Fencing North East News

Beth Davidson and Duncan Rowlands were crowed British Veteran Sabre Champions in Glouster this weekend.

Members of Laszlo's Fencing Club in Durham, Duncan and Beth had to succeed against both current World Veteran Champions to gain their first title at this event.

Touché Posted 7th March 2010

Durham Phoenix Fencing Club received a grant of £250.00 from Camerons Brewery in Hartlepool for equipment.

This grant will enable the club to continue to grow at the grass roots level and encourage those that may be interested in taking up fencing. The club works within 4 clubs in the North East as well as some 8 to 10 schools in the Tyne, Tees, Wear and Durham Areas. Many of the North East’s International young fencers began their fencing career at the Durham Phoenix and the hope is that this will continue.

Camerons marketing manager Yousef Doubooni said “We are happy to make this donation to the Durham Phoenix Fencing Club in order for them to purchase new equipment for their members. We try to support as many local causes and events in the north east and given that one of our employees is associated with the club we were keen to support this. We wish all members of Durham Phoenix Fencing Club success in the year ahead”.

Three of the members from Northumbria Junior Fencing Club, Jake Donaldson, Margaret Polito and Jamie Morgan, are going to Ethiopia for voluntary work to support local children to continue in school! Members of the fencing club for 6 years, are part of a trip with Ryton School.

Four fencers from Newcastle Fencing Club competed in the Ashton Leon Paul Epee competition this weekend.

Gold medals were won by brothers Aidan and Matthew Dickinson in the Under 17 and Under 11 Epee events.

Bronze medals went to Hannah Nesbitt and Rudi Dillon in the Under 13 and Under 15 Epee events.

Chris Farren and Ellie Collier were crowed sabre champions at the Merseyside Open. In the finals, Chris had do beat Keith Bowers from the Royal Navy and previous Laszlo's Fencer, to take what was his 10th successive title. Ellie breezed to her second Mersey title beating Stephanie Land from Edinburgh.

Jade Clark from Durham gained a silver medal in the Women's Epee and our very own Regional Chair, Marie Matheson came 27th!

Laszlo's Fencer, Jess Lewis takes the silver medal at the Slough Open. Jess was only beaten by the narrowest margins of 15 - 14 against Joanna Chen from Cardiff City club. This is a great achievement as she is competing in a senior competition at only 13!

Regional referee picked for European Championships. Posted 8th February 2010

Chris Farren from Pittington and member of Laszlo's Fencing Club, has been invited by the European Fencing Championships Executive Committee as a referee for European Cadet Championships in March in Athens.

In other refereeing news, Helen Dack from Team Northumbria passe her level 2 epee exam at the Slough Open this weekend.

In recent FIE referee examinations that took place in Budapest, Chris Farren from Durham and Laszlo's Fencing Club was successfull in passing the highest level in sabre refereeing. He was one of four referee candidates to be nominated by British Fencing to attend the assessments at the Budapest Junior World Cup.

Along with Duncan Rowlands, Chris is our second referee in the Region able to judge internationally and will be joining Junior Team Manager, Beth Davidson, as part of a GB squad for Logrono World Cup on the 23rd January.

Newcastle University would like to congratulate Aidan Dickinson on being selected for the GB Cadet Mens Epee Squad for the competition in Dinant and Abigail Harvey for selection for the GB Junior Women's Squad for Gothenburg. The following fencers on the Team Newcastle Junior Performance Programme have been selected for International Squads so far this season.

Abigail Harvey GB Cadet and Junior GB Womens Epee Squad
Matt Henderson GB Junior Mens Epee
Sam Ridley GB Cadet and Junior Mens Epee Squad
Andrew Dixon Cadet Mens Epee Squad
Will Germany Cadet Mens Epee Squad
Aidan Dickinson Cadet Mens Epee Squad
Alex Farmer SVK Cadet and Junior Mens Epee Squad

Team Newcastle's Junior Performance Programme aims to support young talent through a combination of fencing coaching and support services such as performance lifestyle management, physiotherapy, nutritionists and sports psychology.

There a still a few places left on our Christmas training camp 29th, 30th and 31st December at West Denton where most of these fencers will be training in addition to other regional fencers and modern pentathletes.

