e hadnt come across Olympic fenc | Forum

Goals from Leroy Sane and Raheem Sterling were enough for Manchester City to leapfrog Arsenal into second place with a comfortable 2-1 win over the Gunners on Sunday afternoon. NFL Gear From China .Theo Walcott had initially given the visitors the lead but Arsenal threw away a lead to lose for the second time in as many games. After the collapse at Everton in midweek, Arsene Wenger wanted a response and wanted to make a real statement of intent with regards to their title push. It looked like they might do just that as they got off to a dream start. They took the lead with five minutes on the clock when Alexis Sanchezs neat reverse pass was finished off well by Walcott for his eighth league goal of the season.City nearly leveled almost immediately but Sterlings header from a Kevin de Bruyne cross was fractionally wide. City did eventually get back on terms just two minutes after the restart when a lovely first-time pass from David Silva caught out the Arsenal defence and Sane ran onto the bouncing ball before calmly knocking it beyond Petr Cech.The turnaround was complete with 18 minutes to go when Sterling smashed a shot past Cech at his near post. De Bruyne almost got the points in the bag when he flicked a cross from Jesus Navas onto the post but they held on for the three points. Nike NFL Jerseys . The defence is doing its part, too. Drew Brees threw a pair of touchdown passes in the first half and the guys on the other side made sure that was enough, sending the Saints to a 17-13 victory over the Atlanta Falcons on Thursday night. Cheap NFL Shop .C. -- Calgarys Kevin Koe did it the hard way again. http://www.jerseyschinanfl.com/ . -- Jimmy Walkers first PGA Tour trophy came with a special gift tucked inside. Karen Lieu always knew she had a competitive streak, but as a girl, she never found an outlet for it. The sports she tried didnt work for her.I tried to see if I could do gymnastics and did a handstand against the wall. Well, I ended up breaking a few lamps, she said. My parents were furious, so that stopped. Tennis wasnt for me. Id hit the ball out of the court.During the summer of 1992, after graduating from high school, she found her sport. She was watching the Barcelona Olympics when the telecast turned to fencing. Shed seen swordplay in movies but had never seen the sport, with its masked athletes, fierce attacks and electronic scoring systems. She thought it was fascinating.That fall, when she enrolled at Pasadena City College, she found fencing in the class schedule. She signed up, and in the midst of her first class, she was smitten. Soon she was taking two classes at school as well as outside lessons. Within a year, she qualified for and competed in the AAU Junior Olympics.Lieu, 42, competed through college and now takes part in national adult tournaments. She also coaches children and adults, works clinics, organizes tournaments and serves as an official. Lieu, who works for the county of Los Angeles as an operations assistant auditing budgets for the use of Sheriffs officers at county courts, says fencing has been a force in her life since those 92 Games.At 5-foot-4, she can stand tall with a foil in her hand.With any other sport, you had to be a certain size or had to have a certain physical [characteristic], said Lieu, who lives in Rosemead, a suburb east of downtown Los Angeles. For a gymnast, you had to be really flexible and maybe petite in proportion. Volleyball or basketball, you had to be really tall. But in fencing ... if I worked at it, I was able to become good. I worked really hard, and I was able to excel quickly. It was exciting.Fencing round the clockToday, Lieu coaches after school, in the evenings and on weekends at the Beverly Hills Fencers Club in Culver City. Her schedule conforms to her work hours. She trains at night and on weekends -- when she also competes -- and puts in time at the gym on her lunch break.Fencing has taught me to have really good time management, she said with a laugh.In the gym, she works with weights on isolated muscle groups, especially in a surgically repaired knee, to gain strength and quickness and on cardio machines to gain endurance. But she doesnt run.I could lunge as much as I wanted and not get tired, but if you ask me to run a few miles, youd get me really winded, she said. Youre using different muscles in fencing -- for powerful, explosive moves.Since she turned 40, she has competed in the veterans division. Her first year, she was ranked nationally and placed among the top 16 in the nation. Last year, she didnt compete as much because her knee injury flared up. Now fit aggain, she is learning new techniques and hopes to place higher at nationals. Cheap Football Jerseys. I like to watch a lot of videos, she said, noting that recent Olympic matches from Rio de Janeiro are on YouTube. Fencers from each nation have different styles and tactics she can study and emulate.Nobodys foilLieus weapon of choice is the foil. She has tried the sports other two styles -- saber and epee -- but foil suits her best. The foil is a long, light, thin blade just over 35 inches in length. Matches are as long as three minutes but can end within seconds. Points are scored only with the tip of the blade. The target area is the torso only.Lieu disliked the slashing, more physical attacks in saber (I didnt really like getting hit in the head a lot, she said) and wasnt comfortable with epee, in which the entire body can be targeted.Perhaps what she loves most about fencing is the mental duel. She must be quick, have good technique and be able to physically execute her footwork and blade action with precision. But the chess-match nature of the sport is its most compelling aspect, she said.Whats your move, and whats the other persons move, and your counter move? she said. You have to outwit them.She appreciates the culture of fencing and that its a lifetime sport. In fact, she plans to compete into her 70s. The fencing community is small enough, too, that she has made friends everywhere. One time, she recognized a former Olympian, but that Olympian knew of her because of her years as a coach and competitor.Im like, Wow, you know me! she recalled.The sports impactYears ago, after Lieu injured her knee and had surgery, she went home to her two-story condo and dragged her mattress downstairs so she could sleep on the ground floor while recovering. It was then that her mother finally understood her daughters passion for fencing. Until then, her mom had questioned why she wanted to do a boys sport. She couldnt understand why her daughter put so much time and energy into it.I camped out for two weeks, so I wouldnt have to go up the stairs, Lieu said. And my moms like, Look what this is doing to you! I cried and cried and said, Im not quitting. After that day, she never questioned my love of fencing.Lieu cant imagine what her life would be like if she hadnt come across Olympic fencing on TV back in 1992. The sport has given her so much. When she was little, she says she was an introvert, and fencing helped her grow.In fencing, you have to take the initiative to attack the person, so it gave you courage, so to speak, so Im less introverted, she said. I think that is good to teach kids and adults to deal with obstacles. [You think], Oh, that person I cant beat. OK, Im going to try a different tactic and learn how to overcome. ' ' '