My guest today, Miles Chamber Watson, is on a mission to take fencing mainstream.
A british born, six foot four black man covered in tattoos with bleach blond hair, he breaks pretty much every generation's old assumption and mold about what the staid, traditionally conservative, and often elitist sport is all about.
Miles actually struggled a lot as a kid, especially with focus and attention and school.
Until one day a teacher introduced him to fencing.
That moment, for him, well, it changed everything.
He was obsessed, and it gave him this physicalized way to learn and to develop intense focus.
That soon changed everything in his life and became a bit of a driving force.
Miles wanted to be the best in the world and win the Olympics.
And indeed, already a world champion and an Olympic medalist, he's well on his way.
Miles also decided to redefine the public perception of the sport to make it more modern and alive and high profile, really appealing to a younger generation, especially those like him, who were often excluded from the pursuit.
And he's on a mission to also reimagine the financial side of the pursuit, introducing a level of popular appeal, relevance, and excitement that's landed him huge social media followings and big endorsement deals with brands like Coach and Red Bull.
So excited to share this conversation with you.
I'm Jonathan Fields, and this is good life project.
You're up in Vancouver doing some training, but pretty much raised in New York, but I guess even before that, born in London or around London.
Tell me a little bit about sort of early life for you before you headed to the States.
I was born in London, born in between Brixton and Ealing Broadway, which is kind of outside London.
I was in football growing up, was kind of the only sports up.
Football, rugby, cricket.
It's kind of what London is known for.
And then my mother met my stepdad, my dad, and he was like, hey, I'm moving back to New York City.