Dunedin Fencers visit Valencia

Four members of Edinburgh’s Dunedin Fencing Club recently paid a visit to Valencia as part of an international exchange with Valencian club La Robera Sala d’Armes.

Both clubs focus strongly on equality, inclusion and the extension of the sport to groups who might not otherwise get to experience fencing. The exchange came about through a meeting, at the Wheelchair Fencing World Cup held in Cardiff in January 2024, between Laura Perez Aguado (head coach of La Robera) and Alex McLeod (head coach of Dunedin).

Between 13 and 18 June, the group took part in the regular classes staged by La Robera, participating in open fencing, as well as coaching sessions with some of the junior and senior fencers from the club. There was also a strong focus on parafencing with para athletes fully integrated into both open fencing and coaching sessions. On Saturday 15 June, the Dunedin fencers also took part in a local competition, staged as part of Pride Month, with Alex McLeod coming second in the seniors section.

It is hoped that the La Robera fencers will visit Edinburgh in early 2025. The Dunedin fencers wish to extend their sincere thanks to all of those who made this trip possible.

Strategy Update

Thank you to everyone that has been part of the process so far. It’s great to hear all the feedback and ideas that you have for the future of fencing in Scotland.

From the feedback we received it was clear that the hashtag in the framework didn’t resonate with everyone. Before we can finalise the framework we are looking for your views on a hashtag. We have a very simple poll setup using some ideas provided by members and also there is space to suggest your own if you prefer.

To complete the poll click here

We are still progressing well against our original timeline and we now know our investment panel meeting with sportscotland will take place early October. Therefore we are aiming to have a first draft of the strategy completed before the end of August.

Youth Membership Consultation

At Scottish Fencing, we believe young people’s views are important to the current and future success of fencing in Scotland.  

Scottish Fencing want to ensure our young athletes’ can share their opinions and are provided with opportunities to improve the sport in Scotland . We would like your thoughts on how you would like to engage with Scottish Fencing and help us to understand the best way to hear your opinions and/or involve young athletes in the decision-making process.  

All surveys are completed anonymously. Scottish Fencing will not share anything you wish to talk about with your club or any coaches. Scottish Fencing will use the views you give to help Scottish Fencing understand how to speak to young people and how we can listen and act on what young people tell Scottish Fencing. 

Please could you complete the survey using the link below. It should only take 5 minutes or less. 

If you are under 16 please ask  your parent or guardian before completing the survey.  

We look forward to reading your opinions and involving you more closely in the future of our sport.  

Complete the Survey

Have Your Say - Strategic Framework

Thank you to everyone who has given feedback through our survey and focus groups, it has helped to shape the framework below. We are now looking for feedback on the framework as well as ideas on some of the projects that can underpin it.

This strategic framework aims to capture the thoughts and views of the members that engaged with the survey and focus groups as well as the thoughts of staff and board.

The strategy is something that aims to bring everyone together and when we talk about Scottish Fencing we mean everyone (not just staff and board). #WeAreScottishFencing refers to everyone working together for the shared purpose of ‘All For One, A Sport For All’.

We welcome feedback on all elements of this document and thank everyone that has contributed so far. Following your feedback, the next stage will be to add in all the details of what we will all do to achieve the objectives. A lot of ideas have already been captured from the initial consultations which is excellent.

Feedback form will close at 12 noon on Monday 8th July.

Strategic Framework (draft)

Feedback form

The Duellist Issue 9 Summer 2024

Elgin Duellist Fencing Club have shared with us their latest newsletter - The Duellist. There is some great stories and information on the latest goings on at the club so if you have not already seen it, be sure to check it out below.

The Duellist Summer 2024 Edition

Have Your Say

As part of our ongoing engagement around the new strategic plan we are offering a final chance to give us your thoughts as part of this first stage of engagement.

Please complete the form below if you would like to have your say.

Member Engagement Form

The information provided will go alongside the insights we already have from the survey and focus group sessions. The next step is for the staff and board to carry out a similar exercise and combine all the data so we have a diverse as possible view to influence the framework for the new strategy.

There will be further opportunities to engage and give your thoughts as the plan develops.

Hot Topic - Exploring Your Why?

In collaboration, Scottish Fencing & Scottish Archery on the back of the joint conference ran in April, are running an online session to Explore Your Why.