For more information please contact Iain Aberdeen, Director of Fencing by email at iainaberdeen@aol.com

Under 17 Boys - Nominated event

2nd. Sam Ridley Team Newcastle
5th. Andrew Dixon Team Newcastle
8th. Will Germany Team Newcastle
26th. Aiden Dickinson Team Newcastle

Under 15 Girls

1st. Hannah Nesbitt Team Newcastle
2nd. Sarah Gourley Team Newcastle
3rd. Josey Amery Barnard Castle
4th. Sarah Lumley Team Newcastle
5th. Lucy Herron Church High School
6th Eliza Hughes Team Newcastle

Under 12 Boys

1st. Rudi Dillon Team Newcastle
2nd. Matthew Dickinson Team Newcastle
3rd. Akin Akingbade RGS Newcastle
4th. Thomas Dickson RGS Newcastle
5th. Matthew Cheng RGS Newcastle
6th. Matthew Clark RGS Newcastle

Under 12 Girls

1st. Ellie Hind RGS Newcastle
2nd. Emily Cowell Church High School
3rd. Sarah Harvey RGS Newcastle
4th. Ilisha Purcell RGS Newcastle
5th. Emma Lees RGS Newcastle
6th. Kate Ford RGS Newcastle

Laszlo Jakab and Sutera Ritrawe win coach of the year award! Posted 5th Nov 2009

At the recent County Durham Sports Awards held at The Ramside Hall Hotel, husband and wife team Laszlo Jakab and Sutera Ritrawe, won the Coach of the Year Award for their contribution to coaching in County Durham. They were shortlisted against coaches from all sports in the area and were awarded for their dedication to fencing and providing opportunities for all to participate.

Olympic javelin thrower, Steve Backley presented the award to Sutera on the evening in Laszlo's absence due to coaching commitments in Poland with the British wheelchair fencers.

Beth Davidson appointed as England Team Manager for 5 Nations! Posted 30th September 2009

It was officially announced this week that England Fencing appointed the North East's Regional Development Officer, Beth Davidson, as the Team Manager for the 5 Nations tournament in Belfast on the 21st November.

Beth has been Assistant Team Manager at two 5 Nations in 2007 and 2008 and previously captained two Senior Commonwealth Championships for England, achieving team gold and silver medals.

Abi Harvey won Bronze at the Manchester Cadet International losing 15 -13 in a hard semi final fight against the British Number one.

Matt Henderson won Bronze at the Shropshire Open losing 15 - 13 to a fellow GB Under 20 squad member.

Regional Fencer Selected for Junior European Championships Posted 27th Oct 09

Duncan Rowlands, who trains at Laszlo's Fencing in Durham, has been selected by British Fencing to be one of two GB referees at the Junior European Championships.

These championships are taking place in the city of Odense, Denmark between 31 October and 6 November 2009, where Duncan will take his place alongside some of the top referees in Europe.

BFA 'Award of Merit' for Regional Coach! Posted by Iain Aberdeen 25th Aug 209

Iain Aberdeen, professional fencing coach and Director of Fencing at Newcastle University has been awarded an "Award of Merit" by the British Fencing Association in their "Annual Honours". The National Governing Body for Fencing in Great Britain has awarded this in recognition of his services to fencing. Iain has been active in promoting fencing at a regional level for many years and has coached England individuals and teams at National and International events as well as managing and coaching the Great Britain Mens Cadet Foil team for the season 2008 / 09. Iain coaches some of the most promising fencers in the North East with many of them representing Great Britain at international level at the under 17 and under 20 age groups. Iain has also developed numerous community, school and club fencing sessions across the North East for fencers of all abilities. Iain also directs the highly successful High Performance Fencing Camp held at Newcastle University with fencers from the UK, Malaysia, Germany, Italy and Belgium attending in 2009.

A prestigious international junior fencing training camp organized by Luxembourg Fencing Federation and the International Charity Fund For Fencing Future is scheduled for 5th – 11th September, 2009 in Luxemburg.

About 70 junior fencers from 30 countries are expected to participate in “For Future of Fencing” training event. The training session, featuring epee and foil fencing, coached by some of the worlds most successful coaches will put the fencers through their paces whilst the fencers train with rivals from across the world. The camp is aimed at the top under 20 fencers from each nation to come together to raise the standard of fencers from across the globe.

