European Veteran Individual Championships 2023

The European Veteran Individual Championships took place recently in Thionville, France. Scotland were well represented across all weapons and categories. Some highlights of the event for Scottish fencers were Gold medals for Georgina Usher in the Women’s Epee V2 and Vivien Frith in the Women’s Sabre V4, and Bronze medals for Hugh Kernohan in Men’s Epee V3, Silvia Brown in Women’s Sabre V4 and Michele Narey in Women’s Sabre V2.

Congratulations to all of the medal winners and everyone who made the journey to France to compete.

To view full results from the event, click here.

Scottish School Championships 2023

Scottish Fencing can confirm the check-in and start times for the upcoming Scottish Secondary School Championships are:

Saturday - 9-9.15 Foil (all age groups)  9.30 start

Sunday - 9-9.15 Epee (all age groups)  9.30 start

Sunday - 12.30-12.45 Sabre (all age groups) 1.00 start

We need epee referees and sabre referees for Sunday so if you can spare half a day to help our Junior fencers have a memorable event please email us at admin@scottish-fencing.com

UK Anti-Doping Clean Sport week 2023

We’re part of the team, are you? Scottish Fencing is ready to support UKAD’s Clean Sport Week

We all have a role to play in keeping sport fair and clean. Scottish Fencing is proud to reaffirm our commitment to clean sport by backing UK Anti-Doping’s (UKAD’s) Clean Sport Week campaign.

Clean Sport Week is UKAD’s national awareness week championing clean sport, education and anti-doping initiatives with sports across the UK.

This year’s Clean Sport Week takes place on 22 – 26 May 2023. The theme is “Teamwork in Clean Sport”.

Athletes are central to the team, responsible for making sure they compete clean – it's their body, their responsibility. Coaches, doctors, medical staff, parents, and us as the National Governing Body for [insert sport]. We are all part of the team and play a vital role in supporting athletes. Collectively, we need to stay educated, inform athletes of their responsibilities, and create a positive culture that gives athletes confidence to win well, without doping.

In support of UKAD, we’re getting behind Clean Sport Week. We challenge all athletes, coaches, and athlete support personnel to show your team player credentials and work together with athletes to fulfil their anti-doping responsibilities.

We are also proud to be working with UKAD on the Assurance Framework, which National Governing Bodies must complete to show they are meeting their anti-doping responsibilities. As part of this, we’ve been creating an Education Strategy to support athletes early on in their career.

To kick off Clean Sport Week, don’t miss UKAD’s Clean Sport Week webinar on Monday 22 May, which is being broadcast live from Loughborough University and is open to all. The webinar will look at important anti-doping topics and provide advice for all roles in clean sport on being a team player and supporting athletes.

We also encourage anyone in our sporting community that would like to learn more about anti-doping to sign up to UKAD’s Clean Sport Hub where there are free education courses for athletes, students, coaches and practitioners.

Follow @ukantidoping on social media to see a range of educational and exciting content throughout the week.

To find out more about UKAD’s Clean Sport Week initiative click here.

Scottish Fencing Coach Education 24-25 June 2023

The next Coach Education weekend will take place on Saturday 24th & Sunday 25th June 2023

Timings - 10am-4pm

Venue: University of Strathclyde Sport, Health & Wellbeing Centre, 160 Cathedral Street, Glasgow, G4 0RF

Information

All levels are welcome from non-fencers looking to lead plastic fencing classes to experienced fencing coaches looking to build their skills and get qualified in a higher level.

Level One - Coaching the fundamentals - Community Coach

Suitable for club leaders and those teaching plastic fencing

Level Two - Coaching Fencing - Development Coach

Eligibility:To apply you should meet one of the following criteria:

  • have completed Level One and any Action Plan given to you by the tutors, 

  • already hold a coaching qualification, or

  • have coaching experience and understand the principles of how to coach

 Level Three - Club and Competition Coach - Performance Coach

Eligibility: You must hold a Scottish Fencing Level 2 qualification in the same weapon you wish to qualify in.

Cost for Scottish Fencing members is £25 per day, for non-members £45

On successfully reaching the required standard, coaches can apply for certificates. Cost of Level 1 certificate is £60; L2 is £120 and L3 is £180.

To register please complete the Scottish Fencing Coach Education registration form.

If you have any questions please email us at admin@scottish-fencing.com

British Youth Championships 2023

There were some great podium results for Scottish fencers at the recent British Youth Championships.

Thanks to Val Cramb for highlighting these. If anyone is missed please send us a podium picture and we can add their results to this post. You can also find full results of the BYC here.

