WHEN NOT ON the fencing strip, Jeffrey Dalli honed his competitive chops as captain of the Serra High School trivia team.
One particular contest was tight and the next answer could decide it. Players had their hands close to the buzzer, ready to answer at the earliest moment possible.
The questioner began: "This team's 6-foot-9 Slovak captain …"
Buzzzzzzzz!
"Boston Bruins!" Dalli shouted.
With barely a clue, he nailed it.
Opponents and teammates were aghast, with expressions reflecting a collective "What?"
"Because of Zdeno Chara," Dalli recalled with pride. "The hockey player. Somehow, I knew it was him. People were like, What the hell?"
Dalli, a Stanford senior majoring in management science and engineering and with a minor in computer science, likes to be tested and challenged. His mind needs to flex and move and focus. That's why he's a fencer.
Dalli is a three-time NCAA Championships qualifier in sabre and seeks to advance one more time, at the regionals in San Diego on Sunday.
Photo by Bob Drebin/ISIphotos.com.
"I REALLY LOVE the psychological component of fencing," said Dalli, who began at age 7, after tagging along to his sister's lessons at the First Place Fencing Center in their hometown of San Carlos, just north of Stanford.
"In other sports, the amount of running you do versus the amount of thinking you do is much more weighted toward the physical," he said. "In fencing, the way we were taught, you were constantly thinking and being made aware of what you were doing while you were doing it.
"That mental game, that mental awareness, was really fun for me. Fencing was a sport where I felt a physical adrenaline rush, plus the mental thrill of a one-on-one battle."
Chess had provided an outlet for tactical competition before fencing replaced it. Dalli found that fencing provided the same rhythm and mental rigor as chess had.
"I love solving problems," Dalli said.
All this explains why Dalli was drawn to the sabre, one of the sport's three weapons.
"Sabre is the most aggressive, for sure," Dalli said. "If you don't really know fencing and you try to watch sabre, you won't know what's happening. It happens so quickly. There are tons of split-second decisions.
"To me, that's the allure. You're thinking so quickly. It forces you to develop a plan. Before the referee says, 'Fence!' I know what I want to do."
Like a pitcher setting up a hitter, Dalli moves to set up other moves, and alters his style so an opponent can't lock in.
"We've known and watched Jeff grow from a youth competitor into an NCAA Division I athlete," said Stanford's Lisa Posthumus, who, with George Pogosov, has coached Dalli from his days with the Stanford Fencing Club. "Jeff takes an interest in the next generation of Bay Area fencers and shows passion for the sport by caring for its future."
And …
"He's never missed a morning practice in four years."
That's a 7 a.m. start, by the way.
Photo by Aaron Shepley Photography.
WHEN HE WAS young, Dalli competed in tournaments against a team of inner-city kids from New York City's Peter Westbrook Foundation. Westbrook, a 1984 Olympic medalist, used fencing as a vehicle to develop life skills in young people from underserved communities.
"That was my inspiration," Dalli said.
Dalli joined a pair of club teammates to create the Bay Area Fencing Initiative. They held demonstrations at East Palo Alto schools, and fenced at community fairs. They held a camp for underprivileged young fencers.
Now, Dalli finds himself in a strange position. As captain of the sabre team, he helps his teammates with scouting and strategy and support, even though it may hurt his chances of making the NCAA tournament. Only two in each weapon earn automatic NCAA qualifying spots at regionals and Stanford -- with Dalli, Samuel Kwong, Noah Matricciani, and Royce Wang -- could take the top four places. The next two would need a wild card to advance.
"In my four years, this is the strongest team we've had," Dalli said. "This will be the toughest year to qualify for NCAA's."
For a problem solver like Dalli, that's just the way he likes it.
Photo by Bob Drebin/ISIphotos.com.