00:01This is Natalie Vee, the only Latina on the U.S. fencing team.
00:06For the last 10 years, she's trained to be an Olympic athlete.
00:112016 could be her year.
00:16I think for the most part, I really enjoyed having long hair
00:19and smiling and then beating people up when I put my mask on.
00:23There is a certain degree of anonymity when you put on your mask,
00:26and so there's almost that feeling that I imagined warriors felt
00:31and they put their armor.
00:32I just feel powerful, I feel strong, I feel invincible,
00:35and I feel smart when I put it on.
00:40I started fencing in a class of all-male fencers.
00:43I was the only woman, and I kind of developed a style.
00:47Sometimes I feel like I had to be off-timing.
00:50If someone hits me hard and they're like, oh, sorry,
00:52even if it hurts, I'm not going to show that it hurts.
00:56I had a different approach than everybody else
00:58because I hadn't grown up in the same school that everybody else had
01:02where they were fencing from the time that they were 7 or 8 years old.
01:05I had to learn on my own.
01:06My dance background really informed my fencing.
01:09I approached everything in terms of rhythm and timing.
01:12Instead of having perfect rhythm and timing,
01:14I really focused on having weird rhythm and timing.
01:18That's the way that I hit.
01:20I hit in those off moments when people don't expect.
01:22But the big difference is the mental game.
01:26The big difference is what you have inside.
01:27That's what gives you the edge.
01:28That's what gives you the focus.
01:30That's what gives you the difference.
01:32That's what can make or break about.
01:33Let's talk a little bit more.
01:33Let's check it out.
01:34estaba ha sharp.
