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.