Congratulations to everyone who took part, here are some highlights:

Gold - Jac Hu, Edinburgh Fencing Club- U14 Girls Foil

Podium picture of BYC U14 Girls Foilists with Gold medal winner Jac Hu holding her trophy

 Silver - Zoe Wagstaff, Salle Holyrood- U18 Girls Foil

Podium picture of BYC U18 Girls Foil finalists including silver medalist Zoe Wagstaff

 Silver - EIlidh Paterson, RTWFC - U14 Girls Epee

 Silver - Orlaith Lindsay Dorward, Salle Ossian - U12 Girls sabre

Podium picture of BYC U12 Girls Sabre finalists including silver medalist Orlaith Lindsay Dorward

Pictures curtesy of British Fencing and V Cramb

British Veterans Championships

Scottish fencers and clubs had a good weekend in Oldham at the British Veterans Championships recently winning three of the six titles and medals in every event.  Sheila Anderson (WF), Mike Mackay (MF) and Georgina Usher (WE) all went home British champions.  There were silver medals for Hugh Kernohan (ME)  and Mo Mansoori (MS), and bronze medals for Nick Mort (MF), Ros Graham and Naomi Donaldson (WS).  Silvia Brown won the 70+ age-category medal in the Women's Sabre;  Hugh, Mo and Naomi won their age categories too.


Congratulations to the medal winners and all who competed.

To view full results, click here.

Thanks to Gillian Aghajan for the images.

DT Training opportunity


We are planning to run two DT training sessions online delivered by Alex Savin and Lorraine Rose. The sessions will cover the running of events, including how to timetable the poules/DE and plan referee cover. 

There will then be an opportunity for some people to practice at the Scottish Schools Championship under supervision from Alex who will support and provide feedback.


The sessions will take place online on the following dates and times:

28th May - 11.00am-1.30pm - via Zoom
30th May - 6.00pm-8.30pm - via Zoom


Places are limited and will be on a first come first served basis. If you would be interested in learning more about what is involved in running a fencing event and would like to register, please click here.

Coronation Champions Award

Coronation Champions Award 2023

David Barbour, Chair of the Foundation for Scottish Fencing been selected as one of the 500 official Coronation Champions!

The #CoronationChampionsAwards, launched by @RoyalVoluntaryService, is all about celebrating the work of extraordinary volunteers across the UK. A total of 500 volunteers have been selected as Coronation Champions out of 5,000 nominations and will receive an official Coronation Champions pin badge, a signed certificate from Their Majesties, and an invite to a Coronation Garden Party at Holyrood Palace.

David has worked tirelessly for the Foundation for Scottish Fencing for many years, supporting fencers and clubs and removing barriers to taking part in the sport. David isn’t alone in keeping the Foundation running, he has been supported by Fiona Morrison and Marie Steele and all three have done an amazing job to provide opportunities for young fencers to compete and enjoy the sport. Well done all!

Glasgow Open and GB Cup Qualifier

A note from David Moody, one of the organisers of this years Glasgow Open.

The 1st and 2nd of April saw the return of the Glasgow Open, back on for the first time since 2019! The event was a massive success, with over 140 entries across all 6 weapons and numerous fencers from the top 10 of the GB senior rankings. This was the first year that the event was organised as a collaboration between Salle Solas and Glasgow University Fencing Club, with invaluable support from Leon Paul Scotland, Glasgow West End Fencing Club, MX Medical, Paul Thompson (armoury), and our team of competent and professional referees. We aim to improve and grow our event in the future and would like to help facilitate events across Scotland, so if you have any feedback or you are thinking about organising an event of your own please get in touch with us at glasgow-open@sallesolas.scot .


WINNERS:

Men’s Epee: Alex Papadopoulous (Edinburgh Fencing Club)

Women’s Epee: Marie Gerardin (Edinburgh University Fencing Club)

Men’s Sabre: Rory McLellan (Edinburgh University Fencing Club)

Women’s Sabre: Nicole Saunders (Premier Sabre Academy)

Men’s Foil: Lachlan Grant (St Andrews University Fencing Club)

Women’s Foil: Katie Smith (Edinburgh Fencing Club)


Best club (The Dusty Memorial Trophy): Edinburgh Fencing Club

Best veteran: Naomi Donaldson (Sancroft Blades)

Best student: Alice Knowles (University of Strathclyde Fencing Club)

For full results click here.

Veteran Home Nations Quadrangular 2023

The Veteran Home Nations Quadrangular was held at Trinity College, Dublin recently. Scotland won Gold in both the Men’s and Women’s Sabre and Men’s Foil event. With three Gold medals, the Scotland team were equal with England for the first time in many years. Congratulations to England, who were the winners of the Justin Smith Trophy due to more second place finishes in the weapon events. Many congratulations to all who took part. Scotland look forward to hosting the event in 2024.

For the results table, please click here.