Claire Bennett GB Womens Foil Fencing 12/04 by Mind Performance Consultant | Blog Talk Radio

Claire Bennett GB Womens Foil Fencing 12/04 by Mind Performance Consultant Blog Talk Radio

Hi guys, check out my 'Sports Performance' radio interview with Chris Thomas at anytime on the link above. I talk fencing, focus and mindset. I really enjoyed the interview & I hope you do too. I talk a lot about my sport but also about breathing, relaxation, concentration techniques and the importance of 'staying in the present.' Let me know what you think and if you can relate to it! :-)

Olympic Test Event - Fencing

Yesterday, I went to the ExCel Centre for the very first time to support our GB Men’s foilists compete in our Olympic Test Event at the Olympic Fencing venue. Not only did it allow for the London 2012 Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games to test crucial aspects of it’s operations in preparation for next year’s Games but it also allowed the boys to get a feel of the venue and what it might be like to compete in front of a home crowd come August 2012.

The boys certainly stepped up to the plate with Team A winning Gold and Team B finishing 4th after an impressive day of fencing. Both British teams were clearly up for it, and fencing with guts, determination and every bit of passion that you’d expect to see at an Olympic Test Event. I felt so proud of them because I know how hard they have been training – we all have – and it’s about time they got the result they deserved. It’s a confidence boost and shows how strong we can really be. No question, fencing in front of a home crowd will spur and push our British Team to greater heights. As Richard Kruse said upon winning gold yesterday, crowd support will give us the ‘psychological edge.’ The boys know that they can do it now. They have felt what it could be like at the actual Games and now they can believe it. What a great dress-rehearsal for them.

Women’s Foil were also given a chance to visualise what it could be like in London 2012 with a backstage tour of the ExCel Fencing venue. It was nice to see Sir Clive Woodward around the venue too, the overall Performance Director for Team GB. It was interesting to hear about the logistics of the running of the fencing at the Olympic Games. We were shown where weapon check would take place, where the warm-up halls would be, we were led into the call room and then finally out into the main arena and onto the piste. While the Test Event offered just 500 spectator seats, at the Games 8,000 spectators will be watching each session.

I was chatting to our new Strength and Conditioning Coach, Rhys Ingram, about this last week and he said that there would be two crucial, land-mark events where the realisation of a home Olympic Games would really hit us. One being the Olympic Test Event and the other being NYE when 2011 turns into 2012 and we start writing 2012 in every date and finally get to speak about the Olympic Games in the present tense. He was absolutely right.

I can only speak for myself, but walking out from the call room and into the fencing hall made everything feel so real. I started imagining the crowds, the excitement, the competition and the honour of representing your country. This is what all these years of hard-work and dedication is all about.

I find it very difficult to describe the emotions that were flying around yesterday afternoon. It was an important event for all of our Olympic hopefuls and it made me feel very lucky that I am in a position to try to qualify for the Olympic Games in London. I want to make the most of the opportunity and make sure that nothing gets left in the tank.

These little reminders and reality-checks is what I believe, gives Team GB, the upper-hand in the lead up to the London 2012 Olympic Games.

Team 2012 Appearance

On Wednesday, my team-mate Sophie Troiano and I did an appearance at Lord’s Cricket Ground for Team 2012 presented by Visa. Team 2012 is the official support programme for British athletes. It aims to raise up to £25 million to support the coaching and training of the group of 1,200 athletes who will make up Team GB and Paralympics GB in London 2012.

Sophie and I kicked off a seminar for Team 2012 with a fencing demonstration in the pavilion at Lord’s. We then got up on stage for a quick interview about our training, our life as athletes and our ambitions for 2012.

We had a great morning at Lord’s and want to thank Team 2012 for all their support! We even managed to bump into the official team GB mascots Wenlock and Mandeville who were on great form! Check out the photographs of our encounter above.

Nintendo Launch Party: The Legend of Zelda Skyward Sword

Back in September I agreed to do a fencing demonstration and run a ‘Go Fence’ session at the launch of the new highly anticipated Zelda sequel for the Nintendo wii. I’m glad I did.

