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.