First Steps

Today was a huge day for Jnr Jnr - she participated in the 2017 UK Youth Fencing Championship.  She is only 10 and has been doing it once a week since September in an after-school club; however she's doing well and her coaches say she has real potential.

So, this was a huge chunk of experience.  The place was packed and very, very noisy, and intimidating for all competitors I bet.  She was in the U12 Girls Sabre, and won one of her initial placing bouts and scored points against a few more experienced fighters.  In the following knockout stage she succumbed to a 10-7 defeat in the first round.  She was gutted (but hid it really well, only we could tell), but we were really, really proud.

As a benchmark, a starting point, it is going to be something she'll look back on and see it for the important step it was.

As you can see from one of the extra photos, she lost a hand early on.