(NEXSTAR) — Fencing has been part of the Olympics since the very first modern Games in 1896, a sport deeply rooted in history and tradition. Recently, in America, the sport has been reaching more kids of color than ever before, thanks to a group of former Olympians focused on inspiring young people to get involved.
On the fencing strip at Fencers Club in New York City, anything is possible, as long as you work for it. Here, past, current, and future Olympians work at their craft. Three-time Olympian Daryl Homer is one of them.
“I first started fencing because I read about it in a children’s dictionary. I was five, and I bugged my mom and told her that I really, really wanted to try it out. And I ended up starting fencing when I was 11,” Homer explained.
Daryl grew up in the Bronx, a first-generation American from the Virgin Islands. “From 11 years old, I was surrounded by Olympians that looked like me. So, I got to see Keeth Smart, Erinn Smart, Kamara James, Akhnaten Spencer-El. All of these amazing icons in the sport. I could reach them and touch them,” he said.
That kind of access for Daryl to meet Black Olympic fencers came via the Peter Westbrook Foundation, which was founded by Westbrook, the first Black American to win a medal in the sport. Among one of Peter’s pupils was Keeth Smart, also a first-generation American, who would go on to compete in three Olympics and win a silver medal in Beijing in 2008.
“I think when I met Keeth, he’d just come back from the 2000 Olympic Games. I watched him prepare for ‘04. And I watched him win a medal in 2008. I remember in 2008 when Keeth was competing. I was literally in front of my computer watching him compete the entire night because he was in Beijing. So just being able to know these people and be able to kind of see yourself in them,” Daryl recalled.
Seeing Keeth win a medal was the motivation Daryl needed to know that he could do it too. Keeth saw the potential in Daryl as well.
“From the very beginning, I recall this vividly, Daryl had a competitive fire in him that most kids his age did not. He hated to lose, was really focused and trying to be better each day. Which is what you want to see,” Keeth said.
Keeth’s mentoring of Daryl paid off. Daryl qualified for the London Olympics in 2012, where he finished 6th in the individual men’s saber and the team finished in 8th.
“The London Games kind of laid the foundation. I’d gone to the Olympic Games. I’d not medaled. I knew what that felt like. I performed well, but I didn’t medal,” Daryl said.
“After the Olympics, there’s a thing known as an Olympic depression or a down feeling. And he didn’t suffer from that at all, because I was like, look, you’re like the best of the best. And you should be very proud of what you’ve done. And I knew that wasn’t going to be his last Olympics. So let’s get back to work and take some time for yourself and then get back to working for the next games, which is 2016. And we all know what he did down there,” Keeth added.
Daryl would go on to win a silver medal at the Rio Games, becoming the first American to win a medal in men’s saber since Peter Westbrook in 1984.
“It’s like a moment to forever be in your heart. Like I think I was on the podium and my life flashed before my eyes the way people say, you know, it was like a really overwhelming moment,” Daryl reflected.
“It was really impressive and inspiring to see him grow from a little boy to a teenager to a world-class Olympic silver medalist fencer. So this is very surreal for me,” Keeth said.
“We both share a passion for giving back and opening doors for future generations, in particular, fencers of color. We’re still in the minority of people in color in America and then across the world when competing. And I think we both share that same passion of like, let’s get more people that look like us into the sport. And it’s great to see Daryl doing that every Saturday, rain, sleet, or snow, in the middle of the Olympic season, he’s here teaching 8-year-olds, 10-year-olds, how to fence and that’s truly inspiring,” Keeth added.
The Peter Westbrook Foundation has produced 16 Olympians, including Keeth and Daryl. And Lauren Scruggs, a 21-year-old from Queens, will make it 17 when she makes her Olympic debut in Paris.