ORHS student earns gold medal in fencing at North American Cup

THE WOODLANDS, Texas - Alliance Fencing Academy fencing athletes have had a very busy and productive fall schedule. At the North American Cup in Louisville, KY, Nov. 7-10, Alliance earned 11 medals including two gold medals, three silver medals and two bronze medals.

Alliance medal winners were Jessica Thow – Gold; Barbara Van Benthuysen – Gold; Elliot Herbst – Silver; Michael Popovici – Silver; Gigi Vierheller-Silver; Farrah Lee-Elabd – Bronze; and Jonathan Piskovatskov – Bronze.

The NAC in Louisville was an especially big win for Thow. She not only received a Gold Medal, but also earned the coveted top rating, “A-2014” in her age bracket. In fencing, ratings begin with U, for unrated, progressing next to E, D, C, B and A. Thow will retain the A rating for the next four years.

Ratings not only give recognition to the fencing skills of the recipient, but it also helps tournament organizers sort out fencers for pool placement in upcoming tournaments. “Like, you have a huge list with 160 fencers competing,” said Bethlehem Witte, an Alliance Fencing Academy instructor. “You don’t have a bunch of A fencers competing against each other, but spread out in different groups mixed in with B, C, or D rated fencers. You don’t want a bunch of As in one pool and a bunch of Bs in other pools.”

Spring resident, Thow is 14 years old and attends the Ninth Grade Center at Oak Ridge High School. She fences three days a week at the Woodlands Alliance Fencing Academy location (27326 Robinson Rd., Suite 110, Conroe 77385) and two days at the Alliance Houston location (4141 Directors Row, Suite E, Houston 77092).

Jessica’s mother, Sarah, says that Jessica began fencing at the age of nine. This Medal is the first Gold Medal her daughter has earned at the national level. Previous to the Louisville NAC, Jessica has competed in other different state NACs. In October, she traveled to Austria to compete in an international event and finished 71st out of 180 fencers.

“It was very difficult, a pretty close score,” said Jessica referring to the Louisville NAC. She defeated Joy Ma of Long Island, NJ for the Medal. “She had a different style of fencing than what I am used to. I fenced her a few times before in other tournaments. It was going through my head that I never won before when I fenced her. She (Ma) knew how to deal with the pressure. I was getting very nervous, over thinking a lot. My coaches were telling me if I really wanted this (win). ‘you have to fight for it.’ I had to believe in myself.”

She did overcome self doubt, won the gold and received an A rating. “Not many people at my age have an A rating, a big thing to me knowing that I can accomplish these things at such a young age.”

Also, although Thow didn’t mention it, Witte shared that Thow had another obstacle in her path to overcome as she perfected her fencing skills. Thow had surgery on one of her ankles and could not fence for about three months.

“After the surgery, she kept working so hard, worried about perhaps that she wasn’t going to be as effective,” said Witte.

“I told her, the way she works so hard, it’s just going to give you a new perspective when you come back; you are going to click into it. After a couple months of hard training she just took off again.”

What’s next for Thow? An international event in Slovakia in January and the Junior Olympics at Richmond, VA in February.

For a complete listing of all the medals the athletes have won this past fall, please check the Alliance Fencing Academy website. Alliance has classes for all ages and skill levels taught by their professional coaching staff. Two of the coaches, Andre Geva and Bennoit Bouysset will be coaching the U.S. Women’s Epee team at the 2016 Olympics. For additional information on Alliance Fencing Academy, please check the Academy website, www.alliance-fencing-academy.com, or call 713-410-6655.