Blog: 'Wheelchair fencing is such an adrenaline rush'
The English Federation of Disability Sport (EFDS) website features a blog post every Friday through the year.
In 2016 we’ll be taking a look at an A-Z of accessible sporting and fitness opportunities available to disabled people. This week it’s F for Fencing – Rebecca from Cornwall tells us why she is passionate about her wheelchair sport.
Rebecca’s blog:
People think that wheelchair fencing is a bit like jousting - you wheel up and down attacking your opponent with a sword. It’s not like that at all.
I'm Rebecca and I'm 14, my brother Dan is 17, and we live in Cornwall. We have quite a few conditions between us which means that we cannot fence as non-disabled people.
We’ve both been wheelchair fencing since 2013. We came to it as we were competitive swimmers, but due to our disabilities worsening we wanted another sport that we could do from a wheelchair.
Being based in Cornwall our choices were quite limited - wheelchair basketball, tennis and table tennis. They were never going to be an option for us as we are at high risk of dislocations, and moving a wheelchair quickly to take part in these could have caused problems.
We came across wheelchair fencing by accident, meeting another wheelchair fencer at a local visitor attraction. Within six months of starting we were asked to go along to train with the GB squad - Dan with the seniors and I also trained with them as a developing international athlete, as I was too young.
You sit in a specially made fencing wheelchair which is clamped into a fencing frame.
There are three classifications. Class A is for people who cannot compete as a non-disabled fencer and have good upper trunk control, such as certain amputees. For a Class B fencer, below the waist is affected but still they will still some upper body control – this might typically be someone who has had a spinal injury. And in Class C, all four limbs are affected.
We've both already achieved much more than we could imagine. I won a bronze in foil and silver in team foil at my first international in July 2015 at this was the Under 23s World Cup.
More recently I won gold and silver in sabre and épée at a competition against the French squad seniors.
Dan has won various medals including becoming Under 17 World Champion, and a bronze in the Worlds Under 23s.
"Wheelchair fencing is great fun and a great place to make friends"
We both train hard to get these achievements, and have great support from Truro Fencing Club and The Sabre Trust. We try and get to bimonthly training with the governing body, the British Disabled Fencing Association (BDFA), in Milton Keynes.
Our goal is to compete in Tokyo 2020, but with no funding available getting to all the Paralympic ranking competitions will make this virtually impossible.
Wheelchair fencing is great fun and a great place to make friends from all over the world. My advice is: try it! Find a fencing club that can accommodate disabled people and go along. You won't need any equipment of your own at this stage as the club should provide it.
Non-disabled fencers love sparring with wheelchair fencers, as not only is it different but it's great training for their hand/eye co-ordination as it's so fast. You'll never be short of a sparring partner.
Fencing has given me confidence, fitness, a determination and is a distraction from pain. I may be feeling awful before I get onto piste (the fencing area), but as soon as I'm sitting in my wheelchair waiting to start I am distracted from any pain I might be feeling. It's such an adrenaline rush.
Photo courtesy of Hannah Wright The British Disabled Fencing Association (BDFA) is the governing body for the Paralympic sport of Wheelchair Fencing in Britain. For more information, visit the website.
