Graham Maas is a young man on the move. On a nearly daily basis, the 13-year-old Plymouth boy does some combination of fencing, swimming, running and shooting pistols. On most Sundays, he does them all in an eight-hour session.
Graham’s mission is to master the four events that comprise the youth modern pentathlon. His sights are set on the Youth Olympic Games in 2018 in Buenos Aires, and he’s off to a solid start with a silver medal in the Youth C (ages 13–14) division at Youth Nationals in July in Colorado Springs, Colo.
This commitment started about 18 months ago, when he was stationary and watching the 2012 London games.
“I wasn’t entirely sure what to think about it, but I had done most of the sports in it, so I decided to give it a shot,” Graham says.
He started training full-time in 2013 after the Wayzata Central Middle School cross-country season was off his plate; he began shooting in January and took 3rd place at the Minnesota State Air Pistol Championship and in March, he started fencing.
As a member of the Boy Scouts and a runner since he was six, the combined event of running and shooting was his strongest at the start. He joined a swimming team coached by Tom Franke, a U.S. Paralympic coach, and began shooting with his pentathlon coach, Todd McIntyre, a regional director of USA Pentathlon.
McIntyre, who has been involved in the sport for about a decade, says Graham will continue to improve in the pool, but what separates him are his shooting and fencing skills.
“He is one of the best shooters in the country for his age,” says McIntyre, who has a stable of about six pentathlon athletes across the Twin Cities metro area. “Fencing-wise, he has two advantages. He is left-handed—it’s an unusual attacking position. The other thing about Graham is he has an incredibly fast hand. It’s almost like a rattlesnake. It is coiled and then it just snaps at you.”
The Olympic pentathlon includes riding—a.k.a. equestrian jumping—a discipline youth don’t compete in on a national/international level until they’re 19 years old. Graham plans to begin riding lessons within the year, McIntyre says.
“We’re not training one discipline, we are training six disciplines, all five individually, then all of them collectively,” McIntyre says.
Graham’s parents, Jackie and Brian, have to think collectively, too. “Who needs to get him to the next place at the next time?” Jackie says of the refrain she and Brian share about their son, who is also a straight-A student. “We only have one child, but it feels like three with how much we do.
“What we want to do is pushed aside for his greater goal,” she continues. “It’s a long-term commitment.”
What Is the Pentathlon?
The modern pentathlon—fencing, swimming, equestrian jumping, running and shooting—is the only event devised specifically for the Olympics.
It was designed to represent the abilities of a 19th century French cavalry officer during Napoleon’s rule and was introduced in the 1912 Stockholm Games.
The pentathlon’s five disciplines represent the five interlocking rings of the Olympic logo, McIntyre says.
Frenchman Pierre De Coubertin invented the event, and in a BBC quote, said it should “test a man’s moral qualities as much as his physical resources and skills, producing thereby the ideal, complete athlete.”
“In theory,” McIntyre adds, “the athlete that wins gold in the Olympic Games is considered the best athlete.”
Seasons of Life for 13-year-old Pentathlete Graham Maas
Fall: Graham runs cross-country for Wayzata Central Middle School. After weekday cross-country practices, he either swims or fences, returning home by 8:30 p.m. to do his homework. On Saturdays, he swims or fences, gets in a run and practices shooting at home with his laser competition pistol. On Sundays, he practices with his modern pentathlon coach, Todd McIntyre and other local modern pentathletes: 2 hours fencing, 2 hours swimming, 2 hours shooting at Bill’s Gun Shop and Range in Robbinsdale.
Winter: After cross-country ends, his primary sport becomes swimming on the Lifetime Fitness swim team. Sunday practice schedule continues: since he’s not running cross-country, he adds interval running workouts, such as 8 x 400 repeats with a 30 second rest.
Spring: Graham continues to swim, fence and shoot, but his primary sport becomes track at Wayzata Central Middle School.
Late Spring/Summer: Graham focuses primarily on regional and national modern pentathlon events. He also lays down his running base for the upcoming cross country season.
