And not the barbed wire kind. Pretty cool to have a National Champ (and future Olympian) in town.

http://www.amarillo.com/stories/073109/new_news3.shtml

quote:

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Fencer wins national title

Juleah Nusz wields a wicked "Bundle of Hurt."

The Amarillo 17-year-old won her first national fencing championship earlier this month with superior swordplay, agile footwork and the appropriately named Bundle of Hurt, a weapon she borrowed from her brother.....

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Amarillo College has one of the best Fencing clubs in the state. Juleah is a neat kid, my son used to fence against her and beat her....of course he was 17 and she was 12 at the time.

A few years ago, she was in a national tournament in California. A Russian fencing coach saw her, and asked, assuming that such a skilled fencer must have an International coach:

"What country is her coach from?"

Her teammate thought a bit, and responded:

"Texas."

Now that's a cool story. (I'm an AC alum myself.)

Did you know Dr. Richard Howard? He's the founder of the program, and was the coach. He's suffering from Parkinson's, so he's not as involved as in the past.

Very nice guy, trained in fencing by his grandfather, who was in turn trained by a Hungarian Master.

I don't remember Dr. Howard, but I'll be looking for Juleah in the next Olympics.