Latest news - March 2022

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

Scottish Fencing #JustDoesIt

Scottish Fencing are delighted to announce our latest kit partner- with Nike joining us as we build towards the 2022 Commonwealth Championships and beyond.

SF CEO Vincent Bryson is delighted to have got this deal over the line with our kit supplier PSL and it should mean the Commonwealth athletes, coaches, staff and fans look fantastic in their latest sports gear.

Vincent said “It’s amazing to have Nike onboard with us for the next few years. Our retail partner PSL have developed a great online store for us and I am certain our athletes, coaches and (hopefully!) fans will enjoy wearing the new kit both to cheer the teams on in London and also for their own leisure. To have SF wearing one of THE iconic sports brands is just fantastic.

PSL Sales Director Rennie Keith said, ”We are delighted to bring Nike to the sport of Fencing in Scotland. We have created some unique pieces for Scottish Fencing and are delighted to continue our relationship with another governing body as it continue to grow.

With the Commonwealth Championships coming up in August it will be an exciting year for Fencing in the UK generally, and we are keen to make sure all the Scottish Athletes and staff look and feel great as they continue #ForgingTheFuture for these championships and beyond.”

The Nike range will have more pieces added to it over the next few months and we will have a competition to design a couple of pieces within the range including the 2022 Commonwealth Tracksuit. We are looking forward to offering members the chance to help design this so please stay tuned over the coming weeks for more info.

To check out the range - click here

#ForgingTheFuture - Scottish Fencing's strategy 2022-2025

Good morning everyone

As mentioned last week, we are hosting a series of sessions with members to discuss the updated Strategic Plan for Scottish Fencing up to 2025. We have published the plan in 2 formats available below.

#ForgingTheFuture 2022-2025 PDF Version

#ForgingTheFuture 2022-2025 PowerPoint Version

Scottish Fencing CEO Vincent Bryson had this to say about the updated strategic plan.

“It was a fascinating experience to revisit and update the original version of the #ForgingTheFuture strategy with the Board. Clearly, when we wrote the last version the world in general never mind fencing was different. The updated strategy highlights key opportunities where the sport of Fencing can play a key role in positively impacting people’s lives and our Board were and are keen to ensure this happens.

We have seen membership numbers return slowly towards pre-pandemic levels and it’s been great to see the amount of interest and desire for competition over the last few months. How we maximise and build on this in terms of making the sport accessible to all and focus on the Changing Lives methodology to help clubs be present and impactful in their communities resonates throughout the strategy. I hope members enjoy reading it and can make one of the sessions over the next few weeks with the SF Board.”

#ForgingTheFuture

Scottish Fencing Board strategy sessions

The Board of Scottish Fencing plan to host three strategy sessions for members to attend in the coming weeks.

The intention for the strategy sessions is to gather thoughts, opinion and answer questions based on the latest iteration of the #ForgingTheFuture strategic plan which will be presented to attendees at the sessions. We will publish the strategy beforehand on Monday 21st March.

Each session will be chaired by a member of the Scottish Fencing Board, and we look forward to seeing as many of you as possible.

There are 3 events scheduled, please register for your chosen session below. All sessions will take place online.

 To register click here.

George Liston

Chair - Scottish Fencing

Departure of CEO

Scottish Fencing can today confirm that Vincent Bryson, CEO, will leave his role at the end of March to take up a new post outside sport.
George Liston, Chair of the SF Board, highlighted the great contribution Vinny has made to Scottish Fencing in his five years leading the staff team.

George said:

“It is with mixed feelings that I tell you Vincent Bryson will be leaving Scottish Fencing in the coming weeks. I say mixed, as our loss is tempered by the fact that he has been successful in securing a significant post outside sport. We have benefited greatly from his experience and expertise throughout his tenure and wish him well in his next job.
Vinny’s contribution has been excellent. He has established a high-quality relationship with our strategic partner sportscotland, culminating this year in a significant uplift in our funding. He built his network across the wider sports community and brought in new ideas that have challenged us and assisted the sport to grow. During the pandemic he became a leading voice for sport in its dialogue with sportscotland, and the Scottish Government. He fought vigorously for all sports and for fencing.
It is Vinny’s ability to make connections, develop a strategy and encourage participation that his new employer will value most. For our part, on top of his hard work we won’t forget his sense of humour or his fascination with 1980’s tracksuits.”

Stan Stoodley, SF President, commented:

“Vinny worked hard for us and has personally been willing to rise to every challenge, from developing strategy to feeding Twitter to laying pistes. His recognition of the importance of the volunteer workforce in sustaining fencing has supported the growth of referee, coach and athlete pathways, delivering improvements at all levels of our sport.”

Sheila Anderson, HR Director said:

“The role of CEO in SF is one of shaping the strategic direction and plugging the gaps. Vinny did both with great success. He has created a harmonious staff team which has worked together to deliver for Scottish Fencing. He built the capability of the staff, enabling us to encourage and support clubs to be at the forefront of the Scottish Government's Changing Lives agenda. This will be a lasting part of his legacy with us.
The effectiveness of his relationship with British Fencing has resulted in work on joint projects, sharing ideas and learning across the staff teams. We look forward to continuing this work. I am glad to have worked with Vinny and wish him every success”

We are currently considering our staff structure in the light of Vinny’s departure. As a result of a successful increased investment bid we have scope to adjust the shape of the team to best use their skills in line with the development we are aiming for.

