End of the road, London 2012

You may have heard the news today of the selection of the British Olympic fencing team. Unfortunately I have to confirm that I have not been selected to represent Team GB at the London Olympic Games.

The hardest part of all is telling your friends, family and support team that you have not made it.

I have had such great support from so many of you in this four-year Olympic cycle, and I wish I could give you better news.

Despite this huge disappointment, I have enjoyed the journey, and all of the hard work and sacrifice has been worth it. I have learnt so much about myself, and what it takes to be the best at elite level.

I have dreamt of going to the Olympics ever since I was a little girl but I have felt some peace in the knowledge that at all times I gave it 100%. I tried my absolute hardest, and there can be no regrets.

I am writing this blog really, as a big thank-you to my sponsors and support team, who have been so supportive and encouraging to me over the last few years. You know who you are. I will write to you all personally as soon as I can.

I always felt very lucky to have had such a great team of people around me, my family and friends included, and there is no way I could have even got this far without your backing. So thank-you, so much. 

I wish my teammates and all of the British fencers selected for the Olympic Games much luck this summer. We have trained and worked so hard for this and I genuinely hope that we get the results we deserve.

Poetry and Sport

Apparently Camus was an excellent football player and Beckett loved cricket. Poetry and sport. You wouldn't necessarily put the two together. Until now.

I'm off to check out an Olympic-inspired event celebrating the union of poetry and sport on Monday 11th June at King's Place. The event will be hosted by Clare Balding and will feature Olympic legends Edwin Moses, Tanni Grey Thopmson, Chris Holmes and Laura Badea. They will be sharing their Olympic stories and reading poems about sporting excellence from the book 'Winning Words' which will be launched at the event.

I'm particularly excited to listen to Laura Badea, former Romanian Olympic champion for individual foil at the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games. I'm sure she has some great fencing stories to tell and I could definitely learn a thing or two from her!

It is set to be a wonderful evening. I am sure it will be very inspiring and I am looking forward to listening to this unique mix of sport and poetry. I often turn to words for inspiration, and sometimes poems, but rarely do I read poems about sport and great sporting endeavour. It will be an interesting evening and I hope that some of you can join me - sporting and fencing fans alike!

More info about the event and how to buy tickets can be found here: http://www.poetinthecity.co.uk/events/136

Don't miss out!

StreetGames, Millwall Community Project

I am delighted to say that I have recently joined StreetGames as an ambassador. StreetGames is a sports charity that brings sport to the doorstep of young people in disadvantaged communities across the UK.

It is something I was keen to get involved in not least because I believe that participation in sport can have a hugely positive impact on a young person’s life, but also because I thought it a great opportunity to bring fencing to the community; a sport that is often wrongly perceived as elitist, expensive and inaccessible.

So on a rare day off on Thursday 29^th March, I went to Millwall on a beautiful sunny day to visit a fantastic group of young people. The day got off to a great start with the official hand over of kit. Thanks to access to a Coca-Cola bursary it meant that four StreetGames projects were provided with Leon Paul starter ‘Go-Fence’ kits and coaching.

The group was great, full of energy, eager to learn and ready to battle it out! Fencing is a sport that most of the group had never associated with or come into contact with and so it was nice to see it connect so well. The young people were engaged from start to finish and a pleasure to coach. I saw some definite talent in the group and I hope that it will inspire some of them to take up fencing in the future. Either way, a lot of fun was had and I enjoyed seeing the smiles on their faces.

Sport has the ability to bring together people of all ages and walks of life. Sport can be the glue that brings together and develops young people in the community and StreetGames does exactly that.

I am really proud to be a part of StreetGames and I’m looking forward to working with young people in their communities around the country. It is something I’d like to become more involved in when I finish fencing and I have more time to give.

On a side note, I also had great fun with Paul Cockerton from the Daily Mirror. I gave him a fencing lesson which was filmed and will hopefully be up on their website soon. I’ll keep you posted. He was quite the Errol Flynn! 

BF Video - Claire Bennett Quick Fire Interview - fun interview!

http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/09032012/58/london-2012-fencers-face-gruelling-schedule.html

Check out what I have to say about fencing! London 2012 Olympic Guide: Fencing | Mancunian Matters

London 2012 Olympic Guide: Fencing | Mancunian Matters

Claire Bennett Team GB Fencer tries the CrossCore 180 with Andy "IronMac...