CEDAR CITY, Utah (June 24, 2026) — After a quiet disappearance from Utah Summer Games programming in the mid-2010s, the sport of fencing has returned to the roster in style. This addition brings an original sport from the 1986 rendition of the Games back to the fold, celebrating an incredible 40 years of history.
A critical piece of that history, Julie Seal, has been instrumental in helping Fencing Sport Coordinator Ethan Ashby jumpstart the sport's inclusion in the 2026 Larry H. Miller Utah Summer Games.
Seal, now a seven-time World Champion holding over 20 National Gold Medals, participated in the Games early in her fencing career and earned the title of Utah Summer Games Athlete of the Year in 2000.
When Ashby, the Division Chair of the United States Fencing Association's Utah Southern Idaho Division, initiated the push to include fencing in the 2026 Games, he looked no further than Seal's Valkyrie Fencing Club as a perfect location to host the event.
Seal's history with the Games
The voyage that eventually led Seal — Julie Smith at the time — to competing in Utah Summer Games Fencing is an amusing one. Moving to Utah to attend Brigham Young University, she initially had her sights set on collegiate softball. After being cut from the team, she began to search for a different sport to meet her degree's physical education requirement.
Noticing a number of "cute boys" in the clogging class, Seal happily shifted her focus. However, she quickly realized she was not the boys' only admirer, and the class filled up before she could join.
Seal turned to fencing, a sport that had always intrigued her, as a last resort. In her youth, fencing caught her eye in the "F" section of her family's golden encyclopedia set, which led to her acquiring her first sword: an antenna snapped off of her father's brand new truck.
"When I got to college and that opportunity came along, I was drawn to it right away and became successful very quickly on the national scene," Seal shared. "I fell in love with the romance and the adventure of it."
In the coming years, Seal's competitive hopes expanded, and she began to fence in the fledgling Utah Summer Games of the early '90s. An up-and-coming Olympic-hopeful, she cemented herself as one of the Games's strongest competitors.
By 2000, Seal faced a critical year in her life. She was competing with her Olympic hopes on the line and missed the fencing team by a singular point.
"I found out that I didn't make the Olympic team at about the same time that I found out I was selected as the [Utah Summer Games] Athlete of the Year," Seal said. "We had a big award presentation in the middle of a Jazz game, and for me, it provided a lot of affirmation for all of the effort and the successes I had experienced. It provided a significant moment in time where I was able to acknowledge to myself that I had done a really great job."
The recognition from the Utah Summer Games closed a chapter of her career. Shortly after, Seal married her husband Richard and began pursuing an accomplishment she still finds more meaningful than any fencing achievements.
"Pregnancy is really rough on the body, and I got really sick and gave away all of my fencing stuff because I didn't know if I was ever going to get better," Seal explained. "There's no medal that's as big of a deal as having five kids. All of the things I've accomplished in fencing are still second to the things we've done well as a family."
Despite slim odds, Seal miraculously returned to health and rejuvenated her career in 2017. In the decade since her return, she has battled her way to a heap of national championships and seven world titles, all while fencing alongside her growing children.
Seal was named a fencing master in 2020, making her only the fifth woman in the United States to receive the esteemed title. She believes that in fencing, and every other sport, men and women can learn from each other's natural strengths to truly perfect their craft.
"I'm really proud of being a fencing master because it helped to inspire a lot of women to move forward and have confidence in themselves," Seal said. "Now they're helping other people, too."
The incredible story of persistence and skill that Seal embodies, as well as an outstanding impact on Utah's fencing community, made her the first fencer inducted to the Utah Sports Hall of Fame in 2023.
While Seal continues to rack up her own accolades, she also strives to give back to the next generation of fencers. Since 2019, she has been an owner and coach at Valkyrie Fencing Club, which served as the venue for the lively 2026 USG Fencing event.
Ashby's plan of action
Seal's deep-seated connection to the Games set the scene for fencing's comeback, but it was Ashby who put the return into motion.
Ashby began fencing at a young age, stumbling upon an online coupon for the sport. Loving the strategic aspect of competition, he fell in love with fencing and eventually ended up at the Utah Summer Games. However, his dreams of USG medals were cut short. The first year he competed was the last year fencing was featured in the Games's programming for roughly a decade.