Please keep an eye on our website and social channels for more information.

Scottish Fencing Board
15 March 2022

Veteran Home Nations selection

The Scotland team selected for the Veterans Home Nations match in Bristol on 9 April is:

Women's Foil:

Sheila Anderson, Ruth Davidson, Helen Pitt. (NTR - Maria Cabrelli)

Women's Epee:

Karen Grant, Lorna Smith, Maggie Tait

Women's Sabre:

Viv Frith, Roz Graham, Michele Narey, Yvonne Walls

Men's Foil:

Rory Gibson, Mike McKay, Nick Mort, Paul Stanbridge

Men's Epee:

Andrew Brown, Niall Campbell, Malcolm Downie, Hugh Kernohan

Men's Sabre:

Keith Davidson, Richard Foster, Lindsay Rodgers, Paul Vaughan

2022 Scottish Open

This year’s Scottish Open took place at Inverclyde National Sports Training Centre in Largs. It was a great pleasure to chat with so many familiar faces from across the fencing generations and welcome them to our 6 weapon home event. The main hall at Inverclyde has recently undergone lighting improvements which enhanced everyone’s experience.

The fencing was very exciting to watch with many youngsters surprising their older opponents. The increasing complexity of fencing rules with its 3 P’s in foil and epee had lots of people chatting. Each day I witnessed many hard fought bouts with only the slightest margins in timing defining the win. Everyone was enjoying themselves. The full results are here on Fencing Time Live.

This year it was encouraging to see an increase in participation in our women’s events and we will actively encourage this trend going forward.  

A women's sabre match about to begin with an older women about to fence a younger competitor

Viv Mills was also in attendance at the event chatting with competitors and coaches about upcoming opportunities to develop parafencing within clubs and competitions as part of our commitment to developing fencing as an inclusive sport.

I would like to thank all the competitors that came along to Largs, the referees who supported the event and especially the volunteers that helped to set up and manage DT. In order to build and improve upon our collective experience of our Scottish Open and make it an outstanding event that people will look forward to coming to in the future I would like to encourage anyone interested in becoming a referee/para-referee, learning about DT, armoury, competition floor management for able bodied/parafencing and general volunteering to contact  me at president@scottish-fencing.com and I will seek to put you in touch with others who can help to develop your skills and knowledge.

A group of women referees with clipboards making their way to the hall to begin the poule matches

We will shortly be sending out a feedback questionnaire looking for ways to improve our event and I’d greatly appreciate you taking the time to fill it in and send it back to us. Thanks.

Looking forward to seeing you on a piste soon.

Stan Stoodley,

President, Scottish Fencing

News Update from Hugh Kernohan

Good afternoon everyone.

I write this to you all from the Inverclyde National Sports Centre where we will be hosting the Scottish Open next week. Fear not, I haven’t turned up ridiculously early for the Men’s Epee but thanks to sportscotland the board and staff team have been hosted here for 24 hours for our first face-to-face gathering since February 2020.   Apart from meeting in person some of the newcomers we had only ever seen on a screen, our purpose was to discuss our plans for the next strategic cycle. 

Shortly we will be publishing the next iteration of the #ForgingTheFuture strategy, covering the period up to March 2025.   We will hold a number of online sessions, hosted by the directors, to let members have the opportunity to ask questions on how we plan to put the strategy into effect and offer suggestions to strengthen those plans.   The staff team will also be in attendance.   When the sessions go live I encourage anyone interested to sign up:  it will be good to see you there.

On the competition front, I would like to offer my congratulations to those who competed in the recent Scottish Student Sport fencing beginners event, and my best wishes to those within the student community who are planning to head south for the BUCS Nationals this weekend.   I hope you travel safely and fence well.  If you have any media to share from BUCS, please do use the #ForgingTheFuture hashtag so we can re-share. 

On behalf of everyone within SF I’d like to extend the same thoughts to those travelling abroad on GBR duty this weekend. The commitment shown and sacrifices made to compete at this level are no small thing and you go with our best wishes.  I hope you enjoy the experience and learn from it.

Closer to home, we have the Scottish Open next week but also have the rescheduled Scottish Youth Championships for Under 20’s on 19 March at Bathgate Academy. Entries are now open and you can access them here.  As ever, we look forward to seeing the next generation of Scottish Champions.

Also on the weekend of 19-20 March, across both days , we have our first face-to-face coach education opportunities for a long time.   Please have a look here and sign up – our coach educators are looking forward to seeing you.

Coming up over the next few weeks will be updates on new Steering Groups run by the board and opportunities to volunteer as part of these, and in other areas of Scottish Fencing effort where you may wish to contribute your time and expertise. If you have a passion for digital media, competition delivery, or coaching then we will certainly have something for you.

Thank you and have a great weekend.

Hugh

Hugh Kernohan – Governance Director

#ForgingTheFuture

 

 

 

 

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