The 2016 Junior Olympic Fencing Championships, Cleveland, Ohio.

Every February, the top Junior and Cadet fencers in the United States gather to compete in what is essentially the National Championships for Under-20 fencers: The Junior Olympics. But this important and prestigious tournament would have never existed if it wasn’t for the vision and determination of one man.

The Junior Olympic Fencing Championships were the brainchild of Rev. Lawrence Calhoun, a name many in the Southern California fencing community will recognize, as he was the fencing coach at Chaminade High School in West Hills from 1987 to 2006 and the founder of the Masque De Fer fencing club. But in 1966, Father Calhoun was just starting his teaching career at Notre Dame High School in Niles, Illinois, when the school’s athletic director asked the staff for suggestions for club activities for the students. Father Calhoun suggested fencing.

Father Calhoun had never been a coach nor a competitive fencer, but he had become acquainted with the sport while serving as chaplain of the fencing team at the University of Notre Dame during his time as a graduate student, there. Much to his surprise, the high school AD instructed him to form a club immediately. So he sent out a call and six students signed up.

Father Calhoun and his fledgling team began frequenting the local YMCA, where his students learned the fundamentals of fencing and he learned to coach. His team lost all of their tournaments that first year, but the next year they went 5-8. By the 4th year the varsity team finished the season with a 15-0 record and were Conference Champions. Before long, Father Calhoun became the head of high school fencing in Illinois, as well as Chairman of the Illinois Division of the Amateur Fencers League of America (now called USA Fencing).

The FIE had been conducting a Junior World Championships every year since 1950. Junior fencers in the US who wished to compete had to go through a very restrictive process that required them to first qualify through their Sectional Championships, then finish in the top three at the US Nationals in June. But the Junior Worlds didn’t take place until April of the next year—ten months later! During this long lag time, it was not uncommon for the young fencers to lose their competitive edge. In addition, fencers who were otherwise qualified, often were over 20 by the time the Junior Worlds came around, so they couldn’t compete. In 1966 the AFLA took the unusual step of changing the Under-20 event at the US Nationals to Under-19. No other country in the world had such an age category.

Father Calhoun could see that the US was not going to get its best representation in international Junior competition unless the system was improved. He came to strongly believe that there was a need for a second National Championships, just for Under-20 fencers, that would take place a few weeks before the Junior Worlds.

Father Calhoun began attending the meetings of the AFLA in New York to present his big new idea, but no one paid much attention to him. The meetings were dominated by mundane budgetary matters. Just as the business portions of the meetings were wrapping up, he would have to catch his plane back to Chicago. This pattern continued for two years without success.

Then, an act of Congress gave Father Calhoun the opportunity he had been waiting for. In 1971, The Uniform Monday Holiday Act went into effect, establishing, among other things, a permanent holiday on the 3rd Monday of every February (which eventually became known as “Presidents’ Day”). That meant there would be a 3-day weekend every year, just two months before the Junior World Championships—perfect timing for a qualification tournament.

Armed with this new angle, he presented his idea once again and this time got the response he had been hoping for. He was named ‘National Junior Olympic Development Chairman,’ and published his proposal in the Nov. 1971 and Jan. 1972 issues of American Fencing. It was too late in the year to take advantage of the Presidents’ Day holiday, so the first Junior Olympic competition was set for April.

On Friday, April 7, 1972, at 9:00 AM, two saber fencers took to the piste and fenced the first bout of the first-ever Junior Olympic Championships. The strips were set up in the gym and cafeteria of the high school where Father Calhoun taught. The NCAA Championships had just taken place at nearby University of Illinois Circle Campus a few weeks earlier, so all of the necessary equipment was readily available. The electric scoring machines were powered by 48 car batteries provided by Sears. The competition, which lasted 3 days, consisted of four Under-20 events: Men’s Foil, Men’s Epee, Men’s Saber, and Women’s Foil. There were a total of 98 entries from 25 divisions. Most of the competitors were housed and fed by local parents.

Father Calhoun presents a trophy to Chris Jennings who won the Junior Men’s Foil and Epee events at the first Junior Olympics in Niles, Ill., April 7-9, 1972.

Los Angeles was the host for the second Junior Olympics in 1973, which were expanded to include Under-16 and Under-14 events. A gifted young fencer from the Los Angeles Athletic Club named Bradley Thomas won the Under-14 gold medals in all three weapons! He was coached by Delmar Calvert. (You can see a recent interview with both of them, here.)

