Episode 81: A First-Class Fencer Poised for Paralympics

You're listening to Demand and Disrupt, the podcast for information about accessibility, advocacy and all things disability.

Welcome to Demand and Disrupt, a disability podcast. I'm your host, Kimberly Parsley.

And I'm your co host, Sam Moore. We are coming to you live and clear from D and D Towers. There are, you know, a couple batches of towers here. Kimberly, you're at the Bowling Green Towers, Henderson Towers.

Yep. You're at the North Quail Motel, AKA the North Quail Motel, which I love that. Yep, yep.

And I'll tell you, we are, we are digging these new digs, pardon the pun. So. And we're even happier to have you folks along with us, aren't we, Kimberly?

We are so happy here in the the summer that you all are taking time to join us. And Sam, who are we going to

be talking to today? You did our interview.

I did indeed. I had the the privilege of chatting with this week's very special guest and she is Ms. Olivia Scott. She now resides in the Louisville area. She is a, a world class fencer despite a a spinal cord injury in her younger life. It wasn't that much younger. I mean, it's just a few years back. But anyhow, we're going to find out about the nature of the spinal cord injury and, and how that all happened and how she found her way into para fencing and she really has fallen in love with it and become competitive in it. In fact, Kimberly, her goal is to compete in para fencing when the olympics take over LA here in a few years. 2028.

Awesome. And we wish her all the luck in the whole wide world that she gets to do that. That will be so fun.

That would be awesome. And as we here, she's regularly partaking in the qualifying events that earn her X amount of points. And of course you got to have a certain amount of points to qualify for the Olympics. So, you know, she's busying herself with, with that these days. She's not from Louisville originally. I won't spoil any more for you other than to tell you that I did learn she is from Illinois originally. So.

Well, it's a fascinating interview. She's a fascinating guest. We were lucky to, to have her on. So our listeners are going to be in for a treat. And speaking of Olympics and international spectacle, Sam, are you watching the World Cup?

I'm, I'm mainly keeping up with it through the news. And I tell you, Kimberly, it's ironic. This is one of these few areas of sports that you actually get into more than me because, you know, I Talked to you about the super bowl in February, and you're like, what's that?

It's true.

It's true.

How long has it existed? But anyway, I know I should appreciate the fact that this World cup is taking place at various venues. I know it's mainly NFL stadiums here in the United States because, you know, it's. It's a pretty big deal for us to get to host all of these international teams and fans and, And. And I tell you, those are. Those are quite loyal fan bases. I know, I know. My buddy Will the other night was playing for me different songs that they sing at the games, and. And some of them are. Are pretty darn entertaining. But anyhow, as. As we're recording this, though, Kimberly, the. The US Played last night, and you stayed up late watched it, didn't you?

I did. I did stay up.

It was a. It was a tough loss. You told me it was a loss.

They. Yeah, they put it this way. World cup is interesting and how they do group play. And I won't go into all that, although I could, because it is the. The one actual sport I know a lot about. Well, not a lot, but you can

detail this one, can't you?

Yeah, the. The World cup play. But the. The US Team played last night as they had been expected to play. But it's just that their two matches before, they played wonderfully. So.

So did they use up all their mojo in those two matches before?

Well, let's hope not, because the way this works, they. The next round they go to is a knockout round.

So.

So the next. The next rounds. When it counts.

The next. The next round. Yeah, it. The. The next round they play. The next game they play, which they play against Bosnia Herzegovina.

Look at you reeling off these.

I know. Right? Right. Yeah. So they will be playing them next week. Now, the team I'm rooting for is England plays tomorrow.

Okay? So as we're doing this, it'll probably be right before the show comes out, but England plays tomorrow.

England plays. Yeah. Tomorrow. Well, it will have already been done

by the time this puppy.

By the time this comes out, England will have. Have played. And let's see. We got to get this thing going because France plays later on today, which is Friday. So.

Okay, so. So by the time this comes out, England will have hopefully won.

Hopefully. Fingers crossed. That's my team.

My buddy Will did tell me that if, apparently, if all. If both teams hold up, there is a possibility that on the 4th of July, on Independence Day, the United States could be squaring off against England.

That would be something. I have heard that. That if the stars align, that is a thing that could happen.

So how fitting would that be for Independence Day, when we gained our independence from England, of course, on the 4th of July.

Right, right.

So.

So we're celebrating. Of course. We've been hearing all this about our country's 250th birthday this year. And so right on number 250, we could be seeing a match between the US and England and. Or that. That would get solid rankings. I know it would.

I think it would. I think it would. Although I think historically you have to say the United States team really won when it mattered with that one. You know that's true.

Yeah. That was the important victory.

That was the important July.

Nothing against all you Brits. We still love you, but we're glad to have our independence.

We are.

We.

We are. We. We like things. Well, you know, there. There's always room for improvement over there and over here.

We could. We could always.

But. And so World Cup. I. I'm. I'm having a big time. 104 matches.

Okay.

That's a lot of soccer.

104. It goes until July 19th, I think.

Is that okay? So we still got several more weeks yet, and we do. Speaking of July and soccer, you were telling me that hubby Michael surprised you with tickets to go see the Nashville professional soccer team. The Nashville FC.

Nashville FC. Yep. We are going on July 17th. And so it will be exciting. I'm excited.

We get to.

So if any of you are there in the after soccer game on the 17th, make sure you say hey to Kimberly and tell her how much you love demanding this ride. She might get the big head.

Oh, I would love it. Yes. I'll be the one walking with a cane, probably falling down the steps, so.

And you will have your pen handy to sign autographs, won't you, Kimberly?

Well, sure, sure. Well, honestly, no, I. I never. A pin. So someone would have to get me a pin. I don't ever have.

Well, I'm sure that if you, you know, just come up, see Kimberly, and if you want an autograph, they will round up a pin somehow.

I have been known to sign things in crayon around here because there were times where it was literally the only writing implement in the house was a crayon signature. Is there? Maybe there is. I'm honestly not sure.

I've got nothing against personally. Yeah, whatever. Whatever it takes to get the job done. But anyhow, just hopefully on July 17, it is not hotter than a firecracker.

Oh, it will be. It'll be that or storming. You know it.

So.

Yeah, it's always one extreme or another in that part of July, isn't it?

It is, yeah.

Yeah.

But anyway, so. But you have. We'll talk between now and then. But that's definitely something that you'll be looking forward to. I know. And plus, as I know many of you, in fact, all of you should know if you know, unless you've been living under a rock, that Father's Day was this past Sunday.

It was.

So hopefully you either spent time with dear old Daddy or you spent time reliving fond memories of dear old Daddy, which is what I did. My dad passed away in 2019 of. Of cancer. But. But I. I'll tell you, I made a lot of good memories with him the first 31 years of my life. And he made sure. He's the one that made sure that I was a big sports fan in my early days. So I have him to blame for my basketball and football addiction. But he. He never got into soccer. If he did, I suspect I would have.

But.

But anyway.

Now, was it Father's Day or on your dad's birthday when you and your mom have a. A tradition, don't you have going to, like, a restaurant or something, you know?

