I am James Russell, age 19, and I started fencing when I was 10 and have been fencing for England and Great Britain since I was 15. In the Autumn I will start my degree course at Bath University having taken a gap year to work on my fencing skills towards Success as a Junior, U23 and Senior international.

I have been selected to represent England at the Commonwealth Junior Fencing Championships at the end of July 2018 and I need to raise the funds for doing that.

This year I won the Bronze medal at the GB Senior National Championships.

I have represented GB consistently and regularly at Cadet, Junior and Senior levels in epee and am now going into my final season as an U20 (Junior).

I am an epeeist, currently ranked in the top 16 in Great Britain as a Senior and will be # 2 as a Junior at the start of the 2018-19 season.

I intend to continue to represent Great Britain internationally at Junior, U23 and Senior levels for at least the next 5 years and to work hard to achieve success for my country by becoming the best fencer that I can be.

I receive no funding from any source other than my family so the costs of attending all International and domestic competitions have had to come from them.

Also all my costs for equipment, travel, Personal Coaching and tournament support (we have to pay for a referee and Team Manager to attend internationals with us) have to come from my family.

Typically I will travel to between four and six internationals each year and each will cost between £700 and £1,000 plus expenses and replacement kit if anything breaks, these are large amounts for us to find.

I train specifically for fencing three times each week and am at a domestic tournament most weekends.