But an incident took place at this competition that put an end to any Under-14 fencing at the Junior Olympics for many years to come. As Father Calhoun recounted, “In a saber bout in which [AFLA president] Steve Sobel was directing, one of the fencers—a really obnoxious little kid—just cussed out Steve, he cussed out his coach and he cussed out his parents! So for several years, this age group was considered too immature.”

In the following years the format settled in on Under-20 and Under-16 events (changed to Under-17 in the late 80’s), although Under-15, Under-13, and Under-11 events were included for a few years in the early 90’s. Since the addition of team events for Junior fencers in 2010, the program has remained consistent.

The Junior Olympics have earned their place as an essential element in the development of world-class fencers in the United States. USFA Vice President Dr. Ralph Zimmermann called the Junior Olympics “the single most important achievement in the entire history of our organization.” In the summer of 2010, Father Calhoun was inducted into the US Fencing Hall of Fame.

The next Junior Olympic Championships will be held in Memphis, Tennessee, on Feb. 16-19, 2018. SoCal fencers who wish to compete should attend the SoCal 2017-2018 JO Qualifiers which will be held at the Sports Academy in Thousand Oaks, California, on Saturday, Dec. 16, 2017. The top 25% will qualify.

Junior Olympic Champions - Junior Men

Junior Olympic Champions - Junior Women

Junior Olympic Champions - Cadet Men

Junior Olympic Champions - Cadet Women

In cadet women’s epee, Kasia Nixon put up a strong finish and took home a bronze medal.

In cadet men’s epee, Justin Yoo fought hard but lost 15-14 to take home the silver while Charlie Horowitz finished 29th with one more year in cadet to fence.

Justin Yoo in the Junior Men’s epee event performed excellently and took the bronze medal home. Two medals in a week at the world championship level is amazing! Keep up the great work.

Let’s root for the US Men’s epee team where Justin will be fencing for the US as well.

Video can be found on the FIE YouTube channel and results can be found at www.fencingworldwide.com.

In Cadet Women’s Epee, Madeline Kehl from Swords Fencing Studio put up a good pool round to end up in 13th place and earned a bye into the round of 64. Top 32 was within reach, but after being down and coming up to tie the score 14-14, top 32 slipped from her reach in priority. She finishes in 36th place after losing to Maria Kakirchenko from Georgia who finished in 8th place. Good job!

Also in Cadet Women’s Epee, Kasia Nixon from Los Angeles International Fencing Center had an excellent pool round that had her as the number 2 seed and earning her a bye into the round of 64. In the round of 64, Kasia takes down Hyeonji Park from Korea 15-12. Her bout to get into the round of 16 against Hsin I Wu of Taipei was even easier as she rolled into the 16’s 15-5. Her toughest bout would be against Dominique Tannous from Libya where she would lose 14-15 and finish in 9th overall, where Tannous finished 6th. With her 9th place finish, Kasia gets a head start on the team points list for next year’s Cadet Epee team. Congratulations on an excellent tournament!

In Cadet Men’s Epee, Jake Raynis also from Los Angeles International Fencing Center had a strong pool round to come out as the 13th seed and also earn a bye in the 64’s. His first opponent Gweonwoo Lee from Korea would be a small challenge as Jake wins 15-13. In the round of 32, Jake had an easier time with Noe Walter from Germany winning 15-8. Then Jake would run into Dylan French from Canada the number 4 seed, but he would also be unable to stop Jake from advancing into the top 8 with a 15-12 victory. Jake’s next bout to get to the semifinals would prove to be very tough and very close against Dzianis Paulouski from Belarus with Jake pulling out the victory 10-9. Jake Raynis would then fence the number 8 seed, Andris Jahimovics from Latvia, to get to the final and be the first of two USA Cadet Men’s Epee fencers in the finals this year. Jake and Andris parried well and touches went back and forth. Jake had the lead twice only to have Andris come back twice to tie up the bout 14-14. The fencers went into priority where unfortunately Jake loses 14-15 to the Latvian and ends up taking home Bronze. Ari Simmons from the US and Alliance Fencing Club would win the Gold leading to a Gold and Bronze finish for the US Cadet Men’s Epeeists.

A really fantastic job well done by Jake Raynis with his excellent bronze finish!

Congratulations to all of our SoCal fencers and keep up the good work!

Joey Rafidi

Congratulations to Joey Rafidi, who took 16th place in Junior Men’s Epee at the Junior and Cadet World Championships in Moscow!

And congratulations to Michael Costin as well, who took 24th place in Cadet Men’s Saber.