June 6th 2019
Some great results in May
We started May with a trip to Sheffield for the British Youth Championships. We had 3 fencers qualify this year, with Oscar N narrowly missing out in his first year in the U14 category.
Patch M, Joe K and Jack D all made the long trip to the EIS Sports Centre for the National Finals. They all fought bravely and learnt a lot. Unfortunately they all fell fairly early to vastly more experienced fencers. However it was a very good experience and the boys will have a much better idea what awaits them next year.
On the third weekend in May we headed down to Somerset for the yearly IAPS competition. Travelling this time to the fantastic Millfield Senior School were Jack D and Joe K in the U12s and Oscar N in the U14s.
The day started off very well for Joe who won all of his fights in the first round. Jack won 4 out of 6 and Oscar 2 of his 6. Oscar was ranked 15th after the first 2 rounds. He won his first eliminator fight 10-5 and lost to the eventual winner 10-2. It’s a big step up from U12 to U14, as Oscar is finding, so finishing 14th out of the whole competition is a huge achievement.
After his poule rounds Jack was ranked 12th and flew through his first eliminator 10-5. He lost to the number 5 seed in the next round, a very close 10-8. Very well done to Jack who finished 12th overall in only his second competition.
Joe finished his poules ranked 6th. He got a bye through the first round and unfortunately lost 10-8 in the second. A very solid performance by him finishing 9th overall.
Considering the amount of time fencing we have to practice fencing and the amount we compete, over the last few weekends we have had some very good results. Let’s keep it up!
James Roberts, Fencing Coach