Last Thursday I entered the gaming world for the very first time, or should I say Zelda’s Universe? Either way, I was impressed and completely taken in by the whole experience.

The event was held in South Kensington in a recently renovated Victorian building. It looked magical and every bit the enchanted world. The stairwell leading up to the launch was covered in foliage and fairy lights while green lighting set a mystical tone for the evening.

Liz Ng and I set up the new white ‘smart’ piste that Leon Paul had kindly lent us for the event which looked brilliant, and very, well... smart. We fenced in front of a hand-full of gaming journalists and took to the floor to teach some of them the basics of fencing with ‘Go Fence’ equipment. I think they really enjoyed it and one chap even tweeted afterwards to say: “Huge, huge thanks for showing me how to fence with a foil and live every worker’s dream by fighting my boss to the death.” Not literally obviously, but needless to say, fencing with ‘Go Fence’ at events like these is a fantastic way of bringing a group together and having fun at the same time. It went down a storm.

After our demonstration and a promotional photo-shoot for Nintendo we were allowed to take to one of the wii gaming pods set up especially for the event. I was honoured to be handed a limited edition gold wii-mote to play Skyward Sword but, sadly, my attempt was less than gold.

I was frantically swinging my wii-mote around in a vain attempt to fence my way to victory. Not my finest hour. Smaller, more contained wrist actions would have probably sufficed.

Despite my frenzied attempt, I really enjoyed playing Skyward Sword and the sword fighting scenes were impressively realistic. The wii-mote was very responsive and I really felt involved in the action. It was fun!

Thank-you Nintendo for inviting us to help launch ‘The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword.’ It was a wonderful introduction to the gaming world and a special evening for everyone involved. A big thank-you goes to Leon Paul for supplying the equipment and helping the evening come to life.

I will post some official photographs of the event soon so watch this space.

The Legend of Zelda Skyward Sword is available to buy on 18th November 2011.

Metro Images - check out a photograph from last night's launch of the new Legend of Zelda Skyward Sword Nintendo game

News photos Claire Bennett (left) and Liz Ng of the Senior British Fencing team spar against each other at the launch of the new Legend of Zelda Skyward Sword video game for the Nintendo Wii in London.

New Video Blog

Check out my new WinkBall video diary that I shot a few weeks ago. I talk about what I like to do in my down time, my family and my sponsors. Click on the link below:

http://www.winkball.com/blogs/MTb7mE9jtlHG/claire-bennett-team-gb

Thanks for watching guys!

"The golden opportunity you are seeking is in yourself. Not in your environment; not in luck or chance; or the help of others; it is in youself alone"

Hello again! Forgive me, but it has been a rather long time since I last updated my blog. As usual, these last few months have been very full. There have been highs, and some lows, but in general, it has been a very positive and rewarding time.

Since my last blog, I went on from Shanghai to compete in our second Olympic qualifier in Seoul where I achieved my season’s best result. This result meant a lot to me. I knew that my preparation had been challenged due to an injury earlier in the year but I was determined to make the best of it and focus on what I had set out in my mind to achieve. I ended up reaching the last 32 of the competition and knocking out Ikehata (Japan) 15-14 after being 14-12 down. Like I said in my last blog, being out with an injury focuses your mind. I came back motivated, enthused and so happy to be back and performing on the World stage.

Next stop was St. Petersburg for the final World Cup of the season before the European Championships in Sheffield. Did anyone see the recent coverage of the European’s on Sky Sports 4? I don’t have Sky but I was told that it was a good two hour’s worth of coverage which is fantastic news. Unfortunately my performance at the European Championships was below par, I learnt a great deal from the experience, and now I face hard work in the coming months to ensure that it doesn’t happen again.

If I had thought that the first three years of the Olympic cycle were tough going, the current Olympic qualifying period is proving to be even tougher with the realisation that everything that you do in training, in competition and whilst resting can ultimately make a difference between qualification or disappointment. The difference between success and failure is very slight. Preparation is paramount and with under a year left until the Olympic Games in London, I am committed to leaving nothing to chance. I want to give this my very best shot and have no regrets.