Team Newcastle’s Head Coach and Director of Fencing has also been invited to attend the Pro Olymp camp as a coach and will hone his coaching skills alongside the worlds best fencing masters.

Team Newcastle fencers Sam Ridley and Andrew Dixon have been selected by the organinsing committee to be two of the four Great Britain fencers attending. The two fencers who train at the North East Regional Fencing Centre – NEWCASTLE have just finished a weeks training at Newcastle Universities International Performance Fencing Camp are looking forward to train against the best in the world.

Regional fencer qualifies as an international referee Posted 15th August 2009

Duncan Rowlands travelled all the way to Plovdiv, Bulgaria and successfully passed the Federation Internationale D'Escrime (FIE) refereeing exam for epee in June.

Duncan is the first person from the North East to join this exclusive group, with only 23 British referees currantly with FIE licences.

If you are interested in obtaining qualifications in refereeing, please contact Regional Fencing Development Officer, Beth Davidson.

Regional fencers from laszlo's Fencing Club in Durham, were crowned National Team Champions this weekend in the womens sabre event taking place at Sheffield's Institute Of Sport. Angela Bilardi, Kira Roberts, Ellie Collier and Beth Davidson had to beat teams from London, Bristol and finally Truro to take gold in a very high tension final! For Kira, this was her second medal, adding it to her bronze in the individual!

Great results also came from Sam Ridley and Matt Henderson who achieved last 32s in a field of 111 fencers in the senior men's epee event!

On the 12th July, Beth Davidson and Duncan Rowlands representing England and who train at laszlo's Fencing in Durham, achieved a total of 3 gold, silver and a bronze medal at the Veteran Commonwealth Championships in St. Helier in jersey.

Top honours went to the North East Fencing Development Officer, Beth Davidson who became Commonwealth champion in the individual and team womens sabre events as well as going into the history books as the youngest veteran champion! In the final, Beth had to beat Jane Hutchison who is the current World and European Champion, coming from behind at 6-9 to win 10-9.
Duncan Rowlands achieved a bronze in the individual and silver in the team sabre events.

Cumberland Open GOLD, SILVER and BRONZE Posted by Iain Aberdeen 22nd June 09

Team Newcastle Junior Performance Programme fencers dominated the
Cumberland Open Mens Epee competition in Carlisle Saturday 20th June
2009.

The competition which was a senior open event in the British Fencing
Calendar was won by Sam Ridley after beating teammate Matt Henderson
15 - 14 in a close fought final. After being 11 - 7 ahead at the first
break Sam managed to pull the score back and eventually take the last
hit against Matt. Another teammate Andrew Dixon lost to Sam in the
Semi finals finishing with a Bronze Medal.

All the fencers are supported through Newcastle University through the
Junior Performance Programme. This programme managed by Director of
Fencing, Iain Aberdeen, supports local fencers who show potential to
be on our GB Fencing Teams. The programme provides physiotherapy,
nutrition and hydration advice, strength and conditioning, video
analysis, training and competition programmes, coaching as well as
team clothing.

After two years the programme has had four out of the five fencers
reach Under 17 GB Squads in Mens epee, Womens epee and Mens foil the
other fencer has only been on the squad two months and has already
started to climb the selection rankings. One of the fencer Matt
Henderson also represented GB at Under 20 competitions as well as
taking the highest GB mens epee result at the World Championships in
Belfast in April.

The squad will be looking for up to three more fencers to join the
squad over the next few months.

This weekend saw some fantastic performances from regional fencers at the Cole Cup international fencing competition at Gateshead Stadium.

Kira Roberts from Durham University and coached by Laszlo Jakab, took the gold medal in the women's sabre event on Saturday, defeating fellow Brit Katie Hendra in a nail-biting final by 15-14. In the semi-final, Kira had to defeat her Durham University team mate Angela Bilardi in a close match with the final score of 15-12.

The other gold medal came in the sabre team event on the Sunday, with Durham University Alumni Chris Farren, Didier Nohlmans and Mike Turner beating all other rivals to take top honours!

