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!