Yeah, well, we've done that some years on his birthday, and sometimes on Father's Day, we didn't do it on Father's Day this year or his. Or his birthday, I don't think. But a lot of times on at least one of those days, we will try to go to one of Dad's favorite restaurants.

I think that's nice.

I think that's a meal in honor and memory of him because, you know, even though he. He may be envious of us, we know he's, you know, smiling down on us at. At one of his favorite places, and. And we know he feels good knowing that we're eating something that. That was always one of his favorites. So there you go.

I think that's a nice tradition.

So, anyhow, what about. What about your daddy, Ms. Parsley?

Well, I. I called him, but mainly we. Because this. This how this weekend fell. Okay.

Okay.

Ian's birthday was on Friday. He turned 18.

That's a big one.

And then on Sunday was, of course, Father's Day and our wedding anniversary.

That's a lot rolled into one.

It was a lot.

It was a lot for one weekend. So we actually, we went to. Me and Michael and the kids went To Mellow Mushroom and watched the soccer match on our screen.

Oh, you went to Mellow Mushroom and watched it on their tv.

Yes, yes, we watched. I think it was Ghana and Uruguay was the. The match. So that's what. That's what we did. And it was fun and it was enjoyable.

And I like Mellow Mushroom. That's killer pizza.

It is awesome. We had. It was awesome pizza.

Yeah, for sure.

So that was. That was you and Michael's anniversary celebration.

Yeah, yeah.

It was 29 years, so we don't

need a lot, you know?

We don't. We don't.

Yeah. Next year's the big three next up.

Yeah. Yeah.

Maybe that's when you really go all out.

Yeah, maybe we'll get present. And he brought me flowers. That was nice.

And. Oh, that's awesome. Yeah. So you got flowers.

Yeah, and I got him. I got him a box set of a TV show that he's been wanting to watch and we can't find. And then I got him a jacket that's interesting. It's a jacket that's like out of the UV material, so when it. When he's going in and out of places, he can have his arms covered up and it's got a hood. So. Yeah. And he is the complexion of. As my daughter says, of milk. So.

A complexion of milk.

Yeah. And she can say that because she is as well. So. Yeah, I got him that so he wouldn't get sunburnt or so.

See?

So it sounds like you two took quite good care of each other. The 29th anniversary celebration. And I'm assuming that at Mellow Mushroom, you and Michael probably split a pizza and then the kids probably just did their own thing.

How did you know? That is exactly how it went.

That's usually the way it goes. I found when kids tag along. So what? That's been my experience anytime I've ever been someplace with mom and Daddy and kids. But any. But anyway, what do you and Michael like on your pizza? Camberlain.

We get there, they have the. I know it's a hot take, but I like pineapple on pizza. Don't at me, people. It's fine.

Well, a lot of people do. I'm not holding it again. I don't. But I know a lot of people that do. And they swear they'll never eat another pizza without it. But anyhow, so we know there was pineapple on there.

Yes, it's called the Wowie Maui, or maybe the Maui Wowie. I don't. So there's. And it's Like a. It's like a jerk chicken, which I don't personally like chicken on pizza. So Michael picks it off for me. And then it's got, like, you know, different cheeses. It's got jalapenos on it and pineapples.

Oh, no, I would love the jalapenos on it.

It's really, really good. So, yeah, that's our favorite thing.

The Maui Wowie. Or Wowie Maui, whatever.

One or the other. I don't remember.

You know, all you folks keep that in mind next time you visit your nearest mellow mushroom location. But anyhow, at least you called Daddy, and I know he appreciated that.

Sure.

Yeah. And, you know, you threw him in the mix and hope.

Exactly.

Hope everybody had a nice Father's Day. Indeed. And, Kimberly, we've got. For our members of the visually impaired community, we got conventions for both groups coming up, the ACB and the nfb. So those are both staring us right in the face.

They are. Those are incredible. Do you know where they're going to be this year?

The NFB is first. That's the third through the eighth. That's in Austin, Texas.

Oh, no. That would be fun.

Which I've been. Austin, Texas is on my bucket list, Kimberly. That's the. That's the live music capital of the world, they say. So I need to go down there and.

Well, I think. I think Nashville could argue that, but

Nashville would probably put up a strong fight against it.

I think Nashville would argue. But, you know.

But anyway, I do. I do want to set foot in Austin sooner than later. I'm not going to the convention this year. So if you folks, Sorry, I won't be there to sign autographs for you at the NFB or the ACB convention. The acbs, Kimberly, is a bit closer to us. It's, I think the 24th through the 31st of July, anyway. I know it's towards the end of the month. That's in St. Louis.

It's in St. Louis. I remembered that one. Yeah. Yeah. Now that would be fun.

I think that the Hyatt Regency Arch Motel there. So that would be fun. I like St. Louis. I've been there plenty of times. Unlike Austin. I've even been up to the top of the arch. Have you ever been up to the top of the arch, Kimberly?

I think a long, long time ago. I think a long time ago, like one of my eye doctors when I was very, very young was in St. Louis. So I think I was up there once when I was really young. But I don't Like, I don't remember, you know.

Yeah. I'll tell you, that's. So it's been, it's been a bit for you. It's been a bit for me, too. I was, it was our sixth grade field trip is what I did. That's our field trip, sixth grade field trip. And I remember riding to the top in that tram or whatever, and I was, I was kind of, I was scared that it would feel like a roller coaster. But no, riding up there was just basically like riding in a car and got, got up there and, and experienced it and got to ride back down, of course. But since the Hyatt Regency Arch is where these folks are staying, I'm sure they'll all take a day to experience the thrill of going to the top of the arch and, and having a good time there. And they'll probably take in at least one or two Cardinals games too, I bet. But, but anyhow, whether you're heading to St. Louis or Austin, we wish you safe travels.

Absolutely. Or if you're just doing, you know, fireworks or grilling out in the backyard.

Have fun.

Have fun with that, too.

Enjoy the summer. Now we're going to listen to Sam's interview with Olivia Scott.

Wheelchair fencing is a very special breed. I mean, the, the skill of fencing for anybody that possesses it, that is impressive in and of itself. But para fencing is a different animal. Well, similar in plenty of respects, but also different in some. And so we'll discuss those similarities and differences. No better person to do so with than our very special guest this week. She has been an elite fencer for a number of years. A little over a decade ago, she suffered a spinal cord injury, but fell in love with para fencing shortly thereafter and has, you know, definitely come pretty darn close to perfecting her skills if she hasn't already at this point. And she has aspirations of fencing in the 2028 Paralympics to be held in LA. So how is she working towards that? We will find out. And we will also get a, a little sneak peek of her other goals and her background. We'll dive into that a bit and her interests in life growing up as a, a young pup. Not that she's not still young, but you know, in her, in her life, growing up as a child and how, how she spent her time and how she enjoyed doing so. So let's make welcome direct via Zoom from Louisville, Para Fencing extraordinaire, Ms. Olivia Scott.

