On Top of His Game
Strategize. Defend. Adjust. Attack.
The tenets of Olympic fencing, or the guiding principles of a successful hedge fund?
The answer, according to Columbia’s James Melcher ‘61, is both.
“Fencing instills a certain high degree of self-discipline, much like the financial world,” says Melcher, founder of Balestra Capital and a member of the 1972 U.S. Olympic team in Munich. “Fencing is a very unnatural sport. In most sports, when you hit with a racket or fist, you hit hard; in fencing, in those crucial moments, you actually have to relax.”
“It doesn’t take strength, it takes discipline,” he says. “And then, when the moment is right, you strike, and you strike quickly.”
To read Mr. Lemire’s full article, please check out the online version of Columbia College Today.
