During the first three years of her career, foilist Anna Novoseltseva quickly became one of Temple’s top fencers. She racked up 132 wins on a team that was among the best in the country. Novoseltseva qualified for the NCAA Championships in each of her first three seasons and solidified her status in the record books.
However, there was still something missing in her performances.
Novoseltseva wasn’t her usual self during those championships. She found herself anxious and constantly thought about what could go wrong instead of envisioning success. While her championship performances were solid, she and head coach Jennie Salmon knew she could perform even better with an improved mindset.
This season, Novoseltseva qualified for the NCAA Championships for a fourth time, a feat only seven other fencers in Temple history have accomplished. Novoseltseva entered this year’s competition with a completely different mindset and capped off her historic career on a high note. She finished 19th in her final NCAA Championships and showed the toughness and resilience that made her successful throughout her career.
“I see it in her eyes,” Salmon said. “In the past, it’s been more anxiety and thinking about the what ifs. Worrying about what could happen or what could go wrong. This year she looks like ‘I’m ready, let’s go.’ I just gave her a lesson, an individual lesson and the look in her eyes is like none I’ve ever seen. She’s ready.”
That fire in her eyes was exactly what Novoseltseva needed to improve her performance at the NCAA championships even more. She has elevated her play to another level at the event each year and took yet another leap this time.
Novoseltseva experienced natural nerves as a freshman facing off against some of the best fencers in the country. She won 37 of her 63 bouts that year to qualify for the championships where she finished 21st out of 24 total foil competitors. The next year, Novoseltseva took a slight step back on paper by finishing 22nd, but she still felt as if she belonged against the cream of the crop.
“It’s important for me to be smart,” Novoseltseva said. “I have fenced these people a million times and in previous years, I’d be spooked about facing them. Now that I know how they fence I can analyze their fencing. I can just be confident in my abilities and be confident that I can beat anyone. I’m not scared of anyone.”
Novoseltseva saw significant improvement on the mat at the NCAA championships last season. She finished 15th and racked up 11 wins, nearly as many as she had in the previous two years combined. The experience from the last three years has allowed Novoseltseva to learn to prepare herself on and off the mat.
The success that Novoseltseva has found throughout her career can be attributed to the way she approaches practice every day. The senior foilist’s training regimen has helped her reach 178 victories, the ninth most in program history. She has presented herself as a leader to her teammates because of how she honed her craft, which was an incredibly important trait for a team that has a handful of underclassmen.
“She takes practice really seriously and that’s a great characteristic to have as an athlete,” said foilist Constanca Dimas. “Every practice we always get 1% better and that’s perfect.”
Novoseltseva started her career at Temple with a bang. From there, she could have either stayed on an upward trajectory or fizzled out in the back half of her time in the Cherry and White. She made sure that her career was the former and became one of the best fencers in Temple history.
Salmon described Novoseltseva’s mindset and attitude as the epitome of “Temple Tuff” and she became a crucial part of the culture Salmon has cultivated in her first three years at Temple.
“Anna’s trajectory is so admirable because so often really strong athletes come into fencing and they come in hot,” Salmon said. “In their freshman and sophomore years, they’re high level recruits and they hit it hard. Then life and school and all these things trickle in and you see those athletes kind of peter down in their career. Anna is that rare athlete that has gotten better every single year as a fencer.”
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