30 Fencing
Brixton Recreation Centre, London
Enjoyment - 55%
Success - 30%
Will try again - No
First timer’s recommendation – don’t go along to a Great Britain team training event on the hottest day of the year.
There was a heatwave in the middle of July, which coincided with a visit to the Brixton Recreation Centre to try my hand, literally, at fencing. This was a sport I had never tried at all in any form, and my only knowledge of it was that you somehow plugged yourself in so hits could be recognised. The session started with one of the best warm ups I had done for any sport, and what I needed most of all after that was to put on another couple of layers of clothing and a mask. I wore a protective layer over my top left side (a plastron) and then a jacket, and fed a cable through it and through a glove worn on my right hand. You then plug the cable into the epee (one of three forms of modern fencing, the other being foil and sabre), and the other end into a unit at the back of the rink.
In the late 19th century, fencing arose as a sport based on the traditional skills of swordmanship, and is one of only five activities which have been featured in every one of the modern Olympics, along with athletics, cycling, swimming and gymnastics. I was taught tha basic stance and moves by the coach and then had a couple of matches against members of the GB squad, who I know were going easy on me. It was one of the most intense sports I’ve played, and one where you can’t switch off for one second. It can be tactical, and there is a large amount of fitness and agility required, but apparently it the top levels of the team GB management still operate something like an old boys club, where the top-ranked fencers don’t always get selected for International events, which was a shame to hear, although the fact that a governing body of an Olympic sport is alledgedly corrupt is not exactly breaking news at the moment.