“Let the games begin” was on everyone’s mind this past summer as the Summer Olympics took place in Paris, France. For one local fencing coach, the games got their start early at the library’s Makerplace.
Arlington Heights resident R. Grant Carlton is the foil coach for Thundercats Fencing, a combined high school fencing team made up of students from the Libertyville and Vernon Hills high schools. In February 2024, two students from Carlton’s team qualified for the 2024 Junior Olympics and Parafencing North American Cup in Charlotte, North Carolina. But before they could compete in the Junior Olympics, which are the qualifying tournament for the USA Junior World Team, Carlton made sure to stop by the Makerplace.
“What I do is armory, and armory is a collective term for any and all repair and replacement of parts or building of fencing weapons,” Carlton said. He stops by the Makerplace on a weekly basis to ensure all his students’ equipment is in top condition. “[I make] sure that everything works by the time it reaches my student’s hand [in the] next practice.”
Carlton began using the Makerplace in October 2023, needing a quiet space to work without distraction. “[The Makerplace staff] instantly got me oriented on where I could go,” he said. “We found a place I could put a removable bench clamp, and that’s all I really needed, and we made it work.”
Carlton began fencing competitively when he was 11 years old, getting his start in Houston, Texas, then training internationally at Racing Club in Paris, at FC Tauberbishofsheim in Germany, and with the Russian National Team in St. Petersburg, Russia. He was awarded a scholarship to Penn State University’s fencing team, but his career was cut short due to a wrist injury. Some 20 years later, he moved to Arlington Heights, and that was when he found his way back into the world of fencing.
“My wife signed me up for a fencing program through the Arlington Heights Park District and they sniffed me out the moment I went out on guard,” Carlton said. The Illinois Fencing Academy, a national club located in Arlington Heights, works with the Park District. “I was put in touch with the LHS-VHHS Fencing Foundation, which offered me a position with the Thundercats. I couldn't refuse the team name."
When Carlton’s students qualified for the Junior Olympics, he used the Makerplace to get their equipment ready-to-go, repairing their blades beforehand.
Carlton has found the Makerplace’s open flex spaces to be most useful. The Makerplace has plenty of large worktables on wheels and seating to accommodate individuals and small groups. This is the place where makers can gather to work on projects they might not have room for at home, or where they can work alongside other makers in a true collaborative environment.
“It’s heated, it’s safe, there’s help on hand, there’s active facilities for handwashing that are everywhere and it’s something that I don’t have at home during the colder months,” he said. “Sometimes I’ve used it day in, day out, back-to-back days. It’s been invaluable.”
“The Junior Olympics is populated by the best fencers in the country. It is qualifiers for the world team, so we saw some of the best fencers under the age of 21 in the country and possibly the world at that event,” he said. “They did not make it out of the pool cutoffs to the direct elimination matches. But they had a wonderful time and they had so much fun watching some of the top-level fencers compete at the gold medal stage.”
Learn more about the Makerplace at ahml.info/makerplace.
