Viking_Yearbook_78

26 Training is very important to fencing. These photos show Mike teaching his class on fencing. olds, which gives him an edge over all the other competi– tors for 1980. "I'll hit my prime," he said. " I'll be faster, stronger, and keener than I am now." Mike freely attributes his success to his coach and personal friend Yves Auriol, PSU fencing instructor. Yves graduated with top honors from the French National Insti– tute of Sports and is one of the two fencing masters residing in Oregon . Although Mike was offered scholarships from schools all around the nation, he chose Portland becausE " Yves is here-and to find a better coach is a million to onE shot. Without him I would have never realized my poten– tial. " Mike's biggest ambition-other than participating in the 1980, 1984, and 1988 Olympics and then " retiring at the ripe old age of 33" - is to move to France and attend the French National Institute of Sports. " With a little luck I can become a fencing master. It is one of the most prestigious titles one can hold , except for winning the Olympic championship." Lack of funding is proving to be a foe far more elusive to Mike than his competitors. In order for him to maintain his national rating he must ~eep to-and finance-a schedule of tournaments that take him from California to New York and from France to Germany to Russia. Dropping this schedule could cost him valuable points that might ul– timately exclude him from the U.S. fencing squad . He has received partial support from subsidies courtesy of the National Olympic Committee and from private organizations such as parents and friends. Though PSU recognizes Mike's outstanding talent, sources of funding are,limited. He is currently a member of the varsity fencing team and the fencing club, but still does not receive enough funding to enable him to compete as he should to become a world competitor for national cham– pion. But money has never been a prime concern to Mike. " I once thought if I put this same amount of time into tennis I could have been rich ," he said. " But being rich isn 't the only pleasure in life, so I can't say I regret it."