I fence for Great Britain and - although I'm provided with some funding from UK Sport, I am raising my profile with potential sponsors to enable me to continue training for London 2012. For the most part, I grew up in Chesterfield which may be why The Derbyshire Times have kindly asked me to become a "blogger" for them. What an honour! A fantastic opportunity and a chance to put myself in the public eye! But hang on - what is a blog?
Well, an early memory I have of the term "blogger" is the comedian, Josie Long, putting them into Room 101 on TV. As a recent graduate of Sociology from Manchester University, I have written essays and dissertations on new social media and discussed the benefits and drawbacks of the internet in public discussions. I've read journals outlining the irreversible changes the world wide web has foisted on society and future generations. I've debated whether networked computers have supplemented or substituted real life, but have I ever read a blog, joined internet debates or been on twitter? The answer is no. In the past I only ever visited three websites: hotmail, facebook and thetrainline.
So now I am in the real world, engaging with businesses and media and ... blogging. All to follow my dream of fencing in the London Olympics 2012. This blog will cover the trials and tribulations of training full-time at a professional level, and the excitements and perils of travelling around the world with my four foot long fencing bag and my trusty team mates.
My name is Hannah Lawrence and I went to Brookfield Community School in Chesterfield. I was part of almost all the school sports teams and at my happiest running cross country in the mud and rain (although of course I pretended to dread and detest it along with all my classmates and friends). When I was about fourteen a friend asked if I wanted to go to a fencing club in Wingerworth and I agreed. But to my surprise, Wingerworth Fencing Club introduced me to a sport which I found boring and irritating. It didn't seem to matter how strong or fit you were, your opponent could often slip away from your sword and hit you square in the chest, seemingly by chance. Of course I kept going because I am not a quitter and spent most of the Wednesday evenings messing around with my friends and hiding from the warm ups.
Over time, the friends I began fencing with dropped away but instead of losing interest too, this gave me a chance to fence some of the stronger men instead of my fellow-beginners. Now I could no longer use my strength and win through a general sense of hand-eye-coordination and fitness. I had no choice but to understand the game and interact with the concept of swordfighting on a whole new level. And as I improved and began to beat the men, the satisfaction of winning became so much more rewarding. To cut a long story short (as I have been advised to keep my first blog to around 500 words) I went to local competitions, then national competitions, built up my national ranking to make the British Team, and am now a solid member of the Great Britain Epee Senior Team and have competed in many world cups this season including the World and European Championships. I now live in London and train full-time with the aim of going to the London Olympics in a year and a half’s time.
A bit of a jump in time I know, but I will fill you in with the details throughout my blogs and until then you can follow me on twitter for regular updates of the here and now at HannahELawrence.
And there you have it - my first blog.
