page_title: Tim Morehouse
section_title: Fencing Outreach and Development
hierarchical_section_title: Tim Morehouse / Fencing Outreach and Development
caption_attribution_description: English: First Lady Michelle Obama, along with athletes April Holmes, center, and Jackie Joyner Kersee, right, watch as President Barack Obama participates in a fencing demonstration with Tim Morehouse on the South Lawn of the White House, Sept. 16, 2009.
context_page_description: Timothy Frank "Tim" Morehouse is an American fencer who won a Silver Medal competing in the men's sabre as a member of the United States fencing team at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. Morehouse is coached by Yury Gelman. He is the founder of the Fencing in the Schools program.
context_section_description: After the 2008 Olympics, Morehouse worked to promote the sport of fencing and established programs to attract new participants to the sport. As a motivational speaker, Morehouse spoke to over 15,000 children and young people in urban schools about his Olympic story. He has also given presentations to Fortune 100 and 500 organizations. One of the highlights of his career took place in 2009 when he taught President Obama to fence on the White House lawn in support of Chicago's bid to host the 2016 Summer Olympics. He has appeared on the Today Show and Happy Hour on Fox Business. In 2008, he was one of the featured athletes on the Emmy Award-winning television documentary, "My First Time: The Summer Games" directed and produced by  Jesse Zook Mann.
  In 2015, Morehouse founded the Morehouse Fencing Club) in New York, NY. It opened October 12.  The club has saber, foil, and épée programs. The club specializes in beginner fencers, both youth and adult. It also offers advanced classes for competitive sabre fencers. The classes are arranged by age and skill level. Morehouse hopes his club will
  create interest in the sport of fencing. As of right now, Tim Morehouse is the
  owner and head coach of the club. Melvin Rodriguez is also a coach at the club
  and Yitzy Frankel is the Club Manager. He believes the sport will bring
  benefits to more people around the United States, especially the youth.  He has had a few celebrities stop by, such as
  Project Runway's Tim Gunn, as well as NFL Star Steve Weatherford filming at
  the location for an episode of Spike TV's Playbook 360.
  Currently,
  Morehouse is attempting to improve the sport of fencing. One project he is
  working on new technology. On his Facebook page, he posted a video of him and
  another fencer demonstrating light up sabres. The lights are on the guard as
  well as on the wrist of the fencer. The problem Morehouse is trying to fix is
  for people watching the bout. They watch the fencers, then the scoring box, and
  then look at the director to see who made the touch. With this technology, it
  will be easier to see who got the touch. It will also be easier on the director,
  since the director can now focus on the fencers, rather than having to look
  back at the box to see the lights.
  He
  has made a prototype for foil as well, in hopes of having the sport to be
  wire-free, without wire jackets, as well as having as much of the technology of
  the weapons. For the foils, each weapon would have the lights, the lockout
  timing, and the ability to send data on the movements of the weapon. This data
  will include who is starting first and the accuracy of attacks. In the video, he shows that the weapons sync up wirelessly, and the jackets they are wearing have a magnetic layer underneath. When hit, there is a sound and the foil lights up green.
  Morehouse
  has also suggested new rules to sabre, making it more like tennis. One fencer would have priority and, after a "set" of four points, the priority is shifted
  to another fencer. The bouts would then go to 16, instead of 15, with a 2-point margin.
caption: President Barack Obama participates in a fencing demonstration with Tim Morehouse on the White House lawn
exif: {"Image ImageDescription": "President Barack Obama with First Lady Michelle and Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daly at the US Olympian Youth Sporting event on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, Wednesday, Sept. 16, 2009.  \n\n(Official White House Photo by Chuck Kennedy)", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "72", "Image YResolution": "72", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Adobe Photoshop CS4 Macintosh", "Image DateTime": "2009:09:16 18:03:58", "Image Artist": "Chuck Kennedy", "Image Copyright": "This official White House photograph is being made available for publication by news organizations and/or for personal use printing by the subject(s) of the photograph. The photograph may not be manipulated in any way or used in materials, advertisements, products, or promotions that in any way suggest approval or endorsement of the President, the First Family, or the White House.", "Image ExifOffset": "850", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "986", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "8226", "EXIF ColorSpace": "Uncalibrated", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "787", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "504"}