SPORT Thursday June 11 2009 Echo 23

‘Sabre is fast,explosive and aggressive. You

have to have seven different scenarios in your
head before your start,and then you have to
execute them in a second or two.’

■ Kommetjie Fencer Ashley Marais is focused on winning the national championships, which will be held at UCT on Saturday and Sunday June 13 and 14.

Fencers gear up for national championships

From page 24
Marais, who practises at the Italian
Club in Rugby, loved those early
times as a kid which included a lot
of laughing and a ton of games.
“My first coach would have us
play Cavaliers and Musketeers and
we would run around with swords
in our hands stabbing people,”
smiled the young Marais.
“That was fun for me as a kid.
And you have to be able to have fun
when you begin and then later you
will be able to find the discipline.”
Marais found that discipline
when he began training with his
current coach, Misha Galoukin, an
ex-Olympian and former Olympic
coach for Russia.
Marais’ technical abilities in foil
and epee were sharpened, but he
quickly became enamoured with
sabre, a type of fencing that uses a
smaller sword and allows scoring
from the blade and not just the
point of the sword.
“Sabre is fast, explosive and
aggressive, and that is what I enjoy
about it,” explained the intense
Marais.
“It is how fast you have to work
your mind and body together. You
are constantly thinking. You have to
have seven different scenarios in
your head before you start, and
then you have to be able to execute
them in a second or two.”
For now, Marais continues to
practice two to three times a week
with Galoukin and often has to
drive more than 60 kilometres from
his home in Kommetjie just to have
a 45-minute lesson with the coach.
“Lessons with Misha are very
aggressive, intense and vigorous,”
said the fencer.
“I will push myself through it
and by the end I just fall down. If I
am lying on the ground soaking in
my own sweat, I feel that it was a
fantastic lesson.”
Under the teaching of Galoukin,
Marais has represented South
Africa in fencing in 16 countries and
in numerous competitions.
Despite the often lengthy travel
required to compete, Marais contin-
ues to work hard and live out his
dream.
“It is any person’s dream to rep-
resent their country in some form
or another,” said Marais with pride.
“And I am living out that dream.”
● The fencing senior national
championship takes place at UCT
on Saturday and Sunday June 13
and 14.
For more information about
fencing, call 084 554 4566.

■ Left: Fish
Hoek
Dolphins
Baseball
Club
under-14
player Rafe
Siebert has
been
selected to
represent ■ Fish Hoek High’s under-14s played Kasselsvlei
WP. on Saturday and won 22-0. Michael Prinsloo got
the first conversion of the seaon.

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The Cape Times, Cape Argus &
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Thursday 18 June 2009

In The Athlone News, Plainsman,

Southern Mail, Tabletalk on
Wednesday 17 June
&
■ Fish Hoek Dolphins Baseball Club’s under-16
In The Atlantic Sun,
players Damon Mitchell and Jayden Lilley Constantiaberg Bulletin, False Bay
received Western Province colours for their top Echo, Southern Suburbs
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performance during the season.The club also Tatler, & Vukani on

produced six under-10 players and two under- Thursday 18 June 2009
16 players selected to represent the province.