"The amount of training I do used to depend on my age," says Kelly. "When I was 11, I did a little every week. When I was 13, I did a little more every week. When I was 14, I started training a little every day.

After a few successes, my training started to depend on my strength and conditioning, homework schedule, and upcoming competition schedule. At 15, I started training very seriously for the Olympics."

"Now, at age 16, " she says, "I train about 20 hours a week."

Kelly's training includes:

• Footwork (for balance, speed and strength);
• Weight training;
• Cross training (usually running or swimming);
• Fencing lessons that focus on both power and technique.

If you want to compete in athletic events, you'll need to get used to paying entry fees.

According to Kelly Hurley's mother, Tracy, "In the world of fencing, everyone pays entry fees for every tournament -- there are no free tournaments that I know of."

Entry fees for local tournaments, says Kelly, "are usually around $25. This just gives you the right to fence the tournament -- you don't get a t-shirt or anything -- everything else is extra." Kelly fences at about eight of these a year

National tournaments, on the other hand, are relatively expensive. "For the National championships," says Tracy, "we just paid $120 for her to fence. This just got her in the door and gave her the right to fence. There were no extras. Kelly fences about six of these a year."

European tournaments are usually subsidized by the host country, so usually, the athletes only pay about $20. 

This past year, Kelly fenced in about a dozen of these.

Nearly 7,000 miles of the autobahn connect nearly every major city and town in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. It's much like the United States' interstate highway system, except that speed limits are much higher, and in some instances unlimited.

At high speeds it's difficult to keep track of the other cars. There might be nobody behind you one moment, and then a car will come up fast behind you the next.

Motorcyclists seemed to drive the fastest, speeding by most every car on the autobahn.

In addition to the speed, another challenge is that all of the signs are in German, and distances are in kilometers rather than miles.