Bart and I are very pleased with Ben’s recent progress in his fencing.  At the Junior Olympics, he came out of the pools five and one in the Juniors competition, dropping the only bout to Peter French, who ultimately won the tournament.  Ben had a bye the first round and was eliminated in the round of 64 in a close 15 – 13 bout.  In the Cadet competition, Ben was four and two in the pools, and also had a bye in the first round of the competition.  He advanced to the top 32 but was soundly defeated.  Overall, Ben was 42^nd in Juniors and 28^th in Cadets.  We had a great time meeting coaches from Northwestern, Penn State, Princeton and Air Force.  It was especially nice to have so much of Mauro’s undivided attention at JO’s and certainly contributed to Ben’s success.

This past weeks  Ben participated in the Rose Condon Memorial in Shreveport, LA in the Men’s Open.  There were 40 fencers in the event, and it was rated an A2.  Ben came out of the pools six and zero with a plus 18 indicator!  He advanced to the round of eight and lost a close bout 15 – 13, which ultimately put him in 5^th place overall.  I was especially proud of one of Ben’s bouts – in his first DE he was down 6 – 1, but composed himself and battled back to win the match.

With Mauro’s coaching efforts and Ben’s hard work, we believe he will go far in his fencing career and reach his ultimate goal, which is fencing on an NCAA team at a select university.

By Lesa Mcdonald

 This season Ben  is showing a wonderful results which  is making me so proud of him as a role models for his other team members. I am so happy to work with such a smart and talented fencer like Ben. He is getting nationals points as well as making the finals in  local and sectional events such as 3rd place at the Crescent City open, 5th place at the Rose Condon Memorial SSCC , and first place at the Gulf Coast Divison Qualifiers. Good Job Ben keep up the good work.

By Mauro