O'DonnellWeb

American Fencer is the autobiography of Tim Morehouse, US Silver Medalist in Team Saber at the 2008 Olympics. We got this for my son for Christmas, as he is a fencer. He read it quickly and passed to me. I enjoyed it greatly. Tim’s journey from a 7th grader who signed up for fencing because it got him out of gym class to Olympic medalist is inspiring. He did not get high priced lessons as a kid, he did not go to college on a fencing scholarship, and coming out of college he was not even in the conversation as a contender on the international fencing circuit. Yet through hard work, willpower, and determination, he made it to medal stand in 2008.

One really interesting angle of the book for me is all the crap minor sport US athletes go through to compete. Tim was holding down a full time job as a public school teacher and running up his credit cards on flights to Europe. Compare that with many of the guys he was competing against, who were basically government employees being paid to train and compete.

Tim’s book is probably mandatory reading for any teenage fencer, or really any teenage athlete at all. His example of overcoming obstacles in pursuit of your dreams is a solid lesson for all teenagers, and their parents.