Nearly 15 years ago, graduate student Jason Sachs, who at the time was earning a master's degree from the Elliot Pearson Department of Child Development and running the Early Childcare Quality Improvement Project at an agency in Boston, accepted a position as the coach of the Tufts University men's and women's club fencing teams.
As Sachs and his wife Elif, now the fencing coach at Brandeis University, took over the program, he completed his masters at Elliot Pearson and began work on his doctorate degree at the Harvard Graduate School of Education.
School and research, however, did not prevent Sachs from putting the time and effort necessary to transform the fencing program into one of the region's elite.
"Both of us really had it in our mind that we could grow a garden and really build a strong program at Tufts," Sachs said. "We set it in our minds that just because we were a club team, that didn't mean we couldn't compete with the best."
Sachs' efforts paid off when the team was offered the opportunity to run with the best. When the New England Women's Intercollegiate Fencing Association emerged about eight years ago, the Tufts program received an invitation to join, along with Div. I powerhouses MIT, Brandeis and Brown.
"We were nervous about it, but we said yes," Sachs said. "It was important to get the credibility and compete. We set the bar high, and we pushed Tufts students to have higher expectations. We developed a whole sort of program - a nine-player team where everyone is dependent on one another. It took us many years to develop that attitude and culture."
The advent of Title IX brought another change for the women's fencing team, as it joined the varsity ranks for the first time. Although disadvantaged by their Div. III status, Sachs and his team worked hard to remain competitive.
"Since we've had the varsity team, the women have done quite well," Tufts' Assistant Athletics Director Branwen Smith-King said. "They continue to grow as a team. We work with Jason to ensure that they're deserving of the varsity status and that the women athletes are as serious and competitive as our other athletes. I think a lot of people on campus don't know that."
At the same time, Sachs was finishing his doctorate work at Harvard and working on a dissertation concerning the quality of childcare programs for lower-class families in comparison with those of affluent families.
After analyzing the disparity and the educational disadvantages for children in low-income households, Sachs began work for the Massachusetts Department of Education in Malden, helping to improve the quality of public schooling for underprivileged children in the state.
"It's an ambivalent state with welfare reform," Sachs said. "They can't punish the poor unless they provide childcare, but they don't want to pay enough to do it well. It's cheaper to pay someone not to work than to force them to work and pay for a high quality childcare experience, which is sort of a Catch-22."
After a five-year administrative stint, Sachs moved to the Boston public school system to assist in the development of universal services for all Boston schoolchildren.
Helping to breach the educational gap between advantaged and disadvantaged children, Sachs has brought some of those experiences to the fencing team. For Sachs, being a coach isn't just about the fencing.
"The reason more than any other that I like to coach is that I really like to take these Tufts students thinking big, heady, important thoughts in a relatively comfortable, safe place," Sachs said. "I want people to feel more conscious about their effect on the world and to be nice to each other and realize the consequences of their actions while being on a team.
"Why we worked so hard to set up a fencing program in the end was not about whether we're going to create NCAA Champions, because we're not, but we'll create people who work hard and have discipline, and then we will have been successful in our approach," Sachs continued.
Sachs has done just that, instilling a work ethic in his fencers that has kept both the varsity women's team and the men's club team at the top of their games.
"He really does care about the team a lot," senior sabre captain Louisa May Zouein said. "He really wants the team to succeed, and he really does want us to do well and get better, which is a nice quality in a coach."
"He's very honest," freshman epee fencer Becca Hughes said. "He doesn't sugar coat things. He tells you exactly where you stand and what you need to improve upon. Personally, I think it's helpful. Some coaches will tell you you did great even if you didn't, but I benefit a lot from the fact that he's very honest about things."
Despite all of his outside commitments, Sachs has continued to devote time to developing and improving the Tufts fencing program.
"He's been really supportive of me and me getting the training I need," Zouein said. "I've gone through some really hard times, and he's really been there for me even when I've had really bad fencing days. It's been really nice for me, and he's just been a really great guy to have around."
"[Coaching] is a huge commitment," Smith-King said. "It's not just a physical presence. It's also the emotional balance you have to keep. We're very appreciative of what Jason has done for the fencing program. He doesn't have to do this, but he does it because of his affinity for Tufts and his love for the sport. It's not for publicity or money, it's trying to help somebody, and that falls into line with what we're about in Athletics."