Thank you for having me. I'm super excited to talk about para fencing and the wonderful community that we have all over the world word out about Paralympic sports and adaptive sports. So, yeah, thanks for having me.

I'm telling you, you can just take this and run with it. You don't even need my prompting. You can just. I could just say, olivia, go, and I'll come back in an hour and wrap this thing up.

But I can yap on about adaptive sports anytime you need me to.

Just hit me up.

I'm telling you, you are. You are my go to for sure. And you are stationed on the. The east end of Louisville. That's where you have lived and trained for quite some time now. Where are you. Where are you from originally, Olivia?

So I grew up in central Illinois, Champaign, Urbana, a little town right outside of it called Bonneville. So that's where I grew up. And I moved here to Kentucky about three years ago after I graduated from university and in Bath. So the University of Bath is where I got my master's degree in the United Kingdom.

Yes.

Yep. That's where I started fencing, too. Found it while I was there, completely by accident. So that was great. That was a fun time.

That was a very good accident, Olivia.

It was great. Yeah. Before that, I was also living in Taiwan for a few years for work.

So.

Yeah. Living in a few different places here over the past little bit.

That's true. Yeah. Well, you know, we may not dive into your career too much today because we've got plenty more to talk about, but you have had some interesting career pursuits, for sure, including, you know, teaching English three years there while you were over in Taiwan. And. And currently you told me that you're a career counselor for. What is it? The Education Leadership Cabinet there for Kentucky.

Yeah. So we are an initiative called Everybody Counts, and we're under the Education Labor Cabinet. Yeah. We're not quite statewide yet. That's the goal. We want to be in every county in the state, but right now we're kind of in a few different ones around Lexington, Louisville, Oldham County, Scott county is another one we're in. So we got a few people here and there, but we're still trying to, you know, grow the program. So.

Well, you got to have. You got to have goals, Olivia. I'm glad I count because I was beginning to wonder, but I'll sleep better tonight knowing that everybody counts, myself included, for sure. That's. That is definitely comforting to me. So, first off, before we dive into, you know, your. Your early life and so forth, how did you. How did you end up settling in Louisville?

So my parents moved here. I'm not even sure. Maybe four years ago. My little sister, she has down syndrome. So they moved here for the wonderful services that are here for people down syndrome, like the down syndrome of Louisville and some other just, like, community projects they do here. So she is having a great time here. She is. I feel like she's more busy than me some days. She's going off, she's doing her book clubs, her cooking classes. She's in two plays currently. So, yeah, they moved here for her. And then when I graduated university, I was looking for a place to go start training more seriously. So when I started in England, I kind of started fencing, kind of for fun because it looked interesting. And when I graduated, they said, hey, you should go back to America, try train a little bit more seriously. Try to see if, you know, you can get on the national team. Go for it. Try. So Louisville has a fencing center that it used to be. The person who started it, they were one of the Paralympic coaches. So I was like, my parents live there. That fencing center is there. Might as well go, right?

So might as well be there, too.

Yeah.

Well. Well, everybody in Louisville and throughout the Commonwealth of Kentucky is so glad that Olivia Scott has become one of us for sure. Now, before we focus Olivia on your wheelchair fencing and those pursuits, let's look back briefly on your early life in the greater Champagne area prior to your spinal cord injury. Sort of give me a snapshot of your life in your hometown, including your interests and the hobbies that. That kept you busy as a. As a kiddo.

Yeah, I say pretty normal childhood. Pretty. Pretty chill. Pretty. You know, nothing really too interesting going on for me. I was homeschooled, so me and all my siblings were mostly homeschooled from K through 12. So I had a lot of free time, you know, once I was finished with my work to kind of in different sports. So while I was growing up, I played soccer, I played baseball. I tried gymnastics once. That one didn't work out for me. So we moved on from that pretty quickly. I did. I gave it my best shot. Wasn't for me, you know, so when I was. I don't even know, maybe like seven or eight, I had a friend who started taking horseback riding lessons, and I thought that was fascinating. So I asked my parents, you know, hey, can I try it out a little bit, too? And they're like, sure, go for it. So started riding horses and kept doing that until, actually until my accident. So when I was maybe 13 or 14, I knew a girl who was kind of living in the same town. She Was graduating high school, going off to college, and she had a horse that she owned, and she said, hey, do you want my horse? That be something you want? And I was like, oh, sure. So I talked to my parents and they were like, you know what you are really invested in, you know, horseback riding. And that's something that, you know, we're gonna do for. So I got very much into it when I was going to community college there. I was on the collegiate team before my accident. So that was definitely a career path that I thought I was going to go down. I was looking actually at colleges in Kentucky before I graduated high school, and I was going to go into an equine management kind of track. That was kind of my first.

Well, horses are here in mass. Number.

They are, yeah. So things changed a bit, obviously, you know, for several reasons. But, yeah, that was kind of my. My childhood was mostly filled with.

So you almost ended up here before you did, even.

I did, yeah. It was crazy. When I. When I moved back, when I moved here for this, I was like thinking about, like, hey, when I was high school, actually almost moved to Kentucky, didn't I? All the roads lead back to Kentucky, I guess.

Yeah. I'll tell you, everything happens for a reason. And you got here and, you know, at just the perfect time for you, I'd say. But anyhow, I know your college pursuits, they included the. The University of Illinois. You got some. Some align eye blood in you and. And that was. Gosh, you were pretty close to. To U of I. You grew up, gosh, how far away?

Maybe 20 minutes, 20, 30 minutes, something like that. It was right next door.

Yep, it was real convenient. It was right in your backyard. You obviously got a quality education there and all started at community college. But anyhow, talk, if you would, about your collegiate studies, which of course began prior to your injury and you resumed those studies during the recovery phase following your incident, Olivia. So talk about your collegiate days.

Yes, I started going to community college. I mean, when I was 16, was when I kind of started taking classes. But when I had my accident, yeah, I was, I think, two. No, I was a year into an associate's degree. And so I just had one more year left and it happened over the summer, so I took the semester off. I was in, you know, rehab hospital in Chicago. And when they said, you know, you can go back to central Illinois, in my head, I just thought, okay, well, I'm going to go back to normal life. Let's just go back to, you know, college, want to graduate college, want to get too far behind because in my head, like, being a year behind in college was going to be crazy. I couldn't do that. So I went back to college straight away. And yeah, that probably wasn't the best idea. Probably should have taken a little more time off, but did that. Got my associate's degree. Then I transferred over to the University of Illinois for the last two years, my bachelor's degree. So that was really exciting because pretty sure all of my aunts and uncles on my mom's side, they all graduated from the University of Illinois. Illinois. So yeah, it's. It was very family.

You would have stuck. You would have stuck out like a green thumb if you'd have gone elsewhere.

Honestly. Honestly. It was kind of one of those, you know, you gotta be.

Let's say your undergrad degree is in English, correct?

It's in linguistics with a minor in teaching English to speakers of other languages. So, yeah, study languages and English.

Okay. And then your, your master's degree you earned from the University of Bath, which is in the United Kingdom. And. And what was this master's then?

