Asda Athletes

Wow! It’s been a busy start to the new season. I’m now fencing in the under 20’s events and has also been selected to fence as part of the GB U20 squad, as a result of my results so far at selection competitions.

My first competition was The Bristol Open , which is a senior event and i made a good placing of 20th! This meant i was then selected for the GB U20 first international in Luxembourg, i was selected for this competition last year whilst still a cadet ( U17 fencer).
I have since competed in quiet a few more competitions both at senior and U20 level and one of my best results was in Gateshead where i came 3rd ! I have now been selected to be part of the U20 squad for the next two internationals and am currently sitting in about 4th-6th place in the national U 20 rankings, i’m currently waiting to see if i have moved up a place in the rankings following my 6th place win at the Allstar Cup another senior event this weekend. Not bad for my first real year competing at U20’s.

I would also like to thank Asda for my top-up grant that i received last week, this will go towards paying for my next U 20’s international competition to be held in Poland, 4 days before my 17th birthday !!

this summer was a very exciting one for all of us, firstly i was selected by the LOGC and British Fencing to be a Young Games Maker, this meant i was working at the olympic games , helping to look after the olympic fencers. i was on what is known as “field of play”, which saw me standing next to most of my fencing heros as they fenced. it was so amazing and really exciting. it made me want to train even harder and so when it was over i went down to Somerset and did three extra days of training with my coaches before my two pre- season training camps started. both were a hard week each but one was at my school in Somerset and the other was the National Academy pre-season training camp in Nottingham.

I also came into Asda at Roehampton and demonstrated fencing on two days during my summer holiday. on one day i fenced my old coaches son David Risley , he used to be in the GBR senior squad. and on the other day we demonstrated foil and epee with three of the coaches from my old club Kings wimbledon. we also held taster sessions for children to try out fencing , which went really well.

Thank you to everyone who helped on both days especially Reece Burnham hay my Asda co-ordinater.

This Tuesday (10th July) I am coming into the Roehampton store to give a fencing demonstration between 10am – 2pm and to do some fund raising . I’m really looking forward to this as I am going to be fencing Dave Risley ex GB olympic pathway program. His Dad was one of my first coaches and is an awesome coach. I will also be back in the store on Saturday 21st July to give another demonstration and a taster session, so if you want to come and have a go at the sport I love, don’t forget to put it in your diaries.

Yesterday I collected my Olympic Young Games Maker uniform, I am really excited to have been chosen by the London Olympic Commitee and British Fencing to be a “Young Games Maker” for Fencing, as they have only chosen 2 fencers from each weapon. I will be working at the Olympic Fencing events, helping the Olympic Fencers prior to and after their fights. I will be so close to all my olympic heros and I am really looking forward to be able to see them fence up close !!

Two weekends ago I was asked to take part in a Fencing demonstration by British Fencing at the Cutlers Livery Hall , as part of the “discover London weekend”. It was a really fun day but tiring as we fenced all day, apparently over 500 people came by and watched us.

I would also like to thank Wandswoth Council, have have topped up my sponsorship fund recently, this will go towards next season’s international trips.

Yesterday, I went to Asda in Roehampton who have sponsored me. I met Reece and he is my Community Life Champion and he was really nice. We have come up with a few ideas to fundraise which are hopefully going to be successful and fun.

I came back from training in Hungary on Sunday and I’m am so tired. However it was a really good week where i trained with a European Gold Medalist and sparred with some of the Hungarian national team. Now its back to revision because my GCSEs are coming up in three weeks :S !

This past week i went to the PSFC, this is a competition which all the public schools go to and compete in to win a huge amount of trophies. I travelled up with the school on monday night and arrived at our hotel in London.

We had to get up at 06:30 which was really early and I accompanied my team mates to Crystal Palace. I helped a couple of my team mates warm up and gave them lessons so that they were ready for their matches.

The PSFC is a three day competition where you can do all three weapons on separate days. My weapon, foil was on wednesday and I was really pumped for it.

After Europeans where I had not done as well as expected I really wanted to go out and fence my hardest. I started the first round of poules winning all five of my fights 5-0 and then had my second round of poules which i again won all my fights 5-0 so i was seeded first which meant that i had a nice route to the final.

I won my first fight 15-1 and then went through to the Last 32, I won this 15-7 and then went to the next round the L16 and then won 15-6. So far so good, i was fencing well and hadn’t been properly put under pressure.

I then watched the two fencers who i could be fencing in the L8. This was a close match and the victor won 15-11. I fenced the winner and i beat him 15-6. My team mate was fencing my next opponent in the L8 and lost 15-11. I was gutted for him because i knew how badly he wanted to win.

I was through the the semi-final and had to fence another fencer who knocked out my team mate. This was a close match as he was rather awkward left hander and i had to settle with a 12-7 victory. This didn’t phase me at all, even though i hadn’t won as easily as i had in the previous rounds.

I carried on with the same focus that i started off with and i went into the final with a clear head and was ready to do my best. I had another left hander who i have fenced in the final for the past three years and i won 15-7 which is a really good result and i am very happy to have won the boys foil for the third year in a row now and i have worlds next week which i look forward on competing at.

Thanks to all my coaches for their support …