The sport of fencing is taking off in Dunblane. At the time of writing this, we have 40 youngsters
from
ages 9 to 18 regularly taking part in this exciting modern Olympic sport.
Fencing dates back from the days of ancient Egypt and Rome, was in use during the barbaric Dark Ages, active in the fast and elegant Rennaissance and can now be witnessed as the modern, increasingly popular sport of today. Fencing in its modern form has three weapons, foil, epee and sabre and these also have their origins in ancient fighting history. For example, the sabre was once a cavalier’s weapon, used for cutting down opponents from the height of a horse.
Today in Dunblane, our fencers are concentrating on foil and they are doing rather well. Our three coaches are current or former competitive fencers. Our senior fencers recently entered the Scottish Individual Schools Championships and all of them reached the top 16. Alex Papadopoulous, Louis Bryson and Alasdair Kitching reached the quarter finals whilst Megan Gouw and Connor Jaffray gained a bronze medal in their discipline. Megan Gouw, one of only five girls, has also been training at Sabre and Epee in her free time. She did a terrific job to gain Gold in the sabre. More importantly she was named Girls’ Master at Arms. We also have 16 junior fencers who will soon be entering a competition at their level.
But that is not our only success this year. We are very pleased to announce lottery funding of £3500 to increase access to and progression through the sport. Some of you may have noticed that your children are experiencing a taste of fencing at Beavers, Boys Brigade or school. We are hoping to expand this so that all groups experience this sport and we are especially targeting girls. This is a great sport for girls as well as boys.
It requires coordination, balance,
intelligence and precision. More importantly, it can be a great means of self-expression. So, if you run Guides of Brownies or Girls Brigade, please give Charity a call for your free taster session.
Further to this, we are now affiliated with Active Stirling who are supporting us in training up new coaches with a view to running an adult section of the club. If you feel this sport may be for you, please feel free to get in touch.
As a result of our lottery funding, we have also been asked to host the 2013 schools team championships, a great honour. This competition will take place at Dunblane High School on the 16th and 17th March.
Whilst we have a wonderful group of parents developing this opportunity for the children, we would also like business involvement. We are currently looking for a sponsor to help develop the identity of the club, specifically in helping us to buy tracksuits and to have a presence at the schools team championships.
If you are interested in getting involved in fencing, please email
charitymcardle@hotmail.co.uk
44 To advertise in thewire t. 07720 429 613 e.
the.wire@btinternet.com
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