Photos by Simon Welsh

Matthew Dickenson from Durham Phoenix and Monkton Stadium club came 5th out of 38 in the U10 catagory British Youth Championships in Telford!

In a hard faught fight, Laszlo's Fencer Duncan Rowlands narrowly missed a bronze medal in the catagory 1 men's sabre at the Veteran European Championships in Hungary this week!

The championships were being held in the beautiful resort of Balatonfüred at Lake Balaton in Hungary, where in the quarter finals Duncan met his final opponant from Spain and was leading all the way. The Spanyard pulled the score back to 9-9 all but in the final hit Duncan attempted a attack in preparation but the referee was not convinced and awarded the hit to his opponant!

North East Regional fencers have been some of the strongest performances from the GB squad competing in Belfast at the Junior + Cadet World Championships this week!

Day one saw cadet women's foilist Alex Craig take 20th place and day two was cadet women's sabeur Beckie Hopkins who was in 29th place and an outstanding performance from Matt Hederson in 31st place in the cadet men's epee event out of 103!

Kira Roberts from Durham University will be fencing in the junior women's sabre competition on the 9th April.

Medal success at the Arnold Leon Paul Epee (GB Epee development competition) 15th March 2009

Regional fencers from Newcastle Fencing Club were bringing home the medasl at the weekend! Well done to all and coach, Iain Aberdeen.

Sam Ridley Gold Under 15 Epee boys
Katie Louw Gold Under 17 Epee girls
Andrew Dixon Bronze Under 17 Epee boys
Daniel Lawson Bronze Under 11 Epee boys

North East fencers take Commonwealth Medals! Posted by Beth Davidson 10th March 2009

North East fencers, Kira Roberts and Rebecca Hopkins representing England, became Junior Commonwealth Champions in the women's sabre team event at the Commonwealth Championships in Penang in Malaysia, beating Scotland 45 - 35 in the final.

For Kira, this is her second Commonwealth Gold as she took the individual title earlier in the competition!

Another amazing result was from 15 year old, Alex Craig to took a silver medal in the individual foil and bronze in the team events!

Well done also to:
Jennie Tillot who came 7th in the individual women's sabre and fences for Newcastle University.

Official Commonwealth Fencing Website

Learn, Improve, Win! If you want to get the edge over your opponents then this British fencing training DVD is for you. Presented by an Olympic, World class and North East Regional coach Laszlo Jakab, it is packed with expertise and information presented in an easy and logical way over six chapters. With instruction for both right and left-handed fencers. Shot in High Definition using multiple camera angles including ‘top shots’, low angles, close-ups and ‘point of view’ shots so you really can understand the moves, and using slow motion replays to stop you searching for the rewind button....See trailer of DVD

Contents:

Chapter 1 - History of Sword Fencing, Kit & Clothing, Weapon assembly.

Chapter 2 - Footwork, Principles, Guard Positions, Fencing Distance.

Chapter 3 - Bladework, The Lunge, Attacks, Transportations, Parries.

Chapter 4 - Parry-Ripostes, Counter-Ripostes, Reprise, Remise & Redouble.

Chapter 5 - Feints, Beats, Glides, Tactics.

Chapter 6 - Your First Tournament.

Sam Ridley from Newcastle Fencing Club was the star of the North East, as he won the
National U16 Boys Epee title, beating Andrew Harding (Scotland Central)
in the Final by an emphatic 15 hits to 8.

Medals were hard to come by for other North East fencers in these
disciplines but a silver medal was earned in Under 18 Girls Sabre by
Rebecca Hopkins (Laszlo’s, Durham) who was representing Yorkshire,

The North East Region was well represented and congratulations go to
the following fencers for their performance in qualifying and taking
part in their national age group Finals.

Teesside Fencing Club has been launched at Skelton Youth Club near Saltburn, meeting on Mondays from 6.45 till 9pm. Club coach Paul Maxwell, has been working with the local youth services to establish the club at new sport facilities at Skelton, who have been very generous with financial and personnel support.

The club aims to work with the area's Youth Forum, to deliver a series of courses for local young people, as well as developing new projects to introduce fencing to areas and groups that have fewer opportunities to engage in sport.