I am delighted to announce that my preparations have been boosted by the Women’s Foil team selection for the World Class Performance Programme. We have started a new training programme which has been going very well and I am looking forward to competing again going forward.

Thank-you for reading and I will write again soon, I promise!

Shanghai 2011

So what’s happened since my last blog? Shanghai, fortunately.

The aim was to come back fit and strong enough to fence in Shanghai. And so I was feeling pretty happy and relieved to be sitting on my BA flight to China.

Shanghai was a positive trip in a number of ways.

Although I did not achieve a result, I fought hard and was one hit away from getting through the poules. I have come a long way since I injured my foot on 1st March and being back in Shanghai for the start of the Olympic qualifying season has been a massive boost.

This competition has given me the confidence that I need to push on for the result that I want in the next qualifying event. Indeed, I am off to Seoul tomorrow to compete in another Grand Prix competition and I can’t wait to get back out there again.

Now that I am back, my aim is to come back stronger from my injury. I am so happy that I’ve got to a point where I am back, fit and more determined than before. Now I need to push on and get some more results!

I really enjoyed being out in Shanghai this year. We had 5 days of acclimatisation before the competition and we made use of those days to train and do a bit of sight-seeing in an afternoon off. We went to some beautiful botanical gardens called ‘Yu Garden’ and walked around the markets. I brought back lots of delicious jasmine and Chinese teas. I love a good cup of tea!

In general, we ate very well out in Shanghai though I discovered that even after three trips to China; I could still get it very wrong. One evening I ordered Peking duck and I was feeling pretty smug when the waitress brought out a whole duck to carve in front of the table. I was amazed to see the meticulous effort the lady put in to removing the skin from the duck, but to my horror, I was even more amazed to see her wrap the skin up into six pancakes and cart away my duck back into the kitchen! Skin is a delicacy in China you see. So my Peking duck turned into six duck skin pancakes and we all had a laugh!

The finals of the fencing competition took place in a shopping mall just five minutes down the road from our hotel. I thought it was a good way of bringing fencing to the people and the finals were shown live on a screen attached to the outside of the mall. It looked great and lots of passers-by were stopping to have a look. Check out a photo of it attached to this blog.

Thank-you for reading and see you in Seoul!

Fantastic new music video featuring fencing. Not to be missed! TWO SPOT GOBI - 'Simon's Song (Alright)'

Inspired to Perform - Team GB by adidas by Stella McCartney. Awesome new video - the excitment is building!

Road to recovery

Five weeks ago today I injured my foot in a training camp in Poland. Although healing, I am still tending to my foot. At the time, I told myself that is was nothing, and I was adamant that I was going to fence in a World Cup in Turin less than two weeks after my injury. It’s funny how your brain can convince yourself of anything if you want it badly enough.

Since then I have had to withdraw from another World Cup competition in Budapest and that was tough. I have been very lucky with injuries in my career. I’ve only had niggles and certainly nothing that would ever force me to have to withdraw from a competition.

What have I learnt from this experience?

Fencing for Great Britain can be stressful at times and tough to deal with but I know now that it isn’t half as painful as not fencing for your country. Sitting at home and watching the results online was not fun. I wanted so badly to be a part of the action and consolidate on my previous performances.

These are just some of the frustrations, but believe it or not, there are some definite upsides to injury.

First, you discover who your real support team are. I have had so much support from my physio’s, doctor, coaches, friends and family. Second, it allows you the chance to fine-tune and train certain aspects of your technique that you might not have had the chance to address in the past. Third, and I believe this to be the most crucial point, you miss it. Being out with an injury gives you that extra bite and motivation to come back stronger. You want to make the most of every competition and opportunity that comes your way.

So while I’ve been out of competitive fencing for the past month or so, I am yet to take my foot off the accelerator. My non-injured foot that is.

I have been having standing (static) fencing lessons most days and have consistently been hitting a fencing target. Hit, hit, hit. Slow and then fast. Fast and then slow. You get the idea. I have been improving my parries in my lessons and getting my hits on at close quarters which has been fun!

