Fencing Competitions - A Rough Guide

Participation – getting started in competition

F4SF’s Youth Development Series – a series of 5 competitions held at venues around Scotland, with the aim of introducing young fencers to competition. You can enter one, some or all of the competitions in the series. Age groups are under 10, under 12, under 14, under 17 and under 20. Further details at http://f4sf.scottish-fencers.org/welcome

For adult novices, the 48er competitions run by Wallace Fencing Academy provide a lot of fencing against a wide variety of opponents in a friendly atmosphere. Further details at http://www.wallacefencing.org.uk/~wfa/index.html

Development – for the ambitious, improving fencer

There are Scottish Championships at under 12, under 17 and under 20 level plus the Scottish Secondary Schools championships at under 14, under 16 and 16+. Further details at http://scottish-fencing.co.uk/

The Leon Paul Junior Series is a national (UK-wide) series of events that are the next step in a young (under 15) fencer’s development providing a wide variety of opponents, many of whom are seeking to establish themselves as the best in the country (under 11, under 13 and under 15). As a general guide, when choosing which events to enter, look at the previous year’s results and go for the ones that had the biggest entry. Further details at http://www.leonpauljuniorseries.com/

For young epeeists there is also the Elite Epee Junior Series (under 11, under 13 and under 16), further details at http://www.eliteepee.com/fencing/elite/EliteEpee.nsf/content/Elite%20Epee%20Junior%20Series?OpenDocument

The British Youth Championships (BYCs) at under 12, 14, 16 and 18 level are held at the English Institute of Sport in Sheffield in May. Fencers have to qualify from their regional event (East of Scotland for Salle Holyrood fencers). For under 10’s there is a British Youth Championships held in Much Wenlock, Shropshire in June.

In addition, Scottish Fencing are planning to send an under 15 squad to the Challenge Vratislava and there will 3 qualifying events. Further details will appear on the Scottish Fencing website in due course.

For adults (age 13+), there a several Open competitions in Scotland where the standard is decent, there are 2 rounds of poules and there is often a secondary competition for those eliminated early from the main event. Further details at http://scottish-fencing.co.uk/calendar

Getting serious – Scottish and British teams

Scotland sends a team of 4 fencers to the School Games, a multi-sports event for under 18s. The selection policy for this event is on the Scottish Fencing website here http://scottish-fencing.co.uk/scottish-team/2013/02/10/sainsburys-2013-school-games-selection-criteria

At senior level, Scottish Fencing select teams for the 5 Nations each year and for the Commonwealth Championships (4 yearly, next one in 2014 in Scotland) and selection policies can be found on the Scottish Team page on the Scottish Fencing website http://scottish-fencing.co.uk/team

British teams compete at Cadet (under 17), Junior (under 20) and senior level in international competitions and at European and World Championships. The selection policies and nominated events can be found on the British Fencing website here http://www.britishfencing.com/GBR/selections_and_rankings/

Scottish Fencing calendar - http://scottish-fencing.co.uk/calendar
British Fencing calendar - http://www.britishfencing.com/events/

If you have any questions about which competitions would be suitable for your current level, please speak to Sean (tel: 07764 685520, email: sean.salleholyrood@gmail.com) or Keith (tel: 07921 853728, email: keith.salleholyrood@gmail.com)

Good luck in your competitions!