00:00I'm Chris Jupp and I've just been selected to fence for Great Britain in the Category 3 fencing
00:12in the World Championships in Bahrain in November which I'm really excited about because I've been
00:17dreaming of getting into the Great Britain squad since I was young so finally done it and really
00:23looking forward to the competition and fencing with you know the best in the world for the age
00:29groups so I'm a barber that's my main job I did a bit of work with a film director called Michael
00:36Murphy years ago and it got me into filmmaking and then I started making my own films started with
00:43Beast and then moved on and my last film Original Sin won Best Film at Making Waves Film Festival
00:50and but I've always been interested in sword fighting movies and that kind of thing like
00:56you know the Three Musketeers and Zorro and it's always been something that I've always been
01:01interested in and so when I discovered this club Seacourt in Hailing it's just such a great club and
01:08suddenly I could do what the thing that I've always watched on TV and from that I suppose the better
01:13you get the higher the level so I now train in London at Kingston Fencing Club I think most like
01:19most sports it's all about footwork if you're in the wrong place it doesn't matter how good you are
01:24you're not going to be able to hit someone so we do a lot of footwork training and then a lot of
01:29blade work we have I've lessons I've got two two coaches Lee and Mache and they they train me
01:36I train at HMS Temera on a Tuesday with Mache and Lee and and also at Seacourt on a Thursday and then
01:42I've got London on a Monday and it's just it's footwork it's fitness you have to have fast reflexes
01:50but it's not all about the reflexes it's also about tactics and strategy so you know they do call it
02:00chess on legs because you're you're not only moving you're thinking and it's a little bit like rock
02:07paper scissors if you if someone's doing rock against you you have to figure out and then use
02:13paper or if it's paper scissors so it's so it's not just you know you're exhausted at the end of
02:19it and you can literally wring out your kit it's it's that strenuous but at the same time
02:26you don't feel that you're getting exhausted because you're too busy concentrating on what
02:31you're doing so it's a great sport and obviously you know some of the guys at the club are over 70
02:36and they're still fencing for Great Britain so category four is 70 plus so there isn't an 80 plus
02:43so it's 70 until you die basically but there's a lot of guys you know that we've got a guy there
02:48and I think he's in his 80s now you know but it's I suppose as you get older you get a little bit more
02:53time and when I was a bit younger you're working in the barbershop all the time you know you're doing
02:59so many hours and now it's beginning to get a bit easier it gives me the time to train a bit harder
03:03so so so it really is a lot of it's in French because it came from Europe you know and so
03:09there's a steeped in tradition so the weapon I use is saber and saber originated from the horseback
03:17weapon when they would stand with their sword on the horse and and because of that the whole target
03:22is from the waist upwards because you wouldn't attack to legs because then you'd expose your head
03:27but then you've got foil which is a different weapon again which is just for the torso and then
03:33epi originated from a dueling weapon which is the whole body the head the hands the toes you can
03:40go for anything so I like saber because with a saber you can you can stab but you can slash as well
03:47so it's it's a whole it's like a proper weapon it's like a it's like pirates are the Caribbean every
03:52Thursday night so that's which is really good fun and that that's why fencing so much fun because
03:57you're not really fencing your sword fighting with your mates you know obviously if you were to say
04:05where can it go to win to win a gold medal that would be absolutely fantastic to become world champion
04:11in Bahrain would be a dream come true but just to be there is is going to be fantastic to see all the
04:19top fences some of which you know I've seen when they're in the Olympics you know and now they're all
04:23a bit older and hopefully a bit slower but um you'll be surprised then you'll turn up and you'll
04:29think you're not old you're faster you're so fast but so but that's the fun of it you know
04:34oh
04:36oh
04:38oh
04:42oh
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