Miles Chamley-Watson

2013 Individual Men’s Foil World Champion

     Dear Miles Chamley-Watson, you are my hero. I say this not only because of your extremely impressive fencing, but you are an amazing man in all fields. I admire you for your fencing and your ability to do many other things as well. When watching interviews with you, you always tell joke at the perfect time and you are arrogant, but who cares you are the world champion. Even this is amusing, my main reason for picking you is your ability to fence. Up until 2013, I hoped to one day be the first American male to win the word championships. But if it couldn’t be me, I am happy it was you to take home the gold. I, at the time, didn’t know much abut fencing other than you looked like Jedi’s, but I still appreciated your victory.

     You have an advantage over many others. This of course being your height. At six foot four inches you are one of tallest foil fencers in existence and I envy your ability to use this massive advantage. I am also a relatively tall fencer but I am awful with my distance and I cant quite get the under-the-leg shots you do. Believe me, I have tried. I have been fencing for about four years now and I hope to one day be as good as you. Although you being the world champion and all, that may be fairly difficult. I am working towards this goal by being in the fencing gym any time I can working on everything. If I am not at school, I am probably fencing.

     It is interesting how in the modern age, teenagers can go out and have fun so easily. My friends are often going out doing God knows what and I am always busy fencing. If I am not across the country competing, you better believe I will be soon and I am preparing. I will hopefully one day be an amazing fencer and be able to look back at these days and tell myself that sacrificing a fun night with friends every once and a while made me one of the greatest fencers ever. I wonder if that is how you feel now? Did you have to make sacrifices to spend time in the gym training to do what you love?

     As I said previously, I spend a lot of time traveling. This blog consists of my fencing experiences as I travel, as well as a few other little things about me. When I was little, I absolutely adored the Star Wars series. When I saw a fencer photoshopped with a lightsaber on my town’s paper, I knew I wanted to finally become a Jedi. I wonder if you think of yourself as a Jedi and I want to know what brought you into the sport. It would be amazing if you read my blog and also shared your crazy experiences for me to read. Well Miles if you are reading this, I hope to one day meet you and maybe even fence you. :)

This is Miles, for you who do not know. This picture is courtesy of NobleBarbarian.com.http://www.noblebarbarian.com/articles/miles-chamley-watson

Star Wars is Amazing

     I, Bryce James Murrin am a Jedi Knight. I am going to straight up say I am the biggest fan of Star Wars on the face of this earth. I have seen all the movies way too many times. I have read all through the extended universe, watched tv shows, collected action figures and even became a Jedi myself. As a little boy who looked identical to baby Anakin, I was taught how to be a Jedi and eventually defeated Darth Vader in a light saber duel. This all happened at Disneyland. They say it is where dreams come true and this is actually where my dream came true, I became a Jedi.

                                 Here is proof of my epic adventure. My dad took this picture.

     So 99% of Star Wars fans on this Earth hate the prequel trilogy. I am that 1% who find them brilliant and thinks they really add to the story as a whole. Unless you are in the mood for some hardcore nerding out I recommend you stop reading at this point. At first glance one would say it is the death of Anakin's secret wife Padme that causes him to turn to the dark side. This is the breaking point but it is not the reason he decided to turn on the Jedi. Being the chosen one, Anakin was expected to be the perfect Jedi and follow the Jedi Code. For you who do not know, the Jedi Code says a Jedi cannot feel love, feel anger, feel fear and a few other emotions. Anakin truly joins the Sith because he realizes how corrupt the Jedi actually are. I am not saying the Jedi are evil but they are all breaking their own code.
     The biggest example of this is Mace Window. No, I know that isn't how you spell his name and I don't care. Out of HATRED, when he finds out that Anakin thinks the chancellor is a Sith, he doesn't look for any more evidence before going to arrest him. He does this because he FEARS that Palpetine is getting too powerful. After Mace and the chancellor fight, Mace says he is going to kill Palpetine because he is too dangerous to be kept alive. Those are the exact words Palpetine said when Anakin killed Count Dooku. Anakin realizes the Jedi are corrupt and allows Palpetine to kill Mace Window.
     Later on the lava planet Musafar Obi Wan says that Anakin is corrupt and he is scared of what Anakin could do. This once again shows fear and further reassures Anakin's position. Later, much later, after the Jedi order has been destroyed, Luke developed a new code that Darth Vader can stand behind and he rejoins the light side, destroys the Sith and brings balance to the force. This fofills his prophecy and proves that he was the chosen one the entire time. But he is still not the perfect Jedi, he used hatred and anger to do what he did. This shows a really strong lesson for real life that even angels have evil within. Overall, I love the prequel movies and the entire series. I am so happy actually that they are making another trilogy and believe me I will be writing about it.
May the force be with you :)

