About a year ago I wrote a Hub title "My Sport - My Comeback" where I talked about returning to the sport of fencing after some 15 years away from it.  At the end of the that Hub I said I was off to France to compete in the Veteran World Fencing Championships......

This is what has happened since:

In October 2008, I arrived in Limoges in France full of optimism and hope which is fine but not the right things for an athlete aiming to win a competition.  Solid preparationa and training leading you to knowing that you are physically and mentaly ready are what I should have had!   As soon as I started competing I knew that I was underprepared but despite this I managed to get myself ranked 24th in the World - not too shabby within 12 months of my return.

I returned to Australia determined to build on my training and get to the next World Championships in a much better position to expect a decent result.  My first step was to win the Australian National Veterans Championships, which I did in November just after returning from overseas.

This year I have trained hard with a great group of our top fencers who are all younger than me and who constantly push me hard.  That many of them are finding it harder to beat me is good for all of us and constantly raises my standards.  I think they also realise that a wiser old head has something to offer even if the body is not so lithe and speedy as it used to be!

In March of this year I won the first of our series of National Competitions followed by No 2 in April.  This event was particularly pleasing as I also performed well in the Open event against those young whipper snappers!

In June I headed to London and then on to Jersey (the Channel Island, not NY) to represent Australia at the Commonwealth Veteran Fencing Championships.  This time I was not hopeful, I was prepared!  I had the training under my belt, I was quietly confident and I fought well all day to win the gold medal by a comfortable margin. 

Yipeee!!

As a result of winning the overall event I also won a gold medal for my age group.  (In veteran fencing they have 40, 50, 60 and 70 age groups) - OK, I am in the 50 age group.

Immediately after we finished the individual event we had to wind up again for the team event and along came gold medal number 3!   Australia beat Wales pretty convincingly and then we had to fight England for the gold.  The very last, and deciding, match in the team event was myself and the same opponent I had just beaten in the individual event....  Sounds pretty simple doesn't it but it is actually pretty hard to make the transition from the euphoria of winning a major event to the focus of concentrating on a completely new event.

So now I am here again, contemplating the World Championships again.  This time in Moscow in September.  My coach tells me that I have all the skills and training that I need to do well so this time I will go with what I hope is the same mindset as at the Commonwealth Championships and perhaps come home with a much better result!

I am still loving being back in the sport and I have worked hard at my training - hence the results but I still have a little more to achieve so think of me on September 26 and send me winning thoughts.