BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KERO) — Years ago, Bakersfield boxer Kevin Reeve lost an arm and a leg in a motorcycle accident. After that, he was left looking for a new sport. One day, while he was waiting for a doctors' appointment, something caught his attention; the sport of fencing.
"I went to have some adjustments on my leg, and while I was waiting for my doctor to come out, I just saw the brochure," said Reeve.
It was a brochure for free classes at the Kern Athletic Fencing Foundation.
Just over a year after his accident, Reeve decided to take the free classes, and that was the start of a new journey for him in fencing. Reeve says he liked it because it was similar to boxing.
"I came in to give it a try and it just caught. It was the same thing. It's about knowing your movements and knowing how to read people," said Reeve.
Reeve's ability to transfer his skills from the boxing ring to the piste was quickly noticed by his coach, Rudolph Streitz.
"He's like the perfect candidate for parafencing because he has previous sport experience with the boxing, so he is familiar with competition in general, and being an athlete, we knew that he would be able to adapt to fencing fairly readily," said Streitz.
Just eight months into the sport, Reeve exceeded expectations at the Kern Athletic Foundation, and they took notice. According to the president and founder of the Kern Athletic Fending Foundation Lucas Dobrzanski, that's when KAFF decided to help Reeve financially to compete in the National Wheelchair Fencing Championships.
"Kevin does not spend a penny for fencing," said Dobrzanski. "We provide the coaching. We do all of that.
Dobrzanski says he hopes other parathletes will be inspired by Reeve.
"We are very excited at the fact that we now have sort of a poster child for parafencing, and nothing breeds success more than success, and him having a successful showing in Fort Worth, and this was a national championship," said Dobrzanski. "This was not exactly a cakewalk."
Regardless of the difficulty in competition, Reeve was still able to finish third in the Wheelchair Foil category and fifth in the Wheelchair Saber category, which he had had very little time to train for.
Reeve is also the first ever wheelchair fencer from Bakersfield to compete in the National Championships. Following that success, Reeve says now he will focus on what he needs to improve on in order to keep growing in the sport.
"I'd say, like, the movement that I was able to do in there kind of made up for some of my shortcomings with my bladework, and looking back on the videos, I can see how much the movement came into play," said Reeve. "I am so sore from it, but it was for a reason, so now I need to train that more."
Reeve's results in the National Championships have also caught the attention of other coaches in the sport. He has been invited by the United States parafencing coach to train with other parafencers from all over the world next month in Florida.