My Concussion

     The plan seemed so simple. I fence in Salt Lake, drive to Denver, fence in Denver, drive home and ski at Vail on the way back. Who knew a Trojan Horse could sneak into my trip and cause me to reach my maximum capacity of boredom for the next few weeks. The trip started off as planned. I fenced in Salt Lake City and did fairly well. We were done by three and needed to get on the road. I was told the drive to Denver is roughly six and a half hours. Eight and a half hours later I realized the truth as we parked at our hotel that we had booked on my father's smartphone just an hour before.
     Considering this trip was confirmed earlier the day before, if we wanted to book a nice hotel it would've costed us a fortune. Luckily, I have never stayed in a very nice hotel so my standards for a satisfactory space of living are relatively low. Our first room didn't work. Apparently the battery in the card scanner was low and we were moved across the hall. As my father has traveled all over the world and stayed in everything from a castle to a hut, I figured he wouldn't mind spending a few nights in a slightly run down room. This misbelief was straightened out as we walked in the second room to find the furniture chipped and the carpet destroyed. My father had what middle aged mothers call a "temper tantrum" and quickly sent me to go talk to the front desk and request a new room. This was the most awkward conversation of my life. The late-teen aged girl behind the desk and I both had a common look on our faces that signaled we absolutely did not want to be there. But, I did as my father requested and got us a new room. I had survived the first day, let's move on.
     The second day, the first day of fencing in Denver, was extremely fun. Those were some of the best fencers in Colorado. One of the biggest aspects of fencing that I love most is the community. The thing about fencing is the average fencer's skill level has raised so high that unless you are extremely committed,  you aren't a fencer. This may seem harsh, and in was it is. But, it results in everyone as these competitions being extremely passionate about the same thing, fencing. My friends at school often make fun of me because of how much I talk about fencing, but until you go to one of these competitions, you have no idea how much one single person can talk about fencing. Anyway, unlike other national sports, friends and family are sitting right next to the strip watching. They arent in stands fifty feet away. They are sitting right next to the strip, so close in fact that they are risking getting slashed in the face. Now imagine this energy amplified and condensed in a tiny gym in the most "ghetto" part of Denver. That and the level of diversity of the competitors in skill, age, and ethnicity, really combines to create the most fun and interesting environment on the planet.
     As I stated before, the first dat was filled with great fencing. Earlier on the second day my head wasn't connected to my blade. I messed up my pools completely which lead me to have an extremely difficult bracket. In the mean time, my best friend and teammate Sean Lydon was as many teenage boys including myself would say "slaying." Sean won all his matches which gave him the easiest bracket in the tournament After my awful morning, I got my head back into it and was ready to fence. My first few direct elimination matches went really well. It wasn't until I was hit in the back of the head that my game completely dropped. I was flicked in the unprotected portion of the back of my head and my vision went completely blank. I unfortunately lost that match and was given a major headache. I didn't think much of the hit to my head and figured I would just move forward on my trip and get ready to ski!
     Fencing is my favorite sport in the world and if you are one of my friends you would know of this great passion. What you may not know is I have lived in Park City, Utah my entire life and have become a relatively advanced skier. This lead me to be extremely excited for what was ahead, Vail. Vail is one of the biggest ski resorts in North America filled with massive bowls with few to no trees. Skiing through there felt like I was watching a nature documentary, it was that beautiful. It was an amazing day filled with lots of laughs and lots of falls. Weirdly, I still had a major head ache from the day before.

                                          This is a picture I took while skiing and edited.

     A few days after returning home, my headache continued and my mom decided I was going to the doctor. After looking at my eyes for fifteen seconds my doctor told me I had a concussion. She continued to tell me the symptoms, and what I should do to heal. She emphasized that I be careful because a second hit to the head could be fatal. I probably shouldn't have skied....whoops.

    I am now sitting in my bed in pain wishing it never happened. Be careful kids. :)