That one was in education, so it was a master's of education in English and then teaching English to speakers of other languages. So when they read out our whole thing, you know, when we're all graduating, ours was very, very long for our program. But yeah, so it's education, English teaching, English just because of other languages. So English teaching.

Did you find yourself talking in a British accent along where you stayed in the United Kingdom?

You know what?

I tried. I tried. My friends were like, maybe don't maybe stop. Olivia, that's. That's probably not a great accent you're doing.

Oh, they were hard on. I'm sure it was better than they gave you credit for, but maybe, hopefully. But anyhow, Olivia, you were actually, I know, in the Dominican Republic at the time of your spinal cord injury. So tell me about the. The work you were involved in at the time and the manner in which the injury occurred.

Yeah, so I was doing an internship with GO Ministries, which is actually based here in Louisville. So they do. Facilitating short term missions trips with churches in America to mostly the Dominican Republic. They're kind of expanding into other Central and South American countries now, but at least time it was just Haiti and the Dominican Republic. And they also partner with like the community around the cities that they're in so that they are helping people in their communities to build up their own communities, giving them the resources for that. So, yeah, I was doing an internship over the summer our at that internship with. With that church that was there during that week, they were doing construction on what is now called the Leadership Development Team complex. It was still little. The groundwork was still being laid at that time. At this point, it's open, it's fully functioning, so that's crazy to see. You know, go back and see. Wow, that's so long ago. And we were just building it then. Yeah, it's great. They're. They're doing their thing with it. It was crazy. Yeah. So while we were there, I fell through the floor of a building about like 20ft, something like that.

So

L2 and T9 were the. The vertebrae that I injured. So. Yep.

Oh, and you're in your 20 foot tumble there a rough way to injure yourself, for sure. But needless to say, you. You bounced back in a. In a big way. And I'm. I'm betting you made the recovery look like a breeze in the eyes of a lot of people, but it obviously never is. And in situations like yours. Now, you mentioned that the time that you spent in, you know, the rehab center in Chicago there, but let's expand on that, maybe give us a little more of a gist of the recovery process and sort of the biggest challenges that you faced during this time frame, Olivia.

Yeah, so I went to. At the time, it was called the Rehab Institute of Chicago. Right now, I think it's called the Shirley Ryan Ability Lab. So it's one of the biggest rehab hospitals in America. They're really awesome. It was really great. So going in, I was completely paralyzed from the waist down at first, couldn't move or feel anything. And talking to the doctors, they were. They weren't really either optimistic or pessimistic about things. They were just like, we don't really know because I have an incomplete spinal cord injury. So they're like.

So they were just kind of telling you what they knew and then just sort of leaving the rest to be determined?

Pretty much. Pretty much. They were like, we're gonna. We're gonna do what we can, and we're just gonna see how it goes. So over the course of the. The few months that I was there, slowly I was starting to get back a little bit of feeling a little bit movement here and there. So a lot of the work that we were doing, because when you have a spinal cord injury, at first they put you in, like, a back brace so that you're keeping everything straight and all that kind of stuff. So it couldn't have been pleasant. No, it was. It was horrible. It Was not fun. Sorry, it was not fun. Yeah, it was a lot of work. Especially after you get it off. Once you're. They say, okay, you're recovered a little bit enough now we can. Can take it off. All of those muscles in your trunk are like, atrophied, you know, because it's been a few months now. So you have to learn how to sit up again, how to, you know, twist and turn. And you're doing a lot of these things where they're, you know, you're sitting there and they put something, you know, across and you're like, okay, lean over and grab it and you're like. And you fall over.

So, yeah, your muscles have to adjust to that lack of support, shall we say.

Yeah, exactly. And then other part of it was kind of adjusting to being back upright. Right. Because you're. As you're recovering for those first few months, it's very much. Most of your time is spent lying down, basically. So they had this insane torture device that was medieval. It was like a table where they put you down on it, lying flat, and then they slowly raise it up, like, to vertical, because it's supposed to give, like, your blood pressure or like your heart and your muscles, like the workout to get your blood pressure back up to being upright. And yeah, it was. It was pretty bad. Like, I think I passed out a few times on it because, you know, it's just how it goes. You got to learn how to, you know, be upright again to get back to things, to do the rest of the recovery. So. Yeah, I also got Kafos, so knee ankle, foot orthosis, which is what I use now. Yeah, so they. We use those at first to. Once we're kind of adjusting back to being upright, it's like, okay, well, let's try to, you know, you're getting some feeling back in your legs. Let's try to start walking again. So using those KFOS to. I have that support to. To learn how to walk again. So lots of times spent between the parallel bars going back and forth, you know, it was. Yeah, it was a lot of work. It was really hard, but definitely worth

it in the end.

Yeah, yeah. You know what, you gotta. You gotta go through the hard stuff to. To get back to where you want to be.

Yeah. The saying no pain, no gain may be overused, but there's a lot of truth to it's.

Honestly, yes, it was a lot of pain, it was a lot of work. But, yeah, we made it here, we made it back. So.

Yeah. And you were up there in Chicago for what, two months, you said.

I'm trying to think. It was. It was kind of all a blur. It was. I was in inpatient rehab, like, staying actually in the hospital, I think for maybe a month and a half, two months. And then we stayed up there in Chicago, my mom and I. We stayed there for. For the rest of the semester, like, until Christmas, basically an outpatient rehab. So still with the Rehab Institute of Chicago, but they're outpatient place instead of the inpatient one.

Oh, okay. So at least you could, you know, get. Get maybe a slightly more luxurious bed in a motel.

Yes. We stayed at the. The Ronald McDonald House, because there was one kind of like in the same house.

Okay.

Yes. Which is an awesome charity that really is doing a lot of stuff for. For people who. A lot of people that were there with us, they were parents of children who were having illnesses in hospital, so they had needed a place to stay. So I think we were one of the only people who were at, like, an outpatient rehab place. So we've met a lot of parents, met a lot of kids, a lot of young kids. So. But, yeah, it was a great place. The staff there were awesome. You know, we were staying there for several months, so we got to know them pretty well. You made friends, I'm sure I did, yeah. And as I was progressing, you know, I got to places where I could start to walk a little bit farther and do a little bit more. So there was one day where my physical therapist, she was like, you know, when you're back home in the evenings, I want you to be, you know, walk around in circles with your. With your walker. So I was like, you know, walking around, and one of the staff members, she was like, olivia, you're walking. This is crazy. And, you know, she was super excited for me, so that was great. That was really nice.

She wasn't used to seeing you walk.

And so literally,

it was an adjustment for her, but a good adjustment. She was. She was all smiles when she. When she saw you take steps. I know. Now, you. You mentioned that, you know, when you first became hooked on para fencing, you were in the United Kingdom. So let's talk a little more about that. Tell me how exactly that you were first exposed to para fencing and what made you fall in love with it, Olivia, after dabbling in other adaptive sports previously.

Yeah, so honestly, I wasn't really involved with any adaptive sports before paraffencing. When I was in rehab, there was a few weeks where they said, hey, you should try to try out Some wheelchair basketball. Because where they had like a wheelchair basketball league in Chicago.