Thanks to my recent sponsorship from Balance Physio, I have been doing a great deal of cross training and strength and conditioning as well as finding new and fun ways to minimise muscle loss during my rehab period. One of those being the ‘War Machine’ - also less scarily known as the ‘CrossCore.’ ‘War machine’ sounds harder though so I’ll continue to use that.

It is in fact a suspended pulley training system which was initially created for the military, elite athletes and trainers but is now open big time to the public. Check out a couple of photos of me doing various exercises on it in this blog. I cannot recommend it enough. The constant rotational movement of the pulley system means that I have to engage my muscles, particularly my core, twice as hard to keep it steady and stable. Resistance for most exercises can be increased or decreased according to your level and I had fun suspending my feet in different ways, taking the weight off my foot when I wanted to do exercises that would involve using my feet. It is hard work but so rewarding. My muscles feel strong and conditioned after a session on the War Machine and it definitely gets my heart rate going.

The other very exciting piece of machinery that I have been using is called the Alter-G or G-trainer. There are few available in the country and I am lucky to have one right on my doorstep at Balance Physio in Clapham.

It is an anti-gravity treadmill often used for patients recovering from injury or surgery. It is a revolutionary piece of equipment. I am told that marathon runners also use it to help with their training as it takes the weight of their joints and can help them run for longer periods of time.

The first time I took to one, I was told to put on the rather fetching pair of lycra shorts that come with the machine. These zip you into an air-tight chamber surrounding the treadmill and once the machine registers your weight it blows up to whatever amount of weight you require off your feet. I opted to train at just 30% of my body weight. 20% apparently equates to the same feeling you get from walking on the moon. It was fun. I jumped (or should I say floated) from one leg to the other (in my air cast boot) and it felt great to give my quads and calves a work out. Yesterday I actually zipped myself into the machine backwards and managed to do some fencing footwork and lunges. Next time I’m going to bring in my foil and simulate visualising a proper fight whilst I do my footwork on the machine. I’m going to look crazy.

My boxing trainer has also been strapping weights on to my ankles and we have been doing leg strengthening exercises from sitting down as well as plenty of upper body circuits. He always has new and exciting ideas up his sleeve and it has made my rehab period more fun and bearable.

Apart from that, I have been reading lots, keeping my spirits up and feeding myself positive thoughts.

I intend to be back to fitness in time for the Asian tour in Shanghai which kicks off at the beginning of May.

I know there will be challenges to overcome over the next few months but who said it was going to be easy? Nothing worthwhile is ever easy.

Which sport will you watch at the Olympics?

Now that Olympic tickets have been on sale since Tuesday 15th March, you’ve had the time to think about which tickets you might like to buy. Here is my guide to buying (fencing) tickets.

Biased, me? Never.

Ticket prices for the London 2012 Olympic Games range from £20.12 to £2,012 – see what they’ve done there? There are 8.8 million tickets up for grabs and 2.5 million of those tickets are priced at £20 or less.

In athletics, the men and women’s 100m final will cost you a hefty £725 per ticket and in diving the 10m final for men and women will cost a surprising £450, whereas the fencing finals will cost just £95. I say ‘just’, but in comparison to many other Olympic sports, fencing is one of the sports which I believe to be good value for money.

See where I am going here? I know I am blatantly biased towards fencing, but I do believe that the Olympics is a great opportunity for you to see sports that you might never get the chance to see outside of the Olympic Games. I will always be a great supporter of minority sports, coming from one myself, and this is our one day to shine.

I believe fencing can be spectator-friendly. It will need knowledgeable commentators and enthusiasts to sell the sport during the Olympic Games. But ultimately it will be about enjoying the atmosphere, the tension, the passion and the sheer determination of our Olympic fencers battling it out to be the best.

I do not believe you need to be a fencing expert to enjoy the sport. There are many sports that I watch where I have little understanding of what is going on but I can still appreciate them. Fencing is fast, challenging, gripping and a combat sport. Many people can relate to that.

