NSWFA Bulletin 01 May 2017

JOIN US TO CELEBRATE THE GRAND OPENING OF OUR NEW FENCING CENTRE

All members are invited to come along to the NSW Fencing Centre on the evening of Saturday 6 May to celebrate the achievement of our long-held dream to have a dedicated fencing centre in NSW.

Rio Olympic gold medal winner Chloe Esposito is our special guest and the Centre will be declared open by Jimmy Barnes and Via Napoli owner Luigi Esposito.

Entry and food are free, but bring your cash – we’ll have a raffle with super prizes!

ANNOUNCING OUR NEW NOVICE COMPETITION

NSW Fencing has brought back the Novice Challenges for Epee, Foil, and Sabre! These will take place Sunday 21 May at the NSW Fencing Centre. These Novice competitions are designed to engage new adult fencers who have not previously competed.

 

THE NEW NATIONAL UNDER 23s TROPHY IS OURS!

Last year Richard Emmerick (Mountains) presented a new trophy for the Under 23 national championships. It’s called the Charles Stanmore Trophy after an Australian Olympic fencer.

It’s been confirmed on the AFF website that in 2016 the first Charles Stanmore Trophy was won by New South Wales. Our fencers scored the most points from the top four placegetters from each State in each weapon and gender. Our medal winners were Freya Clarke and Grace White (gold), Sean Andrews and Jesse Morris (silver), Hannah Biskupic, James Boyd-Hoare, Matthew Dall’Asen, Violet Hull (bronze).

Charles Stanmore, who died in 2012 aged 88, competed in the individual epee and all three weapons in the Australian fencing team at the 1952 Helsinki Olympics.

At the 1950 Empire (now Commonwealth) Games, Stanmore was in the gold-medal winning Australian epee team and coached the 1962 Commonwealth Games fencing team.

As a coach, he trained fencers still active in the sport today as coaches, including Jeff Gray, Bob Barrie, Leon Thomas and Richard Emmerick.

But his most famous student was the French mime artist Marcel Marceau. Richard recalls Marceau training with Stanmore at the old Sydney Fencing Club.

 

CHANGE TO AGM TIMING

The 2016 Annual General Meeting will be held at 5pm on Sunday 18 June at the NSW Fencing Centre.

The timing is later than usual to allow for veterans fencing earlier in the afternoon to attend the meeting.

As a result, the Strategic Forum planned for the same day has been postponed to a date to be advised.

Also, we are now working on a more extensive process for the Strategic Forum with the aim of maximising our ability to more effectively plan to take NSW fencing forward to 2020 and beyond.

The formal notice of meeting for the AGM will be sent to senior members in May.

 

REMINDER FOR OTHER UPCOMING STATE COMPETITIONS

The NSW Fencing Centre is proud to host the following competitions:

13 May: AJ Rae & RA White National School Team Senior Qualifier – All weapons, School U/15 Men’s Foil Team Premiership #1

20 May: School Championships – Senior Foil, School U/15 Men’s Foil Team Premiership #2

21 May: Tony Dominguez Memorial for Open Epee, President’s Cup for Open Foil, and the Novak for Open Sabre.

21 May: Novice Challenge #1 – All weapons (Not suitable for fencers U/17)

27 May: School Championships – Senior Epee/ Sabre, ABC#1 Foil U/13, School U/15 Men’s Foil Team Premiership #3

28 May: State Championships GP/U15 all weapons

Review the yearly calendar online at www.nswfencing.org.au and follow us on Facebook for real-time updates on upcoming competitions.

 

MARCONI CUP (GP)

On 7 May the Marconi Fencing Academy will be hosting its annual Marconi Cup competition – for U/11, U/13, U/15 and Open Foil. Here is the link for registration: http://www.nswfencing.org.au/event/marconi-cup/

 

HOW TO MAKE IT TO THE YOUTH OLYMPICS

The qualification process for the 2018 Youth Olympic Games (YOG) in Buenos Aires has been published on the AFF website news page. YOG entry will be based on results in the 2018 World Cadet Championships in Verona. It’s a tough gig but it can be done as Victoria’s Ned Fitzgerald showed at the 2014 Youth Olympics in Nanjing.


NSW OLYMPIC COMMITTEE REWARDS OUTSTANDING PERFORMANCE BY NICHOLAS PASTORE

Congratulations to sabreur Nicholas Pastore (Sydney Sabre), one of ten young NSW athletes to be awarded a $1,500 grant by the NSW Olympic Committee. The awards are made to young athletes with the potential to make it to the Olympics. NSWFA was pleased to endorse the award to Nicholas on the basis of his No 1 national ranking in open sabre last year. He plans to use the grant to train in Germany. Nicholas Pastore was presented with his grant by the President of the NSW Olympic Committee, Helen Brownlee.

 

FUNDING TO ASSIST OCEANIA FENCERS QUALIFY FOR 2020 TOKYO OLYMPICS

The Oceania Fencing Confederation recently announced that significant funding has been allocated by a future fencing charity fund (established by the FIE President) to assist fencers from Oceania who are seeking to qualify for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

The funding will initially be directed to selected high performing fencers based on their senior FIE ranking as at 30 April 2017, subject to certain conditions. These conditions include that fencers must be under the age of 30 at 1 January 2017 and must commit to attending specified competitions during the funding period.

The allocation of funds will be reviewed regularly (based on FIE ranking) over the three-year period leading up to the Tokyo Olympics, with further funding made available in stages over this period. The OFC will have responsibility for identifying eligible athletes (in accordance with pre-agreed criteria), subject to approval by the FIE.

Along with the AFF we welcome the allocation of funding from the Charity Fund for the Future of Fencing, which is expected to greatly assist Australian fencers in their Olympic qualification journey.

 

APRIL SCHOOL HOLIDAY CAMP

NSW Fencing Centre’s three day school holiday fencing camp this month was a resounding success. School aged fencers from a diverse range of schools had the opportunity to hone their skills with drills, games, lessons and competition bouting. If you know of kids who may be interested stay tuned for the next holiday camp which is scheduled for 12 -14 July.

 

ALLSORTS FITNESS

Our neighbours All Sorts, just across the road from the Fencing Centre, are offering a special gym membership deal to fencers. All Sorts has a fully equipped gym, swimming pool, yoga and parking.

 

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