You may have heard the phrase Changing Lives in the context of sport, simply this is an approach to intentionally use sport as to help people and communities.

But it all starts with Why…

-          Why are you involved in your sport?

-          Why do put time in to organising and running your clubs sessions?

-          Why do you do what you do?

-          What is your clubs why? Is it the same as your why?

In this session, we will facilitate a discussion with attendees on Exploring Your Why. For some of you who attended the conference, you may have already got some insight into this, but you will find this useful for connecting and sharing.

We plan this as a first in a series of “hot topic” sessions on the Changing Lives approach over 2024 and we would love you to be part of this journey. We may all be at different stages in our journey – but that is ok as we want to provide the opportunity for people to network, share, inspire and learn from one another across sports that can continue the great work being done at our clubs and coaches sessions day in day out!

SIGN UP HERE

“When we know WHY we do what we do, everything falls into place. When we don’t, we have to push things into place.” – Simon Sinek

Glasgow Open 2024 Overview

Over the 6th and 7th of April over 150 fencers gathered in the south side of Glasgow for this year’s Glasgow Open. Saturday was packed with both men’s and women’s epee and sabre events, giving us our first four winners:

·       Men’s Epee: Rob Blackburne (Forth Valley Fencing Club)

·       Women’s Epee: Liddy Stanier (Edinburgh Fencing Club)

·       Men’s Sabre: Jerome Gan (St Andrews University)

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

Sunday saw men’s and women’s foilists battle it out for the top spots, producing our final two winners:

·       Men’s Foil: Jorge Hernando (Salle Holyrood)

·       Women’s Foil: Chloe Campbell (Forth Valley Fencing Club)

We were especially proud this year to run foil Level 2 referee training – congratulations Sean Walton (practical), Nye Ulferts-Kirkpatrick (practical), Matt Pocock (theory & practical), Etienne Sallé (theory), Ross Hardaker (theory) and Ferdinand Zakar-Smith (theory) for passing examinations over the weekend, and a big thank you to David Fielding for running the course and the rest of the referee team for helping accommodate it.

We also gave a number of other awards over the weekend:

• Dusty Memorial Trophy for Best Club: Edinburgh Fencing Club

• Best Veteran: Sheila Anderson (Glasgow West End Fencing Club)

• Best Student: Alice Knowles (University of Strathclyde)

Full results (including secondary competitions) available here!

We’d really love to see more competitions around Scotland and we’re eager to help anyone who wants to do so. If you’re interested in running a competition (particularly an Open) and don’t know where to start, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with us at glasgow-open@sallesolas.scot.

And finally, make sure to keep the 5th and 6th of April 2025 free 😉

Thanks to Mark Alvares for producing this overview of the Glasgow Open to share with the wider Scottish Fencing Community,

Online Focus Group

Following on from our member engagement survey we are now offering members the opportunity to come and chat a bit deeper about the future direction of Scottish Fencing.

Even if you missed the opportunity to complete the survey we would still welcome your involvement in this next stage of engagement.

We have 2 options for you Tuesday 28th May and Thursday 30th May, please complete the form below and indicate your preference.

Focus Group sign up form

Journey to the Podium: We’re collaborating with UKAD for this year’s Clean Sport Week, 13 – 17 May

13 May 2024

Scottish Fencing is proud to reaffirm our commitment to clean sport by backing UK Anti-Doping’s (UKAD’s) Clean Sport Week campaign from 13 - 17 May. 

 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 theme is “Journey to the Podium”. Throughout the week, UKAD will be showcasing the importance of the clean sport journey through the lens of athletes and the elite sport community. Anti-doping should be a key part of every athlete and support personnel’s journey – it should never be an afterthought. 

 Clean sport is an essential part of our athletes’ journeys to the podium / in professional sport. It takes a lifetime of work, commitment and a network of support to help athletes perform at the very top. This effort can be taken away in a moment by doping. Creating a culture of clean sport is essential for the health and welfare of our athletes and the integrity of archery.

 We all have a responsibility to keep sport clean, to raise awareness of anti-doping and to celebrate the successes of athletes - through hard work, determination and by competing clean. 

 We 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. Click to find out more about UKAD’s Clean Sport Week initiative.