Issue 150

AU Player's Locker

04th December 2006

She fenced for Great Britain at the tender age of 16, been named this years women's fencing captain and has subsequently lead her team to the top of their BUSA league thrashing Cardiff along the way. Waterfront asks what is next for Rachel Rowles.

The answer is surprisingly simple "I want to travel for a year or so and then do a masters. Basically avoid getting a job". She is a second year psychology student who enjoys her independence and her nights out, the social aspect of university life being the main priority as with many students. It is no real surprise then that she has her fair share of stories. "We went out dressed as cave girls, came back pissed off my face, tried to cut myself out of my dress, got halfway through and passed out", this was one of the few tales that is printable.

With this in mind and the fact a smile barely ever leaves her face it would be easy to doubt her commitment to the cause. Any doubter can put their mind at rest because the mere mention of fencing ignites a passion and the background work she puts in is second to none. "Now that I am captain I have to research teams and I have so much to sort out"

So the Captaincy is tough? "Yeah there is a lot of pressure. But it is awesome I love it!" and when things go as well as they have been it is easy to see why she is as happy as her beaming smile would suggest. With the women's fencing team sitting comfortably at the top of their league, they have comfortably beaten all those before them and are racing towards promotion.

Is there anything she can't do then? "I'm not good at losing, I hate losing, really hate it". Which explains why last season was so hard. Swansea failed to fence anywherenear their potential. However this season under Rachel's guidance Swansea are back to winning ways.

To top this all off she even manages to take eight hours a week out to see a young autistic boy called Eddie. Such charity and not being the biggest person in the world might let you think that fencing is not a truly contested sport. Rachel's injury list would put any such ideas to bed. "I have cracked ribs, broken most of my fingers and have had hundreds of bruises, just the usual." People have sustained less from playing full contact sports like rugby!

Such an extreme list of injuries is bound to have caused trouble and indeed it has. "When I broke my wrist I never thought I would make it back to the top of the sport" but make it back she did and in her first tournament after recovering she made it to the final eight of the nationals. "In ways that was my proudest moment in fencing, right up there with getting into the Great Britain squad for the first time and when my little brother made the Welsh national squad".

As it turns out fencing is a family tradition. Her mother has fenced from when she was very young and her younger brother, as mentioned above, is looking like one to watch for the future. It certainly is not the most common sport that you will find but, as Rachel is quick to point out "There is nothing like facing someone with two foot of steel in your hand, it is the biggest adrenaline rush you can get". No wonder the entire family got involved.

The family tradition however does play into the hands of those who claim that fencing is an elitist sport and Rachel is quick to acknowledge that it is not the cheapest sport to get into seriously but, and this is a big but, "fencing is all about getting involved and I would recommend anyone have a go… if they have the balls!"

Stuart Phillips