After moving to Houston training has be-
come easier for them. The Alliance Fenc-
ing Academy is where they train under the
Women’s FA National Fencing Coach. They
mentioned during the preparations for the
London Olympics they would drive the
three to four hour commute from San Anto-
nio to Houston to train at the Alliance Fenc-
ing Academy. Kelley said, “It really helps for
everything to be centralized so we can dedi-
cate more energy to training and not worry
about travelling.” Travelling is a huge logisti-
cal issue for fencers with all their gear and
arranging hotels when they go around the
world to compete.
Japan is something they are really looking
forward to and after asking them what their
expectations were both of their eyes lit up
with excitement. Kelley especially has always
wanted to go to Japan, making them even
more determined. They both told me how
they had been all through Europe and China
but had never visited Japan. The main reason
being is that Japan does not have a designated
fencing world cup. As the games approach and
the training difficulty increases, they recently
signed an endorsement deal with a compres-
sion clothing company called Newzill. I was
curious on how it started and when I asked
they answered jovially saying, “They are tak-
ing such good care of us and building their
product around us. No one has ever wanted
to do that with us before. Also we love the
different styles!” It seemed to have started out
as a casual thing but Newzill contacted them
wanting to get more and more involved.
Kelley and Courtney Hurley have an un-
breakable resolve to work the hardest they
can moving forward to the Tokyo Olympic
games in 2020. Their approach and style to
daily life and training will prove to bring
home even more medals for the United
States.
Interviewed and written by Chales Padgett
iF Magazine | www.iFMagazine.net
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