February Competition Dates

14th February – Borgia Centre, Steel Park, Marrickville

City of Sydney Open Foil – Men 8.45am, Women 9.15am

Cadet Sabre (PS) – Men and Women 11am

City of Sydney Veteran Foil – Men and Women 1pm.

Novice #1- Men and Women 1.15pm.

21st February – Borgia Centre, Steel Park, Marrickville

Gilt Junior Foil (PS) – Men and Women 9am.

Gilt Junior Epee (PS) – Women 1pm, Men 1.15pm.

U13 Sabre (PS) – Boys and Girls 2pm.

28th February – Borgia Centre, Steel Park, Marrickville

City of Sydney Open Epee – Women 8.45am, Men 9am.

U11 & U13 Foil F/F (PS) – Boys and Girls 12.30pm.

City of Sydney Veteran Epee – Men and Women 1pm.

All times shown are start times. To ensure on-time starting, all competitors MUST be present & entered 10 minutes beforehand. Borgia Centre – Steel Park Leisure Centre, 531 Illawarra Rd, Marrickville.

The full program for the year can be viewed on the NSW Fencing website, www.nswfencing.org.au

AFFILIATION & REGISTRATION

All fencers wishing to compete in NSWFA & AFF competitions MUST be affiliated. The only exceptions are the following competitions where fencers can be registered for a lower charge:

All novice competitions

2010 Affiliation/Registration is due on 1 January.  They are to be made on-line via the NSWFA website www.nswfencing.org.au using secure credit card payment.

UNIFORM

All competitions: Ladies’ and Girls’ equipment must include breast protection made of metal or some other rigid surface.

Novice, U/11, U/13 and Schools Fencing Competitions: A Fencing Jacket and under plastron must be worn.  Gloves and masks are compulsory.  Masks must have elastic at the back. Breeches or long tracksuit pants (which cover the waist) must be worn.  Shorts are unacceptable.

NSWFA ENTRY FEES (2010): $25 per weapon & $15 for a second event on the day.  $50 per team.

Well everyone it’s that time again, the new training year starts this Monday night (1st Feb) @7.30 at our new home in the Mid Mountains Community Centre Lawson. It’s a great venue with lots of parking and it’s close to the railway station. Remember to get your membership paid up asap, you have until the end of Feb to get paid up so you are covered by insurance and stuff.
We are now hiring out the club gear to club members. We have had to come up with a way of covering for wear and tear on the equipment without too much of a financial burden on our club members, the hiring rate is $.50 per item per week, payable at the beginning of each quarter. We hope that some of you will start to get your own kit together, and we can help you with advice on buying items from the different suppliers

Our beginner’s course starts on the 15th of February. So make sure you get in before it starts on those first couple of training nights to get your kit organised. If you didn’t make it to many sessions last year, or did a beginners and didn’t continue due to time clashes or difficulty getting to our old training venue, remember you are welcome back any time to train with the club. So don’t be a stranger!

A very happy New Year to all our club members and their families. We hope 2010 is every thing you want it to be. Look forward to seeing you all at training in a few weeks!

NSW Head Coach Report

                      Structure and Organization in NSW Fencing

 As we reach the end of 2009, it is maybe a good time to look back at what we have achieved and what we still need to do. In the past months I attended the U15-U17 andU20 national competitions and I’ve found this experience very important for the plan to rebuild and improve NSW fencing system and our level of achievement. 

Young fencers U17 are our future, that’s why I considered their competition extremely indicative of the state fencing level, but more than anything I’ve been totally convinced  our job is to develop NSW fencing following two complementary tracks:

            1. Structure and Organization ( system).

            2. Technical Development ( coaching fencers and coaches).

 After open nationals I’ll be working on the squads program and structure for next year based on the experience of the past few months and I will be outlining my plans to take fencing forward.

 While I take responsibility for the overall coaching program, I am supported by a strong team of coaches and assistants. Our squads sessions need more than one coach to work well and we have developed a strong team with Richard Emmerick, Jeff Gray, Angelo Santangelo, Arash Karpour, Joe Salemi, Anthony Watts, Michael Howard and Hugh Cotman all doing a great job in keeping squad training sessions focused and motivation for the fencers.

 A structured training program should have a stronger impact on our fencer’s technique and tactics. Of course will be fully respected and helped the work those athletes are doing with their private coach, who will always remain the main teacher and role model for a fencer.

 Some key points:

• The school system is already very functional. We’ll evaluate it constantly creating a stronger connection with clubs.
• Also sabre and epee have been introduced in the system to create a real option for our future fencers in all 3 weapons.
• Some clubs may start focusing on one weapon only. It is our duty to support those clubs on their courageous choice. In two years only we’ll have an increasing number in epee and sabre (hopefully of high quality too).
•  We’re growing new coaches and working on new approaches to coaching with some experienced ones. The focus is on “open fencing way”. Fencers should constantly improve if they have stronger (classical/modern) basics.
• We’re updating referees with courses and open seminars. The level of refereeing isn’t that bad but we can do better and with the help of Head Referee the process ( through minimum 4 clinics per year) will be faster.
• We created a “super 4” camp. A mix between a camp, a competition and a recreational time for school and club fencers and their parents. Also an opportunity for young coaches to be in charge of a simple structure.
• A level 1 coaching course will be started and completed by 2009. 
• U 17 mini-squad. The young ones need a strong direction: technically, tactically and mentally. Plus advice on how to manage their career in non professional sport (at the moment). I have been thinking a lot about how we can achieve all this and talking to people – I will have more to say soon on my plans for the year ahead.

 Let me say one more thing. I’m very happy about what we’ve been able to do in such a short time, thankfully to people who believe in our project and give freely of their time and knowledge.

 My job is and it will be more and more, to create, organize, coordinate and especially coaching, both fencers) and coaches.

We’ll make sure one of the NSW staff will always be at any competition, but not necessarily always myself – because it would be impossible and for the growth of other coaches too.

 A new selection system will be done, where staff coaches will be involved to assure fencers an impartial but technical point of view.

 Thanks also to my NSW executive members for their constant support.

 Antonio Signorello

December 2009

Hi Fencers!

We are changing location for the club’s training sessions as of next year to the Mid Mountains Community Centre in Lawson, where we will be using the Mavis Wood Hall. We are moving to this location because the hall is slightly larger, better suited to fencing, and has better overall facilities. It is also a better venue to service club members from the upper mountains as well as the lower mountains, there is lots of parking close to the centre and the Lawson train station is a 5 minute walk.

Due to this move official training times have changed from 7-9pm to 7:45-9:45pm. However we will start our warm-up @ 7:30pm so we can jump right into training @ 7:45.      I  recommend that you aim to arrive around 7.15 pm so we can have a chat and make any club announcements.
You can expect an email before we start back next year with more information about the location of the new hall and a map showing the layout of the centre.

There is still one training session to go for this term, this will be held in Winmalee dance hall from 7-9 as usual. Hope you are all well, looking forward to seeing you at training.
Merry Christmas!

Grace Macalpine
Secretary MFC

Well it’s that time of year, time to deck the fencing strip with boughs of holly and all that Xmasy jazz. Another fencing year is fast drawing to a close, with only two more training sessions untill we break over January.

To celebrate a very productive and enjoyable year of fencing with the MFC we will have a Barbecue at my house this Sunday the 6th Dec from 11am. All Mountains fencers and family are welcome under the old oak tree in my back yard in Lawson (yellow ribbons optional), only thing to bring is a chair. Hope to see you all there, check your emails for address details!