Thankfully, Ashby refused to let his sport disappear from the Summer Games for good. By 2026, he had gained the footing he needed to bring fencing back into the spotlight.
"A lot of us older fencers have really fond memories of the events," Ashby said. "It was one of the biggest events for Utah, and it was always a whole lot of fun. It was so sad when it was lost, and it's always been in the back of my mind… All three of us [Ashby, Seal, and Wasatch Fencing Coach Ron Hendricks] have always talked about getting it back together, and the right combination of events seemed to happen this year to make it absolutely incredible."
Ashby, who took over Salt City Swords Fencing Club at age 18, has an unusual amount of leadership experience for somebody his age, so he proved to be a perfect fit for the sport coordinator role.
With Ashby to run the event and Seal to host in a central location, USG's 2026 Fencing event on June 13 went off without a hitch.
"This was actually the biggest event so far this year in Utah," Ashby explained. "There were fencers all the way from Bozeman, [Montana,] that came, and there were even some people from southern California that came to the event. They saw the strength of the fencers and how many people were there, and it's not super often that you get so many high-quality fencers together."
In addition to the draw of intense competition, the tournament's inclusive categories helped bring in excited fencers. Ashby, Seal, and USG committed to focus on inclusivity with brackets for women and youth competitors. Two impressive parafencers also participated in the event, including the nationally-ranked Stephanina Michaelis, who won gold in Senior Women's Epee.
"All of our events are what you call Walk N Roll, which is a fun name for a tournament where you may fence somebody that's in a wheelchair, and you may have to sit down to fence them," Ashby shared. "It's a very inclusive sport."
Seal shared that switching to parafencing requires traditional fencers to put their technical swordsmanship to the test, rather than relying on raw athletic ability. A Walk N Roll tournament helps standing fencers to refine their abilities while allowing parafencers to face off against a broader competitive field.
On top of ensuring people from every background the chance to compete, the USG Fencing event also doubled as the United States Fencing Association's Utah Southern Idaho Division Championships. Holding the titles of division chair and sport coordinator, Ashby capitalized on a fantastic opportunity to increase the prestige of both events by combining them into one.
Among the event's final results, Ashby earned gold in Senior Mixed Saber, and Seal locked up first in Senior Women's Saber and Senior Women's Foil.
Fencing's place in sport
The return of fencing to USG programming means more than just one new event on the schedule. The Games has restored a tournament with significant potential to further its goal of making all athletes feel welcome in the community of sport.
Fencing provides a great opportunity to those who may not fit the mold of more common sports, and Seal wants to make it even more accessible for all.
"We have equipment that we can help people to rent or borrow to be in the Games," Seal said. "We have adaptive sports in our club. We do wheelchair fencing, and we will be starting blind fencing soon. We do a lot of outreach to the neurodiverse and kids that are marginalized. Any kids that don't have a place, we really try to provide fencing as an opportunity to help them grow and have confidence."
Mental health is an escalating struggle across the United States, and Utah is no exception. By opening up the sport to those in need, Seal and others hope to provide an outlet for people to enjoy and learn from.
"The best way to deal with depression and anxiety in a non-pharmaceutical fashion is sports," Seal explained. "So, the more opportunities given to participate in all kinds of sports, the healthier our population will be. Ultimately, that's what we want to do: have a really healthy place for everyone to be in, to work in, to grow up in, and to raise a family in."
After over 30 years of experience in fencing, from winning world championships to coaching to raising her own family of fencers, Seal's biggest piece of advice for athletes is to simply focus on having a good time.
"Remember that the reason we do sports is because it is fun. Remember that always," Seal said. "Whether you are competing in a high-profile situation at world championships or whether you're just in a junior high school club or community center, remember we're there to have a good time… Appreciating the people that you're playing that game with is the number one thing, and it's the thing that gives us the most joy."
Next up
With the 2026 programming winding down, USG, Ashby, and Seal have their sights set on the future of the Fencing event.
"If you haven't tried fencing yet, you should give it a try," Ashby said. "Go to one of the clubs near you. This next season will have a lot of good beginner events and hopefully, at the end of the season, we can have another Utah Summer Games [tournament] and have it even be stronger and better than this year."
