Slava Zingerman, the fencing champion

by Derrick Bean
COE Public Affairs Writer

His name is Viacheslav Zingerman, but you may know him as Slava. He is one of Wayne State University’s most decorated and humble warriors. With three championships under his belt, Zingerman is fighting to become the first to win four consecutive NCAA titles in men’s epee fencing.

Zingerman, a senior studying electrical engineering technology, has come a long way. The 26-year-old was born in Noyabursh, Russia and raised in Ashkelon, Israel.

His former coach, Alexei Cheremski, turned the talented Zingerman into a winner in Israel where he won the national title at 15 and the World Junior Cup at 16.

Zingerman’s journey to America, the land of immigrants, was different from others. And he is not your average immigrant. He never dreamt of living the American dream. His only goal was to follow his heart through fencing by doing what he loves. But not before serving his country where all citizens are required to serve three years in the Israel Defense Force when they turn 18.

The decision to come to the United States was influenced by friends like his former coach who moved to New York when Zingerman was a teen. He was encouraged to come to Wayne State by Anna Garina, former three-time epee NCAA champion (‘04, ‘05, and ‘07).

Zingerman won his first national men’s epee title as a freshman in 2007 with a score of 15-13. He defended his title in 2008 (15-7), and repeated again in 2009 (15-7). He is now just the second to win three consecutive NCAA titles in men’s epee history.

Zingerman sure came to the right place. Wayne State has a storied history of successful fencers. Of the twelve previous three or four-time NCAA fencing champs, four were from Wayne State (including Zingerman and Garina, as well as Men’s foil champs Greg Benko (‘74-‘76) and Ernest Simon (‘78, ‘80-‘81).

Fencing is Zingerman’s life. He practices fencing at Wayne State nearly every day. He goes to New York to work with his fencing coach from Israel almost every holiday.

Balancing practice and studies can be a difficult task for many student-athletes. Zingerman says he has to make sure he makes time for school purposes. Fortunately, professors allow athletes to turn in some schoolwork late during periods of competition.

Zingerman was named to the Coach’s Honor Roll (for students who have a term grade point average of 3.0-3.49) for the Fall 2007 and Fall 2008 semesters.

He is thankful for the opportunities that came from working hard at his craft. “I’ve been doing it for like half my life,” he says. “I just like it. I’ve been doing it since I was like 11. It just seems like I’ve been doing it forever — high school, military, college…I enjoy it. This is how I got to college. This is how I got to the U.S. basically.”

There are three categories of fencing, each with its own weapon: the foil, the sabre, and the epee. Zingerman uses the epee, which he says feels like a real sword, simply because it was his only option. “I didn’t choose it,” he says. “There was only this weapon back in Israel. I didn’t have a choice.”

Zingerman says he tries not to think about his chances of winning a fourth title (which has only been done once in men’s sabre, once in women’s foil, but never in epee). “I don’t know,” he says. “We’ll see. Hope for the best, you know. It would be nice to win all four times.”

The NCAA’s 2010 Fencing Championships will have midwest regionals on March 13-14 at Northwestern University in Evanston, Ill. The finals are set for March 25-28 at Harvard University in Boston, Mass.

Being a three-time national champ might be enough for some people, but not Zingerman. He wants more. “Honestly, before I got here, I didn’t even know about this NCAA division,” he says. “For me, I’m more concerned with World Cup, Olympics — that kind of thing. So, I would like to get to the Olympics. That would be the goal.”

Zingerman plans to graduate next December. And he seems to be thinking about his American dream after all. “First, I want to find a job, start a life…I would like to move to New York, find a job there,” he says. “And if I could continue to work in my engineering field, it would be awesome.”

Zingerman hopes to go into engineering management, particularly product development. “I like to be around people,” he says. “I guess I just don’t want to be sitting in the office doing the same thing every single day.”

Besides the military and fencing, Zingerman says he has never worked. With no job experience, you know he will be a hard worker just by his attitude. “I will take anything,” he says. “I’ve been studying for four years, and I don’t really know what my future job is going to be about. But I hope I will like it.”