MEDIA
AOL Build
Olympic medalist Tim Morehouse on his non-profit Fencing in the Schools
En garde! Get ready to welcome 2008 Olympic silver medalist Tim Morehouse to our stage. Morehouse will be talking with skater and Olympic gold medalist, Sarah Hughes about how he’s fusing his sport with philanthropy through Fencing in the Schools, a non-profit he founded with the goal of introducing low-income kids to fencing.
PIX 11
Five time Emmy winning PIX 11 News Lead Sports Anchor Scott Stanford interviews U.S. Olympic Fencing Silver Medalist Tim Morehouse, Founder & CEO, Fencing in the Schools, discussing Tim's new Chase Bank commercial, Fencing in the Schools and becoming a Goodwill Ambassador to the Special Olympics World Games.
Team USA
Dreaming Big, Tim Morehouse Brings Fencing To Schools
By Darci Miller
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. -- Tim Morehouse’s Olympic journey started as a kid. Morehouse began dreaming of the Olympic Games soon after taking up fencing as a 13-year-old. After college, however, he instead followed his love of teaching. As a seventh grade teacher in New York, he made a point of imploring his students to pursue their dreams. And one day, one of his students asked him why he wasn’t pursuing his.
Now, after three U.S. Olympic teams and a silver medal in team sabre from the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games, Morehouse has turned his attention back to where it all began: kids. As the founder of Fencing in the Schools, his goal is to expose children to the sport he found by accident.
“My school just happened to have fencing,” the New York City native said. “I think there are only 6,000 varsity (fencing) athletes in the country, so I feel really lucky that I had it. I had no idea what it was until I found it at my school. I feel very fortunate, and I think that’s why I’m so passionate about trying to give back to kids and to schools and to kind of pay it forward.”
Continue reading at TeamUSA.org
The Colorado Springs Gazette
Olympians Help Spread Fencing Exposure to Area Elementary Teachers, Students
Youth interest in fencing has grown in recent years. Fencer Tim Morehouse is helping make sure it never slows.
The two-time Olympian, who took home a 2012 silver medal in team fencing, and fellow national team member Jeff Spear launched the first fencing program for Colorado Springs elementary school students last week. They led school assemblies at Banning Lewis Ranch Academy, Pikes Peak Prep, Queen Palmer Elementary School and STAR Academy, followed by a three-hour training session for physical education teachers.
The six-week program began this week. Student interest is as high as the decibel levels, judging from the cheers, heard during a recent assembly.
"I'm really excited," said Haley Misner, 11, a fifth-grader at Queen Palmer. "Not many kids get to do it."
The approximately 1,100 students were exposed to the Olympic sport thanks to Fencing In The Schools, a nonprofit founded by Morehouse, a former seventh-grade teacher in his native New York City, and Spear, of upstate New York, to reach children who never tried the activity before.
Continue reading at Gazette.com
New York Times
NEWARK — The cold rain had been pouring for several hours by the time the Olympian Tim Morehouse exited a cab in front of North Star Academy’s Vailsburg elementary school location. Over his shoulder, he carried a large black duffel bag filled with plastic foils and fencing masks. Despite the gray skies, he seemed giddy.
“It’s a great day for fencing!” he said, making a charge toward the door. Morehouse, 36, clad in red, white and blue, was there to demonstrate his sport to more than 100 third and fourth graders. It was one of hundreds of assemblies Morehouse has conducted with Fencing in the Schools, the educational nonprofit group he founded in 2011.
His mission: to introduce one of the most historically aristocratic sports to the most financially disadvantaged youths nationwide, involving a million children in 10 years.
The task may be more daunting than defeating the French or the Italians in an Olympic final. To most children (and adults, for that matter), foil is usually found in a kitchen drawer. Largely the sport of private schools and elite clubs, fencing is practiced by about 4,000 boys and girls in high school, according to the National Federation of State High School Associations, making it about as common as riflery or drill team. It has yet to receive the kind of pop culture boost that “The Hunger Games” gave archery. Among fencing’s most noted enthusiasts have been the Three Musketeers, Winston Churchill and Bruce Dickinson of Iron Maiden.
Continue reading at nytimes.com
Idaho State Journal
Fencing in the Schools Brings New Sport to Local Students
There’s a new sport in town. Now part of the PE curriculum at seven Pocatello area schools, fencing is a workout for the mind and body. This will be the second year of fencing in the schools’ programs in Idaho, with upwards of 1,500 children taking part in the fun.
Funded in Idaho by the JRM Foundation and Idaho Hometown Heroes, Fencing in the Schools is able to provide everything local schools need to integrate a unit on fencing into the pre-existing PE curriculum, including specially designed kids’ equipment, an extensive curriculum with video tutorials and in-person training sessions for PE teachers.
The programs will launch at all seven schools in September with a visit from the Fencing in the Schools founders, Olympians Tim Morehouse and Jeff Spear. Morehouse and Spear will introduce the sport of fencing to the children and share their Olympic journey.
The Pocatello Fencing Club will be holding a free open house with Morehouse and Spear for families to meet the Olympic fencers and learn about fencing opportunities for all ages outside of school. The event will take place on Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. The Pocatello Fencing Club is located in the Methodist church gym at 200 N 15th Ave, Pocatello, Idaho.
