Sometimes Diana Ark just wants a breather.
Yes, Wharton keeps its freshmen busy with a steady diet of group meetings and projects.
But, unlike her classmates, Ark has to juggle two additional commitments: She's found time to play on both the varsity softball and fencing teams.
"It'd be nice if I had one day off where I didn't have anything to do," she said. "And because I have to study too, you don't really have much of a social life. We tend to make a lot of our friends on the teams."
Balancing academics and sports is nothing new to her.
During high school, Ark would go at softball practice for three hours and then rush over to her fencing club for another two. Sometimes she wouldn't get home and start her schoolwork until 10 p.m.
The foilist's athletic career had an inauspicious beginning. In eighth grade, Ark was looking at Girl Scouts camps when her mother proposed one that included fencing as an activity. Ark decided it might be interesting and gave it a stab.
Her first exposure to softball was almost as arbitrary. Her brother had played, so the family often went to see games in its area.
After a minor league game one day, there was a mini-camp on the field and one of the players told Ark that she had a good arm.
When she was choosing a college, the Basking Ridge, N.J., native was recruited for both her hitting and parrying efforts.
And while Ark considered giving up fencing, she eventually decided to continue, citing how important it is for her to compete in both sports.
"I feel like I've learned so much from both sports that I wouldn't be the same person without them," Ark said.
Fencing coach Dave Micahnik said that Ark's split commitment was a non-issue upon her coming to Penn.
"[Softball coach] Leslie [King] and I coordinated and worked it out before Diana got here," he said.
Occasionally, Ark has to miss a practice, but in general, there isn't much overlap: The fencing season ends just as the softball season begins.
Despite the seeming disparity between the two sports, Micahnik draws some parallels.
"Both of them are extremely quick sports," he said. "In fencing, it may only take a few seconds to get a touch. In softball, when the ball gets hit or pitched to you, you have to make an instinctive decision and act on it."
Ark added that, while fencing is individual, both are really team sports.
"When you're in about, it's an individual battle but you're doing it for your team," she said.
"An at-bat is kind of the same thing. It's just you and the pitcher, but you're trying to help your team out."