Yeah.

That was kind of associated with Rehab Institute of Chicago. And I tried it out. I was terrible at it. I. I was always terrible at able bodied basketball, too. So it really wasn't a surprise that it didn't translate over well. So I tried it out. It was. I was so bad at it. I just. I didn't really enjoy it. You know, we're all different. We all have different interests, and that just wasn't.

Well, you dabbled in it.

I did. I tried. And they didn't. They didn't really show me any other ones. They were just like, we have wheelchair basketball. And, you know. Okay. So I was thinking, all right, well, I guess sports are not a thing I can do anymore. Which is sad, you know, because that'd be a big part of, you know, my childhood growing up. So I think it was maybe, what, seven. Seven years from that until when I kind of started para fencing. Yeah. So I was at the University of Bath, and that's actually where the British national team does their training at the University of Bath. They have a specific training center at Bath that they.

Oh, that was convenient. While you were.

Yeah.

All simultaneously pursuing your master's degree.

Yeah, it was crazy. I saw a news article that was in our, like, you know, university newsletter or whatever, and it was talking about their national team and someone, a guy named Piers Gilliver, who's, you know, one of the top fencers in the world about how I think he went. He graduated from the University of Bath. He, you know, trains there with the national team. I was like, how come no one ever told me about this one? This is fascinating. So I emailed around. It was right before Christmas. I had. I'd emailed a few people and I said, hey, can I try it out? And I didn't hear back, actually, and I kind of forgot about it. And I was going in my spam one time looking for something in my email inbox, and I saw a message that was a reply from back from December about, hey, yeah, if you want to come try Fairfence, then go for it. This was like, April.

And I was like, thank goodness you checked your spam.

Well, yeah, I was like, oh, I forgot about that. So I emailed them back and they're like, oh, cool. We're so glad to hear back from you. We were worried we didn't hear from you. So, yeah, they let me come try it out at Bath Swords, which is a. Like a community fencing club at Bath. So got Started there. One of the. The guys who taught me how to fence, his name is Nat. He was kind of associated with the Paralympic team and Bath Swords. I also started training at Bristol Blades, which is another fencing club in Bristol, which is a town kind of near Bath, because he was doing stuff there as well. So I was at that point training two or three times a week at different fencing clubs. So it was. It was definitely a really big stress relief from my degree because we're doing a lot of. A lot of studying, a lot of writing, and it was nice to go in the evening and go, hit someone with a sword. It's a really nice. You hit someone with a sword, and it's a very nice, like, you know, funk sound. Oh, I love that. It's great.

Vent your frustrations and really, really take them out in a. In a productive manner. Now you train two or three times a week, you know, at these different places while you were finishing up your. Your master's degree. And did you. Did you stay in Bath for a short while afterwards before you came to Louisville?

No, not really. So my visa, it was a student visa, and it expired a very hard deadline for expiration. So once we were done in October, I think it was, you know, October 1st, it was. You had to go back to America. So I was like, all right, cool. So I had made plans to come back to Louisville.

So you've been training in Louisville at that fencing center ever since?

Yep. The Louisville Fencing center lfc? Yep. They've been around for. For a good long time. So they were started by Les Stowicki. He used to be, like I said, the. The Paralympic coach for a while.

That's a fun name to say.

It is, yes. I think he's from Poland, if I'm not mistaken. I could be wrong about that. But he moved here and started fencing center, Got really involved in the Paralympic team. Kind of built up the program from the. From the beginning.

And training is an ongoing thing. So when you're. When you're not competing, you're still out there several times a week, I bet, aren't you?

Yep. We're there at least three times a week doing a few hours of fencing. So my coach, he's kind of the person who's a little bit in charge of the fencing center. Right now. We're going through a bit of, like, a little transition, moving to a new area that's a little bit more on the east side, because right now it's kind of downtown, near. What's it near? It's kind of near the river, like the, the Muhammad Ali Museum kind of.

Yeah. Slugger field kind of sort of.

Yeah. A little bit farther west than that.

Farther west. Okay.

Yeah. So they're moving a little farther east.

So they're, they're moving to a new location.

Yep, yep. So yeah. There's my coach, Tom. He's awesome. Tom Monarch. He's kind of the person who's taken the reins of the, the fencing center at this point.

Shout out to Tom Monarch.

He's great. So you train one on one with him? Yep. So we do lessons and then I'm the only para fencer at LFC right now. So when I want to do batting or any extra training, I train with the able bodied fencers. So that's really awesome. They're very, they've been very welcoming to me coming in kind of as the new person. So. And they're all really excited to, to kind of try out paraffencing. Throughout the years they've had different wheelchair fencers come in and out, so.

So you're not the first one they've ever seen or anything?

No. So some of them, if they're fairly new, they had never tried it before. So kind of getting used to it was a little bit, a little bit of adjustment for them. But there are several people who, throughout their, you know, decades of fencing that they've, they've done it.

It's great that you're able to enjoy the experience of fencing right alongside those folks now. How long are most of your training sessions? Hour, two hours.

It really just depends. We could be there probably about two hours would probably be.

Well and it probably depends on how close you are to a World Cup national cup event.

Yes, that is true. Yep. If we're, if we're coming up to competition. So yeah, World Cups especially, you gotta take a little bit extra time, maybe do some stuff over the weekends as well.

So.

Yeah, it's really awesome.

Yeah, for sure.

You know, space and a community there. Everyone's. There's. They're very much something I appreciate about the able body fencers there is. They don't see fencing with me as like an obligation or just something that they have to do if they're told to. But they can use wheelchair fencing as a way to work on their own skills. So for me, obviously there's no footwork. Right. Because we're in a wheelchair. I don't do footwork so I can't help them of that. But when they come fence with me, they're working on their blade work and I Like their balance and focusing on like the, the way that their upper body works, which several people have told me is, has, has actually really, really increased their skills and their efficiency while they're fencing, able bodied fencing. So it's, it's great because wheelchair fencing is not just for people with disabilities. Able bodied people can try it out and use it as a way to train their own fencing in a very efficient manner because they're, you know, focused on a specific part of their game.

Right.

So where they can move, where they can use their footwork now.

Sure.

So, so it serves a purpose for them and they enjoy it and they, and they miss you if they didn't get the fence with you, Olivia. So let's just go ahead and admit that. But, but any, anyhow, you know, obviously no footwork in, no in paraffencing we alluded to that. But you know, other than that, I know there's, you know, other differences but also some noteworthy similarities between fencing and para fencing. So why don't. Let's compare and contrast here now, Olivia, and discuss some of the most striking similarities and, and differences between regular able body fencing and, and parafencing fencing.