As an athlete striving to make the Games, I wouldn’t want to tempt fate and buys tickets a whole year in advance. I am glad the London 2012 Olympics organising committee has reserved a pool of 70,000 tickets for qualified athletes.

Athletes will be allowed to buy one to two tickets each from this pool. I believe one to two tickets is an absolute minimum. If I did qualify, I would buy these tickets for my parents who have supported me both emotionally and financially since I started fencing at the age of ten.

I am glad that a ticketing strategy has been introduced to help ensure athletes get the chance to purchase at least one ticket – even if I’d like to push for more. It may sound trite but without the athletes there would be no Olympic Games in the first place.

Ticket allocation should be transparent and fair. Hopefully this will be the case at London 2012. Lord Coe believes that it will be “the daddy of all ticket strategies.” I hope so too because unless enough fair priced tickets are allocated to sports enthusiasts, they will not be seen as the Games of the people but the Games of money and big corporations at a time when the city is under the spotlight.

Surely the Games should be more about Great Britain and her athletes and less about corporate entities who may buy up large quantities of tickets, and not use them. It would be a travesty to see empty seats. Let there be no repeat of the sea of empty seats that were visible at the Commonwealth Games in Delhi.

Crowd support can take you to the next level and can make the difference between success and failure. Its power should not be under-estimated.

So get buying and support our Great Britain athletes in London 2012. And if in doubt, fencing is always a good one to go for. Honest.

2011 in full swing

I seem to have had another little drought in my personal blog writing. Sorry about that. Time flies and already so much has happened since the last time I blogged. I have been a busy bee and I’ve enjoyed every minute of it.

Has anyone been following my new Daily Telegraph blog? Here is my latest one: http://bit.ly/gbO5M5 I am very excited to be blogging for the Daily Telegraph. I have really enjoyed it to date and I hope to blog much more regularly in the lead up to London 2012. These are exciting times and I hope that I can capture the moment as much as possible in my writing.

Without wanting to repeat myself, in January I did some pre-season training at Poland’s brand new national training centre for foil in Gdansk. The facilities are incredible and the training was great. Every day I saw very young children taking group fencing classes at the national training centre. They have access to world-class facilities from such an early age and have a system set in place that will turn, some of them, into world-class athletes.

Indeed, I have just come back from yet another training camp in Gdansk last week and while searching for a tap to fill up my water bottle, I discovered an entire separate building devoted to classrooms, nurseries and educating these young children while allowing them to train and to fence.

This genuinely took me by surprise. Of course I have been to sporting institutions where they mix both academia and high-level sport together but these have always been big multi-sporting institutions. The fencing centre in Gdansk is entirely devoted to fencing and even more specifically, to foil. I think it is great.

Unfortunately for me, last week’s training camp in Gdansk came to an abrupt end when I injured my foot while landing badly in a strength and conditioning exercise. As I said in my Daily Telegraph blog, injury is an athlete’s nightmare. You’d be surprised how tender and sensitive the tendons and ligaments are in your foot but I hope to be back to fighting form as soon as possible.

I’d like to thank all the Polish staff and athletes alike who were so helpful, supportive and generous in their dealings with me after my injury occurred. They were fantastic and made a difficult situation a whole lot easier. Thank-you.

I’d also like to thank Balance Physio who have recently started supporting me. They are a top sports injury and physio clinic based in Clapham, South London. I am sure that with their help, I will be back fighting sooner than later. I have absolute faith in the people who look after me and this little test will only make me come back stronger.

On a much happier and positive note, in February I visited St. Benedict’s School in Ealing where I gave two assemblies on ‘Going for Goals’ and took some fencing ‘master-classes.’ It was a privilege and inspiring to see such passion and enthusiasm in the children. I met some bright young fencing stars with so much potential. St. Benedict’s should be very proud of their fencing set-up. Schools are an important recruiting ground for fencing and there seems to be a lot of young fencing enthusiasts at St. Benedict’s. It is wonderful to see. Indeed it was at school where my passion for fencing was ignited. I wish them all the very best of luck in their fencing pursuits, it was a pleasure meeting you all. Onwards and upwards!

