It has been a year of medals for Lucy-Belle Williamson since winning the Grassroots Heroes young sports personality of the year award and now she has her vision clearly set on the future.

There have been challenges to overcome but the 10 year old fencing star has shown true grit and determination.

This past season has seen Lucy-Belle competing in three weapons at the British Youth Championships, a challenge that is rarely taken up by fencers of any age.

Lucy-Belle took it to a new level, winning Gold medals in Epee and Sabre as well as taking Silver in Foil.

Winning medals in all three weapons at the British Youth Championships is a historic event and shows her clear determination to excel.

Lucy-Belle also began her international fencing career, representing her country in Poland at one of the biggest under 11 competitions in Europe as well as fencing close at home, retaining her title of Yorkshire Champion and securing 1st place in the National Leon Paul Junior series.

The year was rounded off with the English Youth Championships, a two day Under 11 competition. Lucy-Belle kept her nerve winning all of her first round matches to be seeded number one going through to the knock out rounds.

Arriving at the pieste for the semi-final, Lucy-Belle showed her determination to fence on despite suffering from a 40 minute nose-bleed and the after-effects of blood loss.

Knowing she had limitations and could not fight at full speed for over 10 minutes, Lucy-Belle went for a very strategic approach to the match which was marred with complications.

The electrical system on the pieste failed as they were about to begin and following a change to another pieste, Lucy-Belle’s first two weapons failed testing resulting in a penalty point being awarded to her opponent.

Starting now on a score of 0-1 against Lucy-Belle, she showed her composure by aiming for a tactical finish.

Lucy-Belle brought the score carefully to 1-1 and then moved into passive play to force the referee to announce a final priority minute.

Unfortunately the luck of the draw was against Lucy-Belle meaning she had to hit her opponent before the minute was up or loose the match.

The final hit aimed at her opponent’s wrist missed and Lucy-Belle went out of the competition in 3rd place with a 2-1 defeat and secured the Bronze medal.

As well as battling her opponents, Lucy-Belle has also been getting to grips with the issue of fencing while wearing glasses.

Having broken numerous pairs, Phil Howlett, Managing Director of Planit Opticians in Colne came to the rescue, recognising the issue that Lucy-Belle was facing and rose to the challenge of finding a perfect solution.

Planit Opticians found Lucy-Belle a pair of sport glasses that not only last through a competition without fogging, but importantly, fit comfortably under the protective mask and are strong enough to survive the punishment encountered at high level fencing.

Phil didn’t stop there and not completely satisfied that this was the perfect solution for the fencing Star, Phil and the team are working with Lucy-Belle to see if contact lenses are the solution to a fog free future.

Phil Howlett, Managing Director of Planit Opticians said, “We have been supporting Lucy-Belle for about six months and while her optical needs have been challenging, we have worked with her to ensure that the specialist sports glasses are not only a perfect fit but also handle the very challenging circumstances.

"Wearing glasses under a mask while exercising at high speed naturally causes problems and contact lenses do not fog up under Lucy-Belle’s mask.

"We are proud to support Lucy-Belle and watch as she demonstrates that with the correct prescription, glasses or lenses, you can compete on equal grounds with anyone else.”

Lucy-Belle is now focusing on the new season which runs from September through to June and she is currently building a training and competition plan which includes tournaments across the UK as well as Germany, Denmark, Poland and France.

Her father, Ian Williamson who supports Lucy-Belle said: “The pressures of a full on training and competition schedule are very demanding and watching Lucy-Belle struggle with her vision while fencing is very frustrating.

“We are incredibly grateful to Phil and the team at Planit Opticians for their support and not only does Lucy-Belle have the best opticians but their support means that the money saved pays for another international competition; an experience that is invaluable to her development.

“Phil has been very patient and while Lucy-Belle was reluctant to try contact lenses, his team have helped her to overcome this and now she is showing confidence with them.”