Olympic Caliber Fencing Makes St. Louis Debut

The London 2012 Olympics have come and gone but our Olympians are still hard at work. One such example of this is seen in American fencers. American fencers compete in many events across the nation, the biggest being the North American Cups or NAC's for short. The NAC's are hosted by the United States Fencing Association, a division of the U.S. Olympic Committee. For the first time in history, the St. Louis Division of the USFA is hosting a NAC October 12-15 at the America's Center Convention Complex. A few of the Olympians who will be competing there are Race Imboden, the number one Men's Foilist in America and who placed 9th at London. Lee Kiefer, who placed 5th at London and is ranked number one in Women's Foil in America. And Tim Morehouse who was on the Men's Saber team that won silver in 2008 at Beijing and is ranked 2nd in America.

Fencing is represented in Cape Girardeau by a sports club at SEMO. The sports club has around 20 members from recreational to competitive skill levels. The fencers travel around the region to tournaments that range from the just for fun to more serious USFA events such as the NAC in St. Louis. The club is headed by faculty advisor Jim Phillips who has 20+ years of fencing experience. He and a couple others are playing with the idea to start a community fencing club in Cape Girardeau.

David Debowey is president of the SEMO Fencing Club, is in his 5th competitive year of fencing, 8th total. His notable tournaments have been the 2010 Junior Olympics, the 2012 US National Championships, and he plans to compete at the NAC in St. Louis.