Finally, the European tour comes to an end at the end of March and after a rest in April we move on to China and South Korea for the Asian leg of the circuit. I am looking forward to sharing with you, the ups and downs of the next stage of what is Olympic qualifying year.

Fencing demonstration at the Daily Telegraph

I was thrilled when, during my work experience at the Daily Telegraph in November, I was asked if I would be happy to put-on a fencing demonstration for an Olympic seminar that they were hosting in January. It was another wonderful opportunity to showcase our sport and get everyone excited and thinking about the London Olympic Games.

BBC sports television presenter Sue Thearle hosted the event and did a magnificent job. After the seminar had ended it was British Fencing’s turn to take the stage. Sue interviewed Karim Bashir (commentator for the event), Susannah Wesley (referee) and Piers Martin before standing back to allow Liz Ng and myself fight it out to 10 hits. Being quite a small and intimate venue, the audience were able to feel a unique sense of involvement and engagement during the demonstration. I was more worried about taking out a light but fortunately Liz and I managed to contain our actions and nothing was broken!

After the demonstration, it was myself and Liz’s turn to take the stage for our interview. It was nice to be able to share with the audience our hopes and dreams for 2012 and beyond. Sue asked me where I was and how I felt when it was announced that London was to host the 2012 Olympic Games. This question stirred in me, all kind of emotions. I remember the day clearly. I was out and had just finished checking my equipment for an upcoming competition. I rushed to the nearest pub to find out who had won the bid. When the result was announced, I remember having tears in my eyes because I knew exactly how much it would mean not only to me, but to sport in this country. That day was over six years ago (can you believe!) and with the excitement building up around the Games, I cannot wait to see what will happen over the next 18 months. What were you doing the day the Olympic bid was announced? Leave me a comment and let me know!

It was great to hear such positive feedback after the demonstration and hopefully we helped generate even more Olympic excitement in the Daily Telegraph offices.

I’d like to personally thank Piers Martin, Karim Bashir, Susannah Wesley and Liz Ng for their help, and for making the demonstration run so successfully. I’d also like to thank Sue Thearle and The Daily Telegraph for being so welcoming and accommodating. A special thank-you must also go to Leon Paul for supplying the equipment for the demonstration, it made for an excellent back-drop!

All in all, it was a fab evening!

The event was streamed live on Telegraph TV. You can check out the highlights as soon as they get posted up on the Daily Telegraph Olympic business website. I will keep you informed!

Thank-you Beazley & Getty Images for these photographs taken of me at the Beazley launch.

I was told to look seriously/fiercely into the camera for the second picture. Not quite sure I pulled it off. *must practice game-face*

Thank-you Beazley

Just over a week ago British Fencing proudly announced the launch of its 5 year principal sponsorship arrangement with Beazley insurance. It was such a wonderful day for British Fencing and its athletes alike. Beazley’s sponsorship and support of British Fencing will make such a difference to our sport, and will help build sustainable development and success up to and beyond the London Olympic Games.

In my opinion, sports can only effectively be developed from the ground up, and it is only by establishing sponsorship at grass roots level that the elite athletes of tomorrow can be encouraged and nurtured. Pouring money into a sport at the top might work for a while, but this will not allow a sport to properly grow in the long term.

Beazley will be supporting elite athletes and Great Britain teams (including Paralympic hopefuls) as well as the sport at grassroots level, amongst other things.

So thank-you, Beazley, for your support. I am excited by the huge difference your investment will make to fencing in this country.

The actual day of the launch was a fantastic one. We started off the day at Beazley’s offices, giving demonstrations, explaining the basic rules of fencing and giving interviews. There was a great buzz in the office and I was thrilled to see so many employees wanting to give fencing a go with the plastic swords! It was also a good opportunity to ‘skewer’ a colleague. All good fun.

In the evening we moved on to the iconic and impressive building of Lloyds of London. We set up a piste in the middle of the trading floor and our fencers descended atmospherically from the moving zig-zag escalators to a very dramatic (& loud!) intro song. It was a fantastic demonstration and a great end to a great day.

