Maplewood youth fencer Woods excels at national tournament

Photo: Maplewood's Jack Woods, right, competing against Jack Cortizas, Y14 of the Boston Fencing Club, at the Capital Clash SYC in Washington, D.C.

The nation’s top youth fencers in all age divisions flocked to Washington D.C., recently to compete in the nation’s largest Super Youth Tournament ever, the Capitol Clash SYC and Cadet 2012.
Maplewood was heavily represented with The New Jersey Fencing Alliance, sending its elite fencers in all three weapons to compete against the country’s best to gain top level tournament experience.
Maplewood’s 10-year-old champion fencer, Jack Woods, proved why he is ranked No. 1 in the country in the Y10 foil, and No. 1 in both the Y10 and Y12 Men’s foil in New Jersey, and No. 3 in New Jersey in the Y14 Men’s foil, when he chose to compete in only the older age events and took down top-seeded fencers in all three of these older aged events.
Woods took third in the Y12 and fifth in the Y14 Men’s foil events, where a record number of more than 100  fencers competed in each of these events. Woods was one point shy of making history when, in the last 30 seconds of the final bout in the Y14 quarterfinal, lost 12-11, missing out on a “C” rating at 10 years old.
Woods, being the only 10-year old in the country to hold a “D” rating, and only one of two, in the U.S., qualified to compete against the 17-year-old cadet fencers, went on to display his phenomenal talent against the nation’s top cadets to win all his initial pool bouts and be seeded No. 3. Despite his age, small build and smaller weapon, he fought through the 12-hour marathon event to place ninth in the Y17 Cadet Men’s foil.
After three, long grueling days of fencing at this elite level, Woods said, “I can’t put into words the incredible feeling I get when I am fencing these big guys, who are such great fencers, and time is running out and I  know I am fencing for gold. I just love that feeling.”
Woods recently competed in the Salle Mauro Super Youth Circuit National Tournament in Houston, and was awarded fifth place in both the Y12 and Y14 Men’s Foil events. He took the bronze medal at the Junior Olympics qualifier Tournament held at Rutgers recently, making him the youngest to qualify. But due to school commitments, he will not be competing at the Junior Olympics this year.
Frank Mustilli, head coach and founder of NJFA, said, “We are all very proud of Jack, who really enjoys the challenge of competing at this high level to test his skills, and I am very proud of the achievement of all our elite fencers who were really challenged at this grueling, high level national tournament and were able to put in outstanding performances.”