So the rules in general are exactly the same. So there are three different weapons when it comes to fencing. So there's foil, epee and saber. Epee I would say is probably what people think of if they don't really know about fencing, that's probably what they think of when they think about fencing. It's a, I would call a stabbing weapon where there's a little button at the tip and the point is to stab your opponent, make the button go down and the light goes off on the box. For able bodied fencers, the target area on the body is everywhere. So there's no such thing as an off target in epa. So for para fencing they, the target area is kind of the main difference. So for epic, it's only the upper body. So anything from the waist up and so how they kind of separate that out is when you're doing epic, you wear this big skirt while you're fencing in wheelchair fencing. And it's made of a material that will block the signal. Like if you get hit in that area, the box won't go off, so you just keep fencing. So then with foil, the target area is actually the same as it is enabled body fencing, it's the upper body torso, so no arms and kind of like the neck area and then your torso. So that one the, you wear a vest, it's called a lame or a lame. Some People say it differently. It's made of the same same material as the EPA skirts are made of. So it's a conductive fabric. I don't know exactly what's in the fabric because I don't know. I've never really looked into it. I should probably Google it. You've not been in the factory when

those things are produced.

It's some kind of metallic something. I don't know. But for a saber and foil, it makes the button go off, and then for epee, it makes sure the button doesn't go off. So we. It's the same material used a different way. So there's all sorts of different electrical things that go into how to do it. So then for saber, that's the. The last one. So for foil, it's again, the stabbing weapon with the button. Saber is a slashing weapon. So there's no button on the end, it's just a sword. And you smack the person you want to whack him with the sword instead of just manually. Exactly. So saber is the one that I do mostly. I do dab a little bit in foil, but I'm not so super great at it. I try my best, but, you know, it doesn't always work out for me.

So you're mainly a saber stayer.

Yes. So for saber, there is a lame or a lame as well as in foil, but that one is the entire upper body. So all your arms, like the. The wrists around your cuff, and then your head as well. So you wear a mask. You know, when you're fencing, everyone wears a mask. And for episode, it's not made of metal, it's made of. Well, there is metal, but it's not the conductive metal in foil. It has the conductive metal part near the neck. And then in saber, the whole thing is conductive metal. So if you get hit in the head, the light will go off. If you get hit in the wrist, your light will go off. You get hit, you know, lower down, the light will go off. But for foil and saber, below the waist is off target. So there's. It won't. It won't go off if you get hit in the lower half of your body. In saber, it will go off. Actually, in foil, there is such thing as off target in foil. So if you get hit somewhere that's not covered with the lame, you'll get a white light instead of either a red or a green light. And they call that off target. And you start over again, you reset and try it over again. So. But yeah, there's no off targets in saber. So those are kind of the big

differences off targets inside. I hope you folks are listening intently because there's going to be a quiz on this when we get done.

At first, it's a little bit complicated. It is a lot to remember at first, but then you get into it and you're like, okay, cool, you know,

so, yeah, you know, you find your niche like you found yours in saber and, and, you know, you, you just take it from there. But anyhow, so. So there's a few more, you know, specifics in the. The target for para fencing that's a little more, you know, specific in the areas of the target range. But other than that, sounds like, you know, like you said, both are pretty similar in nature.

Yep.

Good to know that there for all the differences, there are plenty of similarities between those two as well. Now, probably the most important piece of adaptive equipment Olivia needed to excel in para fencing is an alternative wheelchair, which is uniquely tailored for para fencing. And I know that a generous grant from the Kelly Brush foundation allowed you to purchase this special wheelchair in 2023. So first off, before we talk about your grant, why don't you give us a little background on Kelly Brush foundation for those of us that aren't familiar.

It's a really awesome foundation started by Kelly Brush, who was a skier and she was an accident, has a spinal cord injury. So she does monos ski and kind of, that's. That's their big focus for the Kelly Rush foundation is they want to get people back into sports with spinal cord injuries. So their grants for adaptive equipment are specifically for people with spinal cord injuries. They have a few other ones that are for kind of a try it out grant where you can go try out different ones. And those are open to pretty much anyone with a disability. But so for a lot of people who get grants, they do a lot of different sports, monoski, some trail wheelchairs, like hand bikes, hand cycles, things like that. I think there was someone who did tennis, someone with wheelchair basketball, which are fencing. I was their first fencer. So they're really doing some awesome work to kind of break down that barrier, which is the big one for adaptive sports is money, right? That's the big thing because it costs a lot of money, right? Where our specialized wheelchairs and the different things that we need to do our sports thousands and thousands of dollars. So to. To have someone, you know, coming alongside of us, helping us out to, to get what we need to succeed at our sport is really awesome. So they're Great, Great.

Yeah. Kelly. Kelly Rush foundation definitely serves an important purpose for sure. Now talk, if you would, about how you had to qualify, Olivia, and meet the, you know, the mandated qualifications for this grant funding and the means by which you were ultimately chosen as a recipient for it.

Yeah. So the qualifications are obviously spinal cord injury for this grant and then kind of based on, you know, financial needs. So it was definitely something that I was not going to be able to afford on my own. So, you know, they have an application process, kind of an essay. I had to get a letter from a coach. So that again, back in Bath, he wrote me a lovely letter about, you know, how my aspirations. Yes. About my aspirations, where I wanted to go and all that kind of stuff. So I can't really speak to, you know, the. The specific reasons why I was chosen. You know, when I was talking to them later, they just found it very interesting for a new sport to get involved with, you know, to expand out to different sports. So I'm sure they were.

I'm sure, sure there was a sizable pool of applicants.

Oh, yes, yes.

Not all of them had letters coming from the United Kingdom, though.

No, that's true. That's true. And it is. It is restricted to people who are in America. So American citizens who live in America. So. Yeah, so I was back in America that time.

Sure, you were here. And so that money came to you in the right place at the right time. Indeed. And enabled you to find that specialized wheelchair. Olivia, your national and World cup events have taken you to various different parts of the US And a handful of other countries. These are far too numerous to mention, but one in particular that I wanted to highlight is your experience representing our country at last year's World Champions in Exxon. Am I pronouncing that right? Say Exxon, South Korea. And this was quite an honor as USA Para Fencing selected you to. To participate and represent us. So tell me first how you learned that you'd been chosen to represent us over in South Korea.

Yeah, I think I just got an email that was saying, you know, we have gotten our team together, and so here's what we're doing, how we're going. So I had been, you know, talking to our. Our team manager and our coach kind of before that, as we were going around the world circuit. And, yeah, it was definitely an honor to be chosen. It was a really, really fun time. It's.

It's.

It was that for the World Championships, it's more of a representation of how the Paralympics work than a normal World cup, so. For world cups and fencing competitions in general, you start out in pools, which is, they break up the fencers into different groups. For us, it's usually about five or six people to a group, and you fence to five points each person in your group. And then based on how many bouts that you won and how many touches you scored or received, they rank you. And then coming out of pools, you go into direct eliminations based on your ranking. So the, the lower ranked you are going into des, the person that you get is going to be higher ranked. So you want to, you want to try to get, you know, really high ranked as you're coming out of pools. That way you don't have to fence, you know, the, the gold medalist from, you know, Paris, which is never fun.

Sort of like if you're, if you're a low seed in the NCAA basketball tournament, you're going to be playing a high seed in the, in the first round.

So.

