Olympic fencer has an edge

TIM MOREHOUSE, the No. 2 ranked saber fencer in the country and No. 17 in the world, readies to compete in the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing in August. He went to the Olympics four years ago, but only as an alternate. Photo by Claudio Papapietro

By Stephen Caruso

The moment didn’t quite go as planned for Tim Morehouse.

The 29-year-old saber fencer was in bed recovering from a recent appendectomy when he first received the news of a lifetime: he would be heading back to the Olympics.

“I never quite expected to have that moment where I knew I was qualified, to occur in bed, feeling miserable,” Morehouse said shortly after practice last week at the Manhattan Fencing Club in midtown. “So it was a little anti-climactic at that point, but I’m really excited.”

It was March and the former Riverdale resident and Riverdale Country School alum was forced to check competition results on the Web to discover that he had officially qualified to compete for the U.S. in the upcoming Olympic Games in Beijing.

Morehouse, who went to the 2004 Olympics in Athens as an alternate, is now the No. 2 ranked men’s saber fencer in the country and No. 17 in the world. And while he never got to pick up a sword to compete in Athens, Morehouse’s impressive rankings guarantee him the opportunity to do so in both the individual and team competitions in Beijing.

It’s been a 15-plus-year journey for Morehouse, who began fencing as a seventh-grader at Riverdale Country under the tutelage of 52-year head coach Martin Schneider.

At the local school, Morehouse transformed from an unruly kid who was one more missed practice away from being kicked off the team, to a dedicated leader who captained his high school team.

“Coach Schneider really taught me my love for the sport,” Morehouse recalled. “I actually didn’t know what fencing was when I first went to practice. He loves what he does, and if there’s anything he taught me, it’s that if you love what you do, you can do really great things with it.”

Morehouse used his love of fencing to motivate him to elite status during his college years and beyond.

At Brandeis University, Morehouse was a three-time NCAA All-American, earning top- 10 individual finishes in each of his final three years. In 2000, his senior season, Morehouse was voted the NCAA men’s saber fencer of the year while leading Brandeis, a Division III school, to a top-10 finish at the Division I NCAA Championships.

After returning as a part-time assistant coach alongside Schneider for two seasons, Morehouse’s big international breakthrough came when he was selected as a first alternate for the 2004 U.S. Olympic team — an experience he plans on using to his advantage in Beijing.

“The people that performed well dealt with the nervousness the best,” explained Morehouse. “It wasn’t that the people who won gold had an amazing day, they were just able to do what they’re capable of on a normal day cause they were able to handle the nerves.

“I know what to expect,” he continued. “I know that there’s a lot more pressure, but I want to try to approach it the same as any other competition.”

Morehouse’s rankings peaked as high as No. 1 in the U.S. and No. 11 in the world in January. And he’s done all this while simultaneously pursuing his other passion: education.

Since graduating college in 2000, Morehouse has worked for Teach For America, first as a seventh- grade teacher for three years at the Mirabal Sisters School in Washington Heights, and then in various administrative positions for the organization over the past four years, performing many tasks that allow him to do work on the road while he continues to compete internationally.

In an effort to combine his two loves, Morehouse has recently started an initiative called Ten Thousand Fencers to educate people about the sport. He hopes to persuade newcomers to try it out. In a little more than a week since launching his new Web site, www.tenthousandfencers. com, more than 150 people have joined, while 26 people have confirmed actually trying organized fencing for the first time.

“I think a lot more people have tried fencing than they’ve realized. If you’ve ever tried to hit someone with an object that you weren’t throwing, you were basically fencing,” Morehouse joked. “And that’s what fencing is: You’re trying to hit someone with an object that you’re holding that’s an extension of your body.”

With the Olympics fast approaching, Morehouse has shifted his focus to Beijing, where his parents, girlfriend, several friends and at least one other key good luck charm will accompany him.

“I’m not super superstitious,” he said with a smile. “But I have this red ball that I play catch with right before I fence. It just kinda relaxes my mind and I don’t think about the match. If you see me on TV, you’ll see it near my strip.”

Morehouse is scheduled to compete in Beijing on Tuesday, Aug. 12, in the men’s individual saber competition, and on Sunday, Aug. 17, in the men’s team saber competition.

This is part of the July 24, 2008 online edition of The Riverdale Press.

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