FIRST PERSON

Fencing’s new women’s Sabre Commonwealth Champion Katherine Kempe,26, of Monmouth, talks to Kath Skellon about training in the U.S, winning medals and her dream of competing in the Olympics.

“I was around ten when I first tried fencing but really started by accident when I was at Millfield School in Somerset. I fell off my pony before I started boarding there and hurt my leg. It meant that I missed hockey trials because I was still having physio and had to sign up for another sport so I tried fencing and found I enjoyed it.

I remember my first competition and having no idea how to use the electrical kit. My opponent was a girl who I ended up being friends with at school, she literally plugged me on, beat me and then plugged me off again. It was quite a bleak moment and I knew I had a lot to learn.

I took part in a summer training camp at school with one of the coaches and former World Champion fencer Vladimir Nazlymov who told me I had a fire in my belly. It was the first time I was exposed to a top level coach who thought that as a kid I had the fight that you need.

When I was about 14 I became more serious about the sport and gained a place on the national team fencing for Great Britain’s Under 17s squad while also representing Wales. I competed at the Under 16 Cadet World Championships in Linz, Austria which was amazing and eventually moved up to the Under 20s squad.

I remember putting competing as an athlete in the Olympics down for my first choice as a career option but my teacher didn’t think it was a good career plan.

When I’d finished sixth form my coach offered me a job to train and join the coaching team at Brentwood School in Essex which I did for a few years. I worked with youngsters and did a bit of community coaching as well.

After that I spent some time training in Cornwall but moved back to my coach, David Sach, who used to compete for Wales.

More recently I have spent the last year and a half working at the Celtic Manor Resort, Newport, in their events team. They have been really supportive of my training and after coming back from the Commonwealth Fencing Championships I’ve decided to give Rio a shot and go back to full-time training . I had done a lot of training before but having taken the time out made me keener to represent Wales at the Commonwealth’s. I love fencing for my home nation, having fenced for Wales back in 2006 at the Commonwealth Championships in Ireland. I missed 2010 Commonwealth Championships because it was just before World Championships in Paris .The Commonwealth Fencing Championships were held in Australia that year, so it would have been really hard to do both. I was really happy to compete again for Wales earlier this month and it made me realise how much I had actually missed it. Obviously it was great having the success that I did at the championships winning the individual gold and getting a bronze in the team was a great end to what had been a tough 3-4 week training just to get myself back to where I needed to be.

In preparation I went to America to train with my technical coach, he’s based in Boston so I am a Welsh girl training in America and fencing for the UK.

Before I took my break I had been training and competing full time so it’s something I have done before. I’ve had a lot of experience. Unfortunately I tore my hamstring pretty badly in qualification for the London Olympics and didn’t make it so I really want to to be able to tick the Olympic box. If I can give myself the chance to do that I have got to go for it.

I’m getting a programme together so that I can continue to train and compete in the states. They have a lot more depth than we do because it’s a National Collegiate Athletic Association sport so the training and competing out there is really good.

I am flying out there next week to train ahead of the Grand Prix in New York that I have been selected for in December. I’ll then spend Christmas with my family before flying out to prepare for the World Cup in the New Year.

I’m 26 and if it was any other sport I would be looking quite old as an athlete but because fencing is so skill-based the longevity is much greater than in a lot of other sports. Luckily I am still in with a shout.

I have been really lucky to get to travel around the world. When I started on the British team as a junior it was really fun at weekends if you had a competition . Rather than going down the road for a hockey match I might go to Pisa in Italy. As you progress to senior level you travel further afield including India for the Junior Commonwealths which was an amazing experience. Since then I have been to countries including Cuba and China.

If you lose you go home. It’s quite tough in terms of if you have made a mistake it is over very quickly.

My sister used to fence for Wales for the Under 17’s but she is focusing on a career in music now.

I really am living the dream. Earlier this month I won a Bronze with the team and Gold in the individual competition at the Commonwealth Fencing Championships. Apart from doing a couple of qualifying competitions I really hadn’t competed in the last year and a half so it was brilliant to go back to it.

During my preparation in the States I took part in two competitions which I won. In Chicago I won a three foot sword which I haven’t managed to bring back to the UK yet. It was probably the strangest thing but way more fun than a medal.

I won a competition called ‘Jewel in the Desert’ in Las Vegas in 2012 when I won $500 dollars in gambling chips which was also fun and possibly the coolest prize I have ever won.

Recently I have to add winning at the Commonwealth’s to my list of highlights because It meant such a lot ,having been out of the sport for a year and a half. To come away having won was brilliant and reminded me of all the things I love about it. I didn’t think I was emotional until I saw the re-run and me welling up when they played the National Anthem.

It was emotional and I proved to myself that I can still do this.

I love competing for Wales. The team has been really supportive of me. It meant a lot to me personally and to the team. Wales did well at the Championships; winning gold, silver and bronze all on day one.

I am lucky enough to be supported by SEDA in Blackwood who make the packaging for McDonalds. Up until 2012 I was a Sports Ambassador for McDonalds UK.

My goal is to qualify for the Rio Olympics in 2016 as I didn’t make the London Games. It’s still something I really want and I’m still in with a shot.”