Q&A: UNC fencing assistant coach Fáti Largaespada discusses making history

Fáti Largaespada, a UNC assistant fencing coach, has been a professional fencer with the Nicaragua fencing team since 2017.  Largaespada grew up in Puebla, Mexico, and is equally proud of her Mexican and Nicaraguan roots.

The Daily Tar Heel Sports Editor Shelby Swanson called Largaespada on Monday morning to discuss what Latinx Heritage Month means to her. 

This interview has been edited for brevity and clarity.

The Daily Tar Heel: What does embracing your Latina heritage mean to you? 

Largaespada: It’s become me committing to being more authentic and really caring [for others]. That just goes back to being Mexican. We are all about family and we’re always looking out for each other. I grew up seeing my family all the time and I don’t have that right now. Whenever I get into UNC fencing, it’s like I’m seeing my family every day. That’s really pushed me to become a better coach, become a better friend, become a better partner and become a better daughter — it’s helped me become all of those things. I think the community of UNC has helped me really show who I am. I’m not even lying to you, my kids request reggaeton at practice. That’s how much I’ve pushed my culture to them, in a healthy way.

DTH: You have Mexican and also Nicaraguan roots. Tell me about the intersectionality that is inherent to your identity. 

Largaespada: It means a lot. I grew up going to Nicaragua too. It’s not something that is not known for me. I feel like in the past, I’ve seen some people representing other countries that they have no idea what is going on in there. To me, I’m proud to say that I’m from there too because of my dad. Whenever I go there, I have lots of friends. I miss the food in both countries.

The culture for both of them are different, but I look forward to [doing] things in certain months, in either in Nicaragua or in Mexico. For example in Nicaragua, we do the hípicas, which is horseback riding, and there’s bulls sometimes and that is really freaking cool. I look forward to doing that in August. Or in Mexico, I actually haven’t been to an Independence Day in Mexico for so long and I’ve been longing to do that.

DTH: You are, according to your Instagram bio, the first Latina NCAA Division I fencing coach. When you hear that title, what does that mean to you?

Largaespada: I mean, it’s a little sad. I wish there were more. The sport is so male-dominant, but it seems like [women are] coaching more. I do have [friends who are] Latina coaches within the national circuit, but there are one or two. It’s still really small, and we all love to get together and talk about coaching and different ways [of coaching], like 'how do you coach in your country versus what is being done here'? I think it’s pretty interesting because fencing varies on the coaching style wherever you are.

Whenever we’re running footwork, especially, it’s really funny because [UNC head coach Matt Jednak] was like, “‘You have such an interesting style, then I have my own style, then our new saber coach [Hamdy Refaee], who is from Egypt, has his own different style.” We all run our own things, and at the end of the day we’re asking for the same things, we’re just building it differently. So it is really cool to see that.

@shelbymswanson

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