Yes, kind of similar to that concept,

I have to admit. I don't know much about NCAA basketball, but I think you're, you're, you're pretty correct there.

Yeah, well, the longer you stay in Kentucky, the more we will bring you up to speed on basketball. And it's related terminology, but yes, I see your point, and it sounds like this is pretty similar too. But anyway, what, what an opportunity. Now, how long, how long were you over there? South Korea.

In Korea, I was there for probably about 10 days, so about a week and a half. Yeah, the week before that, I was in Tokyo with the Japanese national team. They were doing a training camp before world championships. I had, you know, a few friends on the team and they said, why don't you come train with us, you know, for the week before. That sounds like a good time. And I was like, sure, why not? So I was in Japan training with them for a while, and I did one of their national competitions. They were having one and they were like, if you want to, you can, you know, compete. It's not, it's not restricted to just Japanese fencers. So I was there for that one as well. And then I had a few days between kind of when that ended and when world championships was going to start. So I was in Seoul for a few days, kind of being a tourist, looking around, and then got right into the fencing, you know, started out a

little sightseeing before you hit South Korea. Korea, or went to, you know, the world championships in South Korea. Obviously Seoul is, is there too, but, but anyway, you're, you're competing in Tokyo. Was A great precursor for that.

Yeah, it was. It was a good. A good kind of gear up to it. It wasn't. It was really no pressure. It was just kind of, you know, we're gonna use this as a little bit of practice, you know, before we go into World Championships where we don't have pools. So for the Paralympics and World Championships, you don't have pools going into the competition. You just draw your direct elimination and you go to 15, and if you lose, you're done, and that's. That's it for you. So that was a different way to compete that I'd never done before. You know, I'd always been used to pools.

So your horizons a little bit.

Yes, it's a great. Like that. A great kind of preparation for the parallel Olympics, because that's how that works.

So.

Yeah,

yeah, great. A great tune up indeed. So as far as your experience in the World Championships and in Exxon, describe the aspects of this experience, Olivia, that you found to be most valuable and beneficial for you.

Yeah. So going into the World Championships, it was a lot bigger and a lot, I would say, a lot more pressure, kind of than I'm used to, even at World Cups, because everyone's there. You know, there's. There's people from all over the world, which, when you go into a World cup, there are people from all over the world, but, you know, at certain ones, maybe a certain delegation from a country didn't come to that one, but you'll see them at the next one. But at this one, everyone was there. All the best fencers were there. You know, you're competing against Paralympians, you're competing against people who have, you know, won gold medals all over the world. And you're seeing these people at. It's a lot. A lot more pressure, a lot more. It feels a lot more serious. You know, World Cups, obviously, are very, very serious.

You.

You take it very seriously. But World Championships are just a whole other.

Yeah, that's a whole new level, isn't it?

It really was. It really was. But it was really awesome. And the people there who were putting it on were always. They were all so lovely and really, really nice. So it was a really good opportunity to meet some new people, make some friends, make more friends. Because, you know, a big part of wheelchair fencing is that, like I said, the good community. And so you're meeting people from all over the world, and at this one, there's even more people. So you're supposed to be like, oh, I know a few people on this team, who are your teammates? Who I've never met before. So you're meeting even more people than you were previously.

So, yeah, you're expanding your circle and, you know, meeting new people in the. The para fencing community. And for as stressful as things were at time, no doubt, and, you know, in the realm of compet. And it was definitely nice to be greeted by warm hospitality and so all in all, I know it was definitely an enjoyable experience for you and one that will serve you well. When we're going to say when. Olivia, you partake in the 2028 Paralympics?

Oh, yes, yes. It is a very, very good practice run for. For la. Yes, we're saying when we're. We're manifesting.

Yeah, yes.

Now we're. We're kind of coming up into the Paralympic qualification process now. A few World Cups at the beginning of the year and then going now into. Over the summer. There's not any World Cups going on. We have our national training camp and assessment camp kind of going into the new season in July. But for. For World Cup Cups and stuff like that, those start back up in, I think the end of August is when Thailand is. So there's one in Thailand. And then we have our zonal championships in October, end of October, beginning of November. And so those are the first two ones that kind of start to, quote, unquote, count now for the Paralympics. So those are. Things are even more serious now.

Yeah, I know the. Your very first opportunity to earn points towards qualifying for the 2028 Olympics came at a World cup event in Italy that you partook in. In fact, it was during the actual Olympics in Italy, correct?

Yeah, it was during Winter Olympics. It was crazy. We were in Pisa and obviously the Olympics were mostly in Milan and other places, so that was really cool. I actually got the chance to go to a hockey game. It was Canada versus Czechia, which was awesome. It was really awesome. I'm a big hockey fan.

Oh. And I'll tell you what, Canada is like Hockey Central. They take hockey real seriously up there.

It was crazy. It was really awesome. The atmosphere for that was. Was wild because I had a day off and I was like, you know what? I'm close to Milan. Let's go see a hockey game. It was crazy. Oh, my word. It was wild. And all the best hockey players there, you know, you got Sidney Crosby, you got Macklin Celebrini, you got Seth Jarvis and then all the Czech players. It was great. So. So I, I was. I was sat in the. The section with a bunch of other Czech fans. And I was like, might as well go for Czechia. So they were teaching me all the chants and stuff. And.

Yeah, if you didn't go for. If you didn't go for check, you might have, you know, gotten some things thrown action.

Exactly. Exactly. I was there.

We don't want that to happen.

Yeah, so that. Yeah, that was really. It was a fun little, like, detour, you know, kind of like a break, you know, from the World Cup. Like, hello, I'm going to go do this. Just. Just not think about fencing for a

little escape from reality.

Yeah. But, yeah, for the rest of it, that was. It was really awesome competition. So that one was. Yeah, in February. Then we had one in Budapest. Another World cup in Budapest in.

And just last week, as we're recording this, you went to Sarasota, Florida, didn't you?

Yeah, yeah. So we had a World cup for the first time in America, and I think three years in is next to Sarasota, Bradenton, Florida, at a sports high school called, I think, IMG Academy. It's a very, very big sports.

Oh, yeah, yeah, I've heard of that.

Yeah.

Yeah, for sure. But it's. It's great that the first, you know, your first event towards point qualifying was actually a part of the Olympics in Italy. That's pretty cool.

Yeah, it was.

And then, so talk a little more about just the process of accumulating points. How many do you need exactly?

It's like you have to be in the top 20 in the world, but also the top 30 is important. And then you got to be chosen by your delegation. But then if you're in the top three, you get to go automatically. But if you're in the top. If you're the top position in your zone, so, like, the Americas or Asia or Europe or whatever, then you get to go without getting chosen by your delegation.

So top three, top 20, those are the most. Those are the two most important numbers.

And you get. You get certain points for, like, when you go to a World cup, if you finish, it's actually. It changes depending on the competition, how many points you get. So if you go to it and you finish in the top, like in. In Bradenton Floor, if you. If you finish in the top 16, you get. You got eight points. If you attended and you finish the competition, you would, at the base level, get four points. And then if you get higher, like, top eight or something, you would get even more points. So it depends on kind of where you're finishing, where you're ending up in the competition, but it also changes depending on the competition. So, like, world Championships, you get more points for zonals. Zonal championships, like, for, you know, the Americas. That one's in. In October, you'll get more points depending on where you finish for that one. It's all very complicated.

