After a hard fencing journey, Sophomore Richard Cobian earns his spot in the Junior Olympics after winning his first gold medal at the Junior Olympic Qualifiers. His love for saber fencing earned him a gold medal and a great opportunity to show off his amazing fencing skills to others in the next tournament.

Richard was inspired to start fencing by his mother and grandparents who were fencers in college. He began fencing when he was a fifth grader at West Coast Academy in El Monte. With the help of his four coaches, “I hope to get nationally ranked, win a national tournament, and hopefully go to the Olympics.” Richard said. 

In addition to fencing, Richard is also a member of Arroyo’s boys’ varsity cross-country and track and field teams. 

“Richard is a very hard working athlete. He is an amazing cross country runner, track runner, and I’m not shocked that he placed gold in his fencing tournament. I’m excited to see more of him and his progress in the future,” Cross country Coach Bryon Hake said.

Being an athlete can be challenging for some. Still, Richard has found a way to balance two sports with homework by organizing his schedule. 

“It’s really, really difficult to make sure everything is done because I do fencing, school, and school sports, and free time hours are super short.” he said. 

He dedicates approximately an hour and a half to get his school work done on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Despite having limited time after school due to his extracurricular activities, he uses his class time wisely by doing his homework. He believes that spending his time on homework during class can be good for him because then he could have time to relax and be ready for the next day. 

After qualifying for the Junior Olympics and winning a gold medal, “I felt good because I think I finally needed one after the few years I’ve been fencing. I’ve gotten a few others, 4 to be exact.” Richard said. 

With the hopes and dreams of continuing to fence, Richard is hopeful of his fencing future and is ecstatic to see what lies ahead for him.

 “I’m excited for the next following tournaments because this will be something new for me.”