Sportsbeat reporter thrusts sword with best in Britain

By Tom Reynolds, Sportsbeat

BRITISH foil fencing is a team going places - but after an inauspicious debut I don't think I'll be joining them.

NO CONTEST: Sportsbeat reporter Tom Reynolds (left) shows GB assistant foil coach Maciej Wojtkowiak who's boss

I was invited as part of the a Visa ‘experience' day to meet the Great Britain foil squad - currently ranked seventh in the world - and try my hand at the epee.

Introduced to the basics by Great Britain head coach Ziemek Wojciechowski and his assistant Maciej Wojtkowiak I soon found myself being jabbed incessantly in the head with very little comeback.

There were rumblings among some of the other ‘experience' crew that we had some ringers in our camp and I, and my bruised body, have to agree.

I like to think I started to get to grips with it in the latter stages but there was no doubt I was better on the piss (in the bar afterwards) than on the piste.

But back to the real issue at hand, the GB squad.

In the limelight for an hour long Q and A session were the four men charged with delivering a medal at the London 2012 games and there is no doubt to who the leader of the pack is.

While Richard Kruse held court with the ten ‘experience' members the other three members of the team barely got a word in.

Kruse has got two Olympic appearances to his name and whether the question was on Olympic selection procedures, fencing's funding problems or the difference between the French (functional) and Italian (flamboyant) styles no-one else could get a word in.

Laurence Halsted looked like he wanted to chat but was too laid back to really bother - "I've learnt over the last few years that the most important thing is not results it's about making sure you are enjoying your time."

Softly-spoken, recently crowned World Junior Championships silver medallist Ed Jeffries barely opened his mouth.

Fourth member of the team 23-year-old (injured) Jamie Kenber was reluctant to talk but gave the most interesting insight of the discussion - basically intimating that the GB squad despise the Italians.