Parent Academy™ · Athlete feature
Khalil Thompson OLY
From Saturday morning classes his mom signed him up for, mostly so he would stop sitting on the sidelines while his older sister Kamali fenced, to Team USA’s men’s sabre squad as a Tokyo 2020 alternate.
Quick bio
Khalil started fencing at 9, trained in a dedicated New York City program alongside his sister, fenced collegiately at Penn State, and went on to make Team USA’s men’s sabre squad.
He and Kamali, also a national team fencer and now an orthopedic surgery resident, are one of the few sibling pairs, and few Black athletes, to reach that level in fencing together.
The story we are telling parents
Khalil’s path makes the case that the route to the best they can be rarely starts with a grand plan. He did not choose fencing. His mom enrolled him almost as childcare while his sister trained, and he spent his first cl...
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