Yeah. So for each of those World cup events, you're gonna at least get a few points simply for being a participant.

Yes, yes. You. You get points for, you know, coming and fencing, and those kind of accumulate and decide where your world ranking is. So right now I'm ranked number 20th in the world for women's saber. How about that? So, you know, I've been working hard. That's. That's definitely proof of, you know, kind of the. The grind I've been on for the past few years. That was really exciting to see after Florida kind of.

Yeah, it's definitely paying off.

Goals are. Are definitely starting to. To be met. So that was really awesome. You know, finishing in the top 16 in. In Bradenton, Florida, was really awesome. That was. That was a really great kind of confidence boost going into our new season here as it gets more serious. So that was definitely a. All right, this season's going to be great. This season could be awesome.

So, you know, while you're still focused on what's ahead, you know, you're still sort of in celebration mode after that top 16 finish and.

Oh, yes, that's very proud.

That's definitely something to be proud of for sure. And folks in your shoes definitely have to be goal oriented, don't they?

Yeah. If you come into this without kind of where you want to go, without knowing what you want to do, it's going to be harder to be in this space because it's very. This is the top level of the sport. Right. This is the professional level. And if you don't sit down and think about your goals and say, here's what I want to do, here's how I'm going to do it, and here are the actionable steps, you know, the smart goals that I'm going to have to get there. It's going to be really hard to succeed. So it's been, yeah, a big process to kind of learning how to do that, you know, working with kind of sports psychologists and learning about how to get prepared mentally as well as physically. You know, you can put in all the work in the world of working out and training, but if. If you go to a competition and you haven't done the mental work as well. Yeah, it's not gonna it's not gonna work out very well for you. Yeah, so that was, that was a big part I had to learn.

You know, a lot of people don't realize how much, much mental work goes into it to go, you know, in addition to the, you know, all the physical stuff. But anyhow, so, so, you know, as we're recording this, we're a few months out from, from your next event. So I guess you've got the summer to, you know, basically train there in, in Louisville and, and get yourself ready.

Yep. Yeah. So we have, yeah, the whole summer to get ready for, for Thailand. That's another World cup that's coming up. So we're going to be grinding real hard during the summer. We have, like I said, we have a training assessment camp in Colorado Springs at the Olympic and Paralympic Training center and there are a few other things that are kind of going to be

happening over the summer that'll be fun for you and you know, as will Thailand and, and everything else going on in, in your life right now. Now, I noticed that you're your dad, Mark Scott, established for you a GoFundMe page to help with your many expenses because, you know, it goes without saying, and we've alluded to this too, this stuff definitely a. It definitely ain't cheap, but this is a great avenue for people to not only keep up with, you know, with your para fencing pursuits, but also to support your very worthy call. So to close things out here, Olivia, why don't you elaborate a bit more on the time and expense challenges that you're battling in your quest to reach 2028, the LA Olympics and the ways that we can assist you in conquering these challenges.

Yeah, so like we mentioned before, one of the biggest barriers in sports in general, but definitely adaptive sports is cost and financing kind of where you want to go, especially at this high of a level. So for, unfortunately for adaptive sports, there's just really not a lot of funding out there because there's a limited amount of grants and a ton of people trying to, trying to get those grants. So for a lot of fencers, we're all self funded at this point. For the, the official National Paralympic team, they do have a little bit of funding, but for the rest of us who are kind of just right outside that, we're still working towards it. So we're at that level, but we're not quite on the Paralympic team. Everything is coming out of our pockets. So to go to a World cup, it's gonna be on average about $2,000 for your flights and then the lodging, because you can stay kind of with the, the host accommodations. They don't mind if you stay like in an Airbnb to kind of save some money if you want to. But in general, you want to stay kind of with the, the host accommodations that they provided. So with flights and food and host accommodations, all that kind of stuff, you're looking minimum $2,000 depending on other place. Like when you're going to Thailand or South Korea, it's more towards 3 to 3, $500.

So you're looking at least a couple thousand per trip.

Yes. And we have about four or five of those a season, and that's not including the national competitions that we have because we have about three of those a year. So, yeah, we're going to seven to eight competitions probably a year. That's kind of what we're looking at. So.

Yeah. Plus, of course, like we mentioned, you've got your adaptive wheelchair too, and, and there's some other adaptive equipment that's coming out of your pocket too, isn't it?

Yeah.

So for wheelchair fencing, the wheelchair is kind of our big adaptive.

That's the most important piece for sure.

Yeah, that for able bodied fencers, that's kind of really the, for me personally, it's the only thing that I have that is different from the able bodied fencing kit. So if there are people who, depending on, depending on your disability, you place in different categories A and B. And so there are other people who use some, some extra adaptive equipment for stability or to help them in the way that they fence. So then on top of that, you also have all of the fencing kit itself, so all your jackets, your whites, your blades, your, your masks, your gloves and all that kind of stuff. And it's definitely not a cheap sport. It's a fun sport. I love it so much, but it's definitely not cheap.

You're, you're in it for the passion and it's definitely, definitely served you well to this point and it's, it's gonna continue serving you well. So, folks, I will link you to Olivia's GoFundMe page in the show notes as well so that you can contribute as you are able and we would encourage you to do so. You can also, like we said, keep up with Olivia shenanigans and all that she's got going on between her, her World Cup, national cup events and, and that sort of thing. And it goes without saying that, that we wish you all the luck in the world, Olivia. So you folks make sure that you Support as you're able and make sure that you're in Los Angeles again when Olivia partakes in the 2028 Paralympics to be held out there two years from now. Well, thanks a bunch, Olivia, for taking time out of your very busy career and training schedule to join us today. I have had a blast. I hope you've enjoyed it.

I found it so much fun. Thanks for having me. Like I said, I could. I could yap on about this for hours, but, yeah, it's been. It's been a great time to chat about this awesome sport and hopefully, you know, get out the word to other people with disabilities who kind of have looked at the adaptive sports that are out there and really haven't found their niche yet. I hope maybe you can try this one out. Try some wheelchair fencing, see if it fits you. And yeah, get out there, try it out for yourself.

Yeah, at least give it a shot so that you can say you gave it a shot, if nothing else. And. And who knows? You might fall in love with it just like Olivia fell in love with it. And Olivia, since you can yap on about it so much, we'll do it again.

Okay. Demand and Disrupt is a production of the Advocado Press with generous support from the center for Accessible Living, based in Louisville, Kentucky. Our executive producers are me, Kimberly Parsley, and Dave Mathis. Our sound engineer is. Is Michael Parsley. Thanks to Chris Ankin for the use of his song Change. Don't forget to follow or subscribe so you never miss an episode and please consider leaving a review. You can find links to our email and social media in the show notes. Please reach out and let's keep the conversation going. Thanks, everyone.

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