Princeton University Athletics
All That Jazz
April 10, 2001 | General
Among Michel Sebastiani's most cherished memories is the Christmas concert he played alongside late great jazz clarinetist George Lewis in New Orleans. The moment is captured in a framed photo Sebastiani keeps in his Jadwin Gym office.
Outside the office Sebastiani has been making sweet music of a different kind. The 63-year-old is in his 19th season as Princeton's fencing coach. He is passionate about both his loves, and they tug equally at him.
"I love to play music," says Sebastiani who plays clarinet and saxophone. "But I can't get completely away from fencing. It's something you don't stop. It's a real art."
Sebastiani has made a career of taking fencers with a variety of backgrounds, from walk-ons to world-ranked junior competitors, and molding them into champions. It is much like taking a collection of random musical notes and piecing them together to produce magnificently emotional jazz.
"My joy is to bring someone from zero to a good level," Sebastiani says. "You teach a sport, an art. It's always the same. If I find people who will listen and train, I will have results."
Sebastiani has gotten results. Though he swears off statistics, he has the highest winning percentage of any Princeton fencing coach with a combined men's and women's record of 279-144. Photos of past champions line the walls of the Stanley Sieja Fencing Room and are evidence of his successful tenure, trophies fill every nook and cranny of his office.
The Princeton men have captured five Ivy League titles in the last seven seasons, including going undefeated last year. The Tiger women have won the last two Ivy championships and were also undefeated last season. There is little mystery as to how both teams became so strong. They have a good teacher.
Maitre Michel Sebastiani, who holds two master's degrees in health and physical education and sports from the National Institute of Sports in Paris, took over a program mid-year in 1982 after the death of coach Stan Sieja. A member of the 1959 French modern pentathlon national team and a 1960 French Olympic team selection, Sebastiani brought a wealth of experience and knowledge to the Tiger program that, at the time, had only a varsity men's program. At that time women had club status, but changing that was one of Sebastiani's goals.
"The first part of what I did when I was hired was building," he recalls. "Because of the high quality and required academics here, it's challenging to put together a good team. But we haven't done too badly.
"The second part was to create a women's team. When I arrived, I started to work for them to become varsity."
In 1988 that goal was accomplished and the women have climbed as steadily as the men have. Last season Eva Petschnigg became the first Princeton woman to win an NCAA individual title when she won the national foil championship. It was the first individual national title for Princeton since Max Pekarev '99 won the sabre in 1996.
"I have realized probably all my dreams," Sebastiani says. "As a child I always wanted to come to the United States. As an athlete I was an Olympian. Then it's a big deal to be coach of the American team when you're not born American. I've won many national titles with fencers, and I've won several Ivy championships. And, I've played with some of the best jazz musicians in the world."
Fencing and jazz. Michel Sebastiani has created sweet success in both forms of art.
by Justin Feil