Hello everyone
There are a few updates to share with you as we move into the new financial year.
We have hosted the first 2 of our 3 strategy sessions and it’s been a thoroughly enjoyable experience for Board and Staff. We are grateful to members for their open-handed contributions during the sessions and are looking forward to session number 3 next week.
If you haven’t yet signed up, please do consider joining us on April 6th. Click here to signup.
Also, we have reached the conclusion of our Commonwealth Lead Weapon Coach recruitment and the candidates within the process will be contacted imminently with the outcome. We are excited for the next few months and the development and building of a Scottish Team under the guidance of Performance Consultant Keith Cook and our Lead Weapon Coaches. Please do keep an eye on our web and socials for a little more from the coaches over the next few weeks.
Speaking of all things “social” and digital media, we are delighted to announce the appointment of Georgia Haynes as our volunteer Digital Media Manager. Georgia is well known in the community as a competitive fencer and part of the Edinburgh University Fencing Club however she is equally adept at all things digital and we are delighted to have her expertise onboard as we move towards delivering the next iteration of our #ForgingTheFuture strategy.
Under Georgia’s scope of all things digital, you can expect some new and transformed messaging and social presence and we are all delighted to have her join the team – keep your eye out for an intro from Georgia as well as perhaps a debut video on the Scottish Fencing TikTok channel….
As we move into April, team selection for commonwealth championships will be at the forefront of many fencers minds and we will stand up the selection committee under Performance Director Paul Vaughan early in April with selection notifications shortly afterwards. Team training dates and locations are set to be announced in April also giving athletes and coaches as much notice as possible to plan necessary travel and commitments around attendance.
On Monday 4th April, Head of Pathways and Community Change Clare Queen will be delivering a British Fencing anti-doping community education session – please click here to get involved. This is a critical session for anyone keen to understand the rules, regulations and environment around anti-doping alongside the athlete and coach requirements to staying clean.
It’s also a big weekend for Scottish representation at GB Level, with a number of Scottish Fencers representing GBR on the piste and in coaching roles off-piste. With a particularly strong representation from Salle Holyrood, we do of course wish everyone all the best at the World Championships.
A piece of work we have been developing over time is the launch of the Scottish Fencing online store and our transition to a new kit supplier. We are delighted to welcome Nike to the SF stable and thanks to our retail partner PSL, we have our online store up and running. Read more here
Finally, this is my last note to you as a member of staff here at SF HQ. I’d like to extend my thanks to all the fencing community for your support and counsel over the last 4.5 years and of course a massive thank you to the SF staff team for being such fantastic colleagues.
It was a pleasure to be a part of it for so long.
Vincent Bryson
CEO – Scottish Fencing
