A sport that was founded many years ago in the medieval times but is still popular in the modern day is fencing. This sport has been loved by lots of people during the generations, and in our school we have a very passionate fencer, Mr. Williams. He started this sport when he was at university, because it was his first real opportunity of actually participating to the sport he loved and still loves today.

After I  interviewed him, we can understand how a sport can be so important to an individual. “I loved the sport from before I’d even started.”, he told us. “I loved it more when I did!  Since the first session I’ve always tried to fence at every possible opportunity. Making friends through the sport and traveling to competitions, having opportunities to represent my university, my country (well countries, both N.Ireland and the Republic of Ireland), and my region in England (North West) make it much more exciting.  I have goals and friends to encourage me who all love the sport as much as I do.”

“I finished 42nd out of 50 I think!”, he continued. “Not good at all!  I had a brilliant experience at the tournament but unfortunately my head wasn’t in the right place on the morning of the event.  My distance and timing was poor and despite training really well the day before, I didn’t have the right level of focus to compete at my best.  My plan now is to get training again as soon as possible, improve technically and then compete on the international circuit next season for experience, then set new goals for the 2015-16 season in the summer. Definitely more training camps too!”

“My previous competition before this was the Northwest regional championships (England) in July, which I won for the 2nd year in a row.  I’m hoping if I win it again they will let me keep the trophy! The next Commonwealth Championships is in 4 years time.  I plan to get selected for N.Ireland again, but in the meantime, I have 3 seasons of trying to qualify to represent the Republic of Ireland in the European Championships.”

As we can see, the failures allow you to understand how many things you can achieve in life, and we must learn from our mistakes!

REMEMBER TO BE PASSIONATE ABOUT YOUR SPORT!