Andy Shaw interviews Jason Rogers in the Museum of American Fencing, March 2010
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Jason Rogers
Profile from FencingMedia.org
Athens Results: Individual - 25th, Team - 4th
Event: Men’s Sabre
Hometown: Los Angeles, Calif.
Height: 6-0
Weight: 185
Birthdate: April 14, 1983 (Houston, Texas)
School: Ohio State University ’05
Club: Fencing Alliance of Ohio / Los Angeles International Fencing Center
Coach: Vladimir Nazlymov / Daniel Costin
Career Highlights:Two-time NCAA Championships bronze medallist for Ohio State, in 2002 and 2003
Bronze, individual saber, 2003 Pan Am Games and member of Gold-medal U.S. team
8th, Senior “A” World Cup, Madrid, SPA, May 2003
"How I Started Fencing" Was introduced by a friend in elementary school who fenced recreationally with his father. “I began taking lessons in foil and was disinterested in the sport after about six months; however, after being introduced to Daniel Costin and switching to saber I was crazy about it. Within the year I began national youth competitions and the rest is history.”
Best Day: Reaching the top 16 at a World Cup in March in Plovdiv, BUL, beating Gianpiero Pastore of Italy (ranked No. 17) and cementing his spot on the 2004 Olympic Team. “There was so much pressure to perform, and I was able to weather it and knock it out. I didn’t let it get to me, which was hard for me in the past. I was able to be really vigilant about staying positive.”
Of Interest: Gave up being a self-professed “skater kid” for fencing and golf. Also enjoys DJ-ing, surfing (much safer than skateboarding and snowboarding), and basketball. Jason’s a leftie. He was the youngest U.S. man to achieve an “A” rating, at the age of 14, in 1997.
The Jason Rogers display at the Museum of American Fencing:
 Photo Credit: FencingPhotos.com
Jason Rogers is an impressive man. He is 6 feet tall, weighs 185 and looks like a winner. That is probably because he is. He is one sharp guy. Rogers moved to Brentwood from Houston when he was four and graduated from the Brentwood School in 2001. There he earned a 3.6+ grade-point average. He won the Bank of America Math and Science Award for being the top math and science student during his senior year. But wait, there’s more.  Now he has a Silver Medal from the Beijing Olympics that he won September 17. Meeting him is being in the presence of true personal achievement, real greatness. For him, success is overcoming everything else to be the best. Rogers is probably the Westside’s most eligible bachelor. He is drop-dead handsome with an easy grace about him that comes from having confidence in one’s abilities. His fencing story began at the Los Angeles International Fencing Center where he trained with Daniel Costin when he was 10. He started with foils, but within six months, he had fallen in love with the sabre. He was the youngest American man ever to achieve an 'A' rating at his sport at the age of 14 in 1997. Rogers competed in back-to-back Olympics. But last time, in Athens, his team finished fourth. After Athens, frustrated and disappointed, Rogers felt he needed a new dimension in his training. It took a lot of courage. That is when he came to Darlene Conte of Body by Pilates at the Brentwood Village. Conte agreed to co-sponsor his training. 'It was a total paradigm shift,' Rogers said. 'I woke up the next day and I knew I was working muscles I had never worked.' 'Elite athletes can feel everything. Every day is completely different from the day before. You are training at the highest level,' said Conte. 'He made me a better trainer. He raised the bar.' 'Within 6 months we had won the bronze at the Pan American games,' Rogers said. 'I felt leaner and more flexible.' Rogers stuck with the training for a year and then headed to HQ in New York to prepare for the 2008 games. We caught up with him when he returned home to visit with Conte after Beijing. 'It was the most emotional moment,' he said of his Beijing victory. 'Especially after we lost by one point to Russia. We had expended so much emotional energy that our reservoir was spent. It was surreal.' The future is up in the air. For now, he hasn’t had time to break from training for such things as dating. He would like to continue fencing. It is hard to get funding and there are no pro leagues. 'If I can finance the venture, I will do it. Or I will advance a career in another direction,' Rogers said. |