Rice’s Hamza named men’s foil coach for Team USA

BY MOISEKAPENDA BOWER
Special to the Rice News

Had the moments immediately following his appointment as men’s foil coach for Team USA been filled with fanciful thoughts of Olympic glory, no one would have blamed Rice fencing coach Mauro Hamza. Such inclinations are completely natural.

	Rice fencing coach Mauro Hamza has been appointed as men’s foil coach for Team USA.

But with the 2009 Senior World Championships coming this month in Turkey and the Zonal Championships to follow next summer, Hamza could not afford to daydream. Qualifying for the 2012 Olympic Games in London requires commitment far greater than any effort previously spearheaded by Hamza.

”I don’t cross a hurdle until I reach it,” Hamza said. ”I know there is a lot of work that needs to be done, and that’s why it’s like a mile. Mile by mile until I get there.”

In July, Hamza was named one of six weapons coaches by US Fencing, each charged with the task of qualifying for and medaling at the 2012 Olympic Games. The national team appointment is the first for Hamza. He helped coach the U.S. junior/cadet national team to its first world championship in Poland in 2001 and served as coach of the Egyptian team at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, Greece.

That success validated Hamza in international coaching circles, but he views his current challenge in a different light. Developing the juniors into an international power required painstaking persistence, but achieving a similar level of notoriety on the senior circuit will test the will of everyone remotely affiliated with US Fencing.

”It’s a lot of work,” Hamza said. ”A lot of good work needs to be done in order to achieve a medal in the Senior World Championships and also the Olympic Games. Our team is a younger team. We’ve managed in the last couple of years to become No. 1 in the world as a junior (team), and last year we took the silver medal. That team is the same team I’m going to try to qualify for the Olympic Games. We have already instilled in them the culture to become an Olympic champion. So that’s why I’m saying the job is difficult to transfer them from a junior (team) to competing at a very high level. There is a good chance for us to do well.”

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has outlined a plan to get his team up to spec. He believes in blending physical training with mental reinforcement and video analysis. Many of his potential team members are young — either college seniors or recent graduates — so it is imperative they follow a strict regimen. Hamza senses a shift of perceptions internationally regarding US Fencing, thanks in part to the success of the junior team. No longer will Team USA be dismissively viewed as a perennial underdog, and with great expectations — inward and outward — come increased responsibilities.

Unlike with the junior team eight years ago, Hamza is not building from scratch.

”It’s a similar situation, but it needs a little more structure,” Hamza said. ”We have to structure it in a way that people start to know that we are becoming a powerhouse.

”So the job is even more difficult because when you come as an underdog no one knows who you are, but now when you are on the spot and everyone is looking for you, for sure (it is more challenging). We are on the spot now.”

The first challenge will come in Antalya, Turkey, at the Senior World Championships Sept. 30-Oct. 8. There, Hamza aims to improve his team’s international ranking while establishing those competitors transitioning from the junior team. From there, Hamza will lead the way through a series of competitions designed to prepare Team USA to challenge Italy, France, Japan, China, Poland, Germany and the British for supremacy in London. Only eight teams will qualify for the 2012 games, and with the clock winding down, Hamza is hard at work.

Hamza doesn’t know of any other way. Perhaps one day he can dream of triumph.

”I work 24/7 always thinking (of) excelling, enhancing, what can we do (and) how can we get rid of the weakness and increase our strengths,” Hamza said. ”Yes, it’s a joy. Actually, I will get the joy if we do well at the Olympic Games.

”This is very exciting for me because I know it is within reach.”