When freshman Christina Wang travels to Colorado Springs, Co., to fence at the Junior Olympics this weekend, she will be reunited with former teammates, her mother and a familiar foe.

“It’s weird because you are supposed to be competitive and have this mentality where you are supposed to beat your opponent,” Wang said. “But my opponent is my sister, and I love her, so it’s always a little hard to prepare myself mentally for that.”

Christina and her sister, Natalie, 17, often fenced each other in local tournaments near their home in Milpitas, Calif., and at national events.

“I fence her so much that she knows what I’m going to do, and I know what she’s going to do, so the score is always really close,” Christina said.

Their mother, Teresa Wang, would drive two hours from their home to Sacramento twice a week so that her daughters could train under coach Marcos Lucchetti. Teresa still makes that drive, but now Natalie is the only passenger.

“I would do anything for them to make sure they are happy and successful,” Teresa said. “I wish I could drive Christina, but she is so far away.”

Teresa can be heard cheering from the sidelines at most of Christina’s and Natalie’s tournaments. Although having both her daughters playing at the same tournament makes it easier to travel, it creates the possibility of watching her daughters square off.

“I don’t know who I should cheer for,” Teresa said. “Usually I’m not quiet, but I cannot do that because they are both my daughters.”

Christina began fencing in the eighth grade, after her cousin attending Stanford suggested she try the sport. She took group lessons, and a few months later switched to private training.

“I started winning some of the tournaments and that is one of the reasons I kept doing it,” Christina said.

Wang, a foilist, is 54-14 this season, although she has struggled recently with consistency. Her record is the second best on the team, behind sophomore Julia FՀ