"No, it is not as many have suggested: a sport equipped with posts and hammers. Nor does it require reams of steel mesh, or an unlimited supply of good stout nails. It is instead the ancient sport of Gentlemen; the art of duelling and dashing - the valiant repine of the honourable and the elite.

In modern terms it is also an engaging, fast-moving Olympic sport that requires not only athleticism, speed and skill, but also a keen, sharp, intelligence and the kind of logic that only a Sudoku addict could envisage.

There aren't many sports where a 60 year old gran can compete with an 18 year old youth, or indeed where a 6 year old girl, smiling sweetly, can defeat and surprise a grumpy old man.

Cunning and tactics defeat energetic and athletic as often as speed and skill unexpectedly reverse what seems to be a foregone conclusion.

I know this well, as 18 years ago I was that 6 year old girl who, as my father often recalls fondly, bounced up to the piste with a grin plastered over my rosy face and a size 3 foil gripped in my grubby paws, only to cheerily defeat one after another of the clubs polite but determined elderly gentlemen fencers.

Several domestic titles and World Championships later, I now find myself in the same predicament as those gentile veterans - having to draw upon every ounce of guile to defeat my young opponents and relying less and less upon speed of hand and foot.

My mother would forgive me for revealing that at the age of 50 she decided to take up the sport so long practised by her nearest and dearest.

Having lost both husband, daughter and son to the circuit and having often wondered what her family got up to exactly on a Friday night, she started training, and then competing - and within a year found herself selected for the national team.

Similarly, having married a fellow fencer (a common hazard in the sport) I now find myself coaching a mother-in-law, who rather formidably, not only made the Welsh team rather quickly - and then the national team - but also finished 10th in the World in the recent Veteran World Championships! More than most newlyweds, I treat her with some due caution and respect.

You may not have heard of fencing before now, however I can assure you that it will become increasingly familiar upon your lips as the 2012 London Olympics draws closer. One of the core Olympic sports, it is greatly respected in Europe and the rest of the world.

Denizens of Hungary or Italy give it the same respect as we do Rugby, Cricket or Football.

In Germany, a place in the national squad would result in a lucrative sponsorship deal and a free Mercedes.

In Russia you would be offered a paid army salary purely to train.

Here things are slightly different, perhaps because of the sports long association with public schools and the strange stigma that that attaches to it. This is set to change however and as the government promises more and more investment in sport and the profile of minority sports is slowly exposed and raised across the UK.

Promoting sport - particularly fencing - is something that my husband and I are passionate about. For this reason, when we moved to Wales after our July Wedding, we decided to set up a Fencing Coaching Company named 'Ddraig Wern'. (Any Welsh speaking Pratchett fans out there?)

Being an ex-international and junior No.1, not to mention having 18 years of fencing experience behind me, I had the experience and qualifications, whilst my better half had the proven track record as an experienced coach, coupled with the kudos of being a current member of the Welsh Squad.

Since its conception in September 2006, Ddraig Wern has set up fencing courses in Pontardawe, Carmarthen and Three Cocks. Our Carmarthen course, run in the Showground, is potentially the most exciting, as it is aimed specifically at aspiring Modern Pentathletes and we are working with John Kelman, a highly respected Shooting Coach, to try and build up Wales' first Modern Pentathlon Club.

Ddraig Wern has also offered coaching to schools and clubs all over the area. Every single one of our course members has enrolled on a following course and in some venues the course have been so successful that we have been able to set up a fledgling club.

If fencing is something that you have never tried, then now is the time to make that change. It's a lot of fun for anyone, whatever age or level of fitness, and then there is the very real possibility for the younger generation amongst us, that not only will they compete for their school, their region and their country... ...but they may also be one of those favoured few lining up in their GB tracksuit on the opening day of the Olympic Ceremony in 2012."

Article written by Meg Shepherd-Foster