For up-to-date information on British Fencing’s new partnership with Beazley insurance and athlete info and results, check out this fantastic new website: http://www.beazleybritishfencing.com/

Fencing Sporting Challenge - Chris Evans Breakfast Show BBC Radio 2 - Just in case you missed it!

Just do it!

Hi All,

Can I start off by wishing you all a very happy New Year! I hope you had a wonderful and restful break over Christmas and I wish you all, health, happiness and much success in whatever you endeavour to do. Here is to a great 2011. For all of us!

Back in October, I wrote a blog on ‘The Secret’ a book full of inspirational teachings and something I had been meaning to read for a long time. This book has elicited many responses from the good, to the bad, to the downright cynical. In response to my blog and analysis of ‘The Secret,’ a very generous and insightful Jon Rhodes wrote the following:

“Firstly, your writing style is excellent and I wish you all the best with your fencing and journalist pursuits.

In response to the blog: I read The Secret 4 years ago and was initially impressed. The “Law of Attraction” is an excellent way of perceiving the world, working on Quantum levels that pull or push people, aligning us to a common goal. This blog is an example of this “Law”, you wrote the blog, I read the blog due to my interests and now I am writing a comment!

In my experience this book requires some modification. Perhaps the new chapter should be called “The Law of Unattraction”.

Before I explain my critical chapter, I work as a sport performance consultant and have had the opportunity to work at the top end of Sports Psychology and Life Coaching with coaches/athletes working in a variety of professional sports…and fencing!

Perhaps I want to become the best Foilist in the world. I send my Quantum signals out and they are received by coaches, fencers, family…who all align to help me achieve my goal. Brilliant! But there are people who don’t want you to achieve your goal or people who don’t care about your goal – what happens to them? My view is that you need these people. These people will provide the balance (perhaps Rhoda Byrne will name it the Quasi Universe Continuum or the Seesaw Effect!?!).

I worked with a football manager who lived by the Law of Attraction. He would suggest outrageous training for the squad then inform them that if they didn’t do it “your not aligned to MY Law of Attraction!!” and members of the team would be dropped. He gave the metaphor of a Bus. He was the driver and he picked up passengers to help him get to his destination. If you couldn’t help him you were off the bus because you were no use! Needless to say, eventually after many months of riding the bus in circles, I reached my stop and a couple of months later the organisation sacked the bus driver.

In summary, you need people who aren’t aligned to you because these people will be critical and often push you further.

Although fencing is an individual sport, you can only train with another fencer/coach so theoretically fencing is a team sport!

I would direct you (and blog readers) to Belbin’s team roles to discover your personality traits and how to work effectively within a group. Furthermore, NLP is an interesting area heavily used in Life Coaching and Sports Psychology which may benefit performance parameters such as presence on the piste.

Finally, the real secret is what makes Anthony Robbins, along with all the other platinum selling personalities working in “Life Coaching” popular; the “power” of now…or as Nike say – “Just do it”.”

Jon, I hope you don’t mind me sharing your comment on my blog (for some reason, it hasn’t uploaded onto my comments section). But I thought it would be really useful and interesting to share this with my fellow fencers, athletes and bloggers alike.

Jon’s proposal of the ‘Law of Unattraction’ is an interesting one. I too agree that everybody needs criticism at some point in their career, albeit perhaps not in excessive amounts! As much as you need to gravitate towards people who are good for you, who will pull for you and push for you to succeed, you also need someone who will point out your weaknesses, probe you and spur you on to prove them wrong. These people may push you to your limits, but they prepare you, and ultimately empower you, ready to go on. Equally, I believe you should always welcome your fiercest opponent, the better your opponent, the better you have to be.

As for Jon’s final comment on the “power” of the “now” or as Nike say – “Just do it”...this is my New Year’s resolution! To remain in the present and not to worry about what has happened or what will happen. And, of course, to enjoy the moment.

So thank-you Jon for your insight and for sharing your thoughts on ‘The Secret,’ it is very much appreciated and welcomed by myself and many others, I am sure.