSTEIN | JE STAFF
MAIA WEINTRAUB is 18
and trying hard not to think
about how much she’s already
accomplished. One doesn’t
get to the cusp of Olympic-
level fencing by resting on her
laurels, Weintraub explained,
and one certainly wouldn’t
make the team with such an
attitude. So what have you been doing
during this downtime? Have
you been able to practice?
In the beginning of the
shutdown my fencing clubs
were closed, so I wasn’t able to
actually go fence. With fencing,
to be able to practice the sport,
you need to be with other
people, and you need to fence
against other people — that’s
how you get better. But because
I wasn’t able to work on my
fencing, I tried to focus mostly
do my homework and school-
work, and when I should work
on my physical endurance, and
when I should go to fencing
practice. That’s something that
will serve me well for the rest of
my life, not just during fencing.

So I’m grateful to the sport for
opening my eyes to that.

Do you have an ultimate goal?
The highest goal in an
Olympic sport is to go to the
Olympics. And, of course, I
Fencing is very unique. I feel like it’s not one of those sports where
you can just pick up a foil or weapon and just start. You have to dedicate
yourself to learning the art of fencing before you can actually do it. ”
MAIA WEINTRAUB
That’s the type of thinking
that’s propelled her to the top
of her sport, and spirited her
around the world, bringing
Weintraub everywhere from
Junior Olympics matches in
Memphis, Tennessee, to the FIE
Junior World Cup in Zagreb,
Croatia. She still has an appreciation
for how far she’s come.

“When I started fencing
internationally, and was able to
fence with the top competitors
of other countries, that’s when
I realized, like, ‘Oh, I can do
this. I’ve made it,’” she said.

Weintraub was intro-
duced to fencing by her father’s
brothers, both of them fencers
in their youth. What the sport
has brought her, aside from a
chance to play “physical chess,”
as she calls it, is a slew of lifelong
friends. The camaraderie she
experienced at the European
Maccabi Games in Budapest,
Hungary, Weintraub said, where
she and her teammates shared
nothing in common besides
fencing and their identity
as Jews, is one of her fonder
memories of competition.

22 DECEMBER 3, 2020
on endurance, weightlifting and
stuff I could do by myself. The
time to get ready and do that
work was really helpful because
I was able to prepare for the
fencing season. Usually, the
offseason is only a month or
so, when I don’t have that much
time to actually prepare.

want to do that, but to be able
to reach that, I just have to
focus on the small things. So
if I focus on bettering myself,
individually, I will eventu-
ally reach the long-term goal,
without having to think about
it that much and putting much
pressure on myself. l
What is it about fencing that jbernstein@jewishexponent.com;
appeals to you?
215-832-0740 Fencing is very unique. I feel
like it’s not one of those sports
where you can just pick up a
foil or weapon and just start.

You have to dedicate yourself
to learning the art of fencing
before you can actually do it.

And I think that dedicating
that time and choosing to do it
makes it special.

What have you learned about
yourself through fencing?
I’ve learned that I am
very much a procrastinator
in a lot of aspects of my life
[laughs]. Because I learned that
early on, I was able to try to
counteract that. So I have to
make myself stick to a strict
schedule of when I have to
Maia Weintraub’s foil is tested at the European Maccabi Games.

Maia Weintraub, left, at the 2020 FIE Torino Foil Grand Prix.
JEWISH EXPONENT
Photos by J.D. Weintraub
JEWISHEXPONENT.COM