Paul hopes to hold the club on two nights a week at different venues so more people can try fencing and don't have to travel as far!

On the 14th January, a Disabled Fencing taster day was held at Durham University Sports Centre. Potential athletes, coaches and disabled organisations were invited to see the facilities and try wheelchair fencing for the first time, with expert coaching by resident National Paralympic fencing coach, Prof. Laszlo Jakab.

Further sessions are to be organised in the North East region to talent spot potential Paralympians. If you are interested in taking part in these or want to discuss fencing, please contact Beth Davidson, Regional Fencing Development Officer Tel. 07812078957 or email here

Alex Craig 14yrs from Hartlepool, wins the girls event at the Gateshead British Selection Circuit junior competition that took place on the 11th January 09. Alex beat Francesca Pioli in the final and took top spot with an entry of 34 fencers.

Alex is currently preparing for the Junior Commonwealth Championships in Malaysia in February, representing England and later to qualify for the Junior World Championships in Belfast in April.

A member of Laszlo’s Fencing and coached by Laszlo Jakab, is sponsored by Asda and receives funding from Sports Aid.

22 RIDLEY Sam TEAM NEWCASTLE
41 DRINKLE Connor
45 SAUNDERS William DURHAM PHOENIX
46 TURNBULL Grant EMMANUEL COLLEGE
47 DICKINSON Aiden MONKTON
48 WRIGHT Oliver EMMANUEL COLLEGE

Girls Under 20
1 CRAIG Alex LASZLO'S
22 HENDERSON Jenny NEWCASTLE FENCING CLUB
29 LAMB Fawn TEAM NORTHUMBRIA
31 MCCLELLAND Lara NEWCASTLE FENCING CLUB
32 HARVEY Abigail TEAM NEWCASTLE
32 LOUW Katie NEWCASTLE FENCING CLUB
34 DICKSON Chloe DUNFERMLINE FC

Posted by:
Iain Aberdeen
Director of Fencing
Newcastle University 18th December 2008

THREE members of the Team Newcastle Junior Performance Squad have been seleceted to represent Great Britain in Gothenburg at a European Selection event in late February.

Well done to Matt Hendersn, Andrew Dixon and Sam Ridley.

Matt Henderson has also qualified to represent Great Britain in the European Cadet Championship in 2009.

Congratulations also go to Abbie Harvey, the fourth member of the Junior Performance Squad, for her recent selction for the GB girls team for a selection event in Grenoble.

Junior Commonwealth Championships, Malaysia 16 - 21 February 2009
18th December 2008 Posted by: Beth Davidson, Regional Fencing Development Officer.

8 north east fencers have been selected to represent their home nation at the Junior Commonwealth Championships in Malaysia in February next year. I would like to wish all those fencers and their coaches the best of success at these championships!

England: Alex Craig - Womens Foil. Jade Clarke - Womens Epee. Kira Roberts - Womens Sabre. Rebecca Hopkins - Womens Sabre.

Scotland: Lucy Ridsdale - Womens Epee. Louise Creechan - Womens Sabre. Harriet Stilley - Womens Sabre

North East Region hosts first Fencing Development Officer Posted: 27 November 2008

Beth Davidson has just taken post as Regional Fencing Development Officer for the North East of England.

Funded by Sport England, this four year role is responsible for implementing the development and delivery of fencing in the region, working in partnership with Northumbria and Durham universities and North East Regional Committee.

One of the many aims is to introduce 2500 new participants into the sport while establishing a strong and sustainable infrastructure between schools, clubs and elite centres in the region, creating opportunities for all fencers to compete at appropriate levels.

Coaches, referees and volunteers will be supported with greater access to local skill development courses and opportunities to have a greater role in fencing.

Beth is no stranger to the fencing community. Her introduction to fencing was through a development project in Lincolnshire 13 years ago and since then she has represented Great Britain and England in two World and Commonwealth Championships, manages the GB U20’s sabre team and is the women’s sabre weapon captain.

Beth Davidson
Regional Fencing Development Officer
6 North Street East
Newcastle
NE1 8ST
Email: Beth Davidson Mob: W - 07812078957

North East Region Fencing Association

Marie Matheson – Chair Email: Marie Matheson