Good evening fencers
In April we held a series of online presentations related to Commonwealth Championship preparation and one of the main questions posed was “how will a team be selected?”. At the time, we had very little information to go on as regards calendar and the type of competitions which may be permitted given the likely restrictions in Scotland and the wider UK around group sizes for over and under 18s and of course the likely changes to travel restrictions in Scotland and elsewhere.
Whilst there have recently been some ranking events for Under 18 age groups publicised, there is no requirement from Scottish Fencing for any athlete or their family to travel anywhere for competition at the moment.
At the briefing sessions we held regarding the Commonwealth Championships, the issue of selection came up and some ideas were received from those who attended those sessions.
Since those information sessions, a project group has been planning and exploring options for the Commonwealths and an update was provided to the Board on planning including the timeline for the consultation on the selection process. This was further discussed last night at the June SF Board meeting and agreement made on options to be presented to the members for consultation over July. I'm working with the SF staff team to get the document finalised and issued early in July.
I recognise that since those information sessions BF announced that BRCs were starting up and that more events have been advertised and that BF have also been consulting on changes to the Ranking Scheme and all of these will have raised questions as to the commonwealth selection. We'll address these in the options to be consulted on.
We realise there may be enthusiasm to collect ranking points but we absolutely do not require any Scottish athlete to begin travelling around the country just now, particularly if any family member or member of the same household is at higher risk of COVID infection.
Paul Vaughan - SF Performance Director
Blair Cremin - SF Pathways Manager
