News

The club is currently in "Holiday Fencing" mode. Get onto Facebook to get into the training discussions. Training only happens if YOU organise it.

In addition, the webmaster is currently not in Southampton, due to not having a home. I'll be sofa-surfing until September, so try to behave while I'm gone. 

Friday 4th June -> 8-10pm -> Activities Room
Monday 7th June -> 8-10pm -> Activities Room
Thursday 10th June -> 4-6pm -> Activities Room
 

Or, for some of you, has already begun. Good luck with exams everyone. Next training in this Friday at 8pm in the Activities Room. 

Congratulations to our new committee. I'm sure they will lead us well. For everyone who couldn't make it to the AGM (or drank themselves into oblivion shortly afterwards) here's how the positions fell:

President: James Solan
Secretary: Nicola Freebody
Treasurer: Andrew Norris
Social Sec: Nicola Freebody

Mens Captain: Mark Rhind
Mens Vice Captain: Andrew Norris
Womens Captain: Maria Martin
Womens Vice Captain: Emma Burton

Novice Rep: Matt Radford
Armourer: Mark Rhind
Assistant Armourer: Chris Wheeldon
Web mistress: Emma Burton
Ordinary members: Ksenija Dvurecenska and Beth Ricketts

A handover meeting will be scheduled as soon as our new president has made it back into the country.
 

Here's the current round-up of training sessions booked for the rest of the Easter holidays:

• Fri 9th - 5pm to 7pm - Clubs and Socs Room
• Sun 11th - 10am to midday - Jubilee Sports Hall
• Wed 14th - 5pm to 7pm - Activities Room
• Fri 16th - 5pm to 7pm - Activities Room
• Sun 18th - 10am to midday - Jubilee Sports Hall

After that, we're back to normal. (Which means, unfortunately, that Sunday training goes back to 8am!)
 

This coming Sunday is the one involving chocolate eggs. So no fencing I'm afraid. Happy rabbit-hunting everyone! 

Check out the Training page for details of fencing over Easter. We actually have a better slot than we get during term time! (As in, it's not at 8am.) 

That's right, the men's team are top of their league. Back-slaps and congratulations all round. This calls for drinking!

But stayed tuned, fans of Vince's boys. There may yet be a play-off for promotion. 

Well, that's the Paris X Challenge done for another year. A good time was had by all (which may or may not have had something to do with the amount of champagne drunk) but the big congratulations have to go to the men's foil team for achieving third place. Commiserations to the men's sabre team for their injury problems. There's always next year!  

A quick note to ask if anyone has seen Graham's steam foil. It's fairly easy to spot as it has his name inside and a blue woven martingale (finger-strap-thingy).

Anyway: Steam foil. Graham written inside the guard. Check your bags, people!  

The AGM is almost upon us again, so it's time to start nominating the people YOU want on your new committee. So get over to the forum. The thread is under "Committee News 10/11".

As for the AGM itself, the provisional date is Thursday 18th March. This has yet to be properly confirmed, so keep an eye on your inbox. Pencil it into your calenders for now.

That's all for now.  

First up, congratulations to Beth and Nicky for coming 11th and 15th respectively at the Plymouth Open. You are now both ranked fencers, and we shall expect you to live up to it!

In other news, just a heads-up that there's going to be a fantastic training weekend, complete with real professional coach (sorry Andrew!) towards the end of April. It'll be fun, informative, and probably highly exhausting. More importantly, it'll be cheap as the club gets funding to support this sort of thing.

Oh, and check out the calender page of details of the upcoming socials. We've got post-match Mono this Wednesday, then some house-party fun and games for Chinese New Year.

That's all for now. Have a fun first week back! 

Alrighty, the dates on the training page are now correct!

I'm sorry for any confusion caused.

In bigger news...
The women won their match on Wednesday!

That is all. Carry on. 

The terrible exams are coming with their usual aura of panic and annoying usage of the sports hall.

Check the Training page (menu up there ^) for details on training over the exam period.

On a more exciting note, the Hampshire Open is on the Saturday 20th February. There's both men's and women's foil and sabre (sorry epiests!) and it's a hop away in Fareham.

If you fancy going, get onto the forum and start making noise. There's already a few of us interested. 

I hope everyone had a pleasant (and maybe even restful) Christmas.

Coming up in this term, the men's team continue their advance, and the women's team finish things off. Plus all that lovely training.

Keep checking your inbox for further updates. 

We went, we saw, and one of us almost conquered.

Congratulations to Kit for coming second at Warwick Novices last weekend. It was a nail-biting final right to the end. We expect to see you wearing the medal at the Christmas Social.

And a bigger congratulations to all our new beginners. You really did the club proud, especially those of you who fenced to fifteen for the first time! Particular back-slaps to Sam for winning her first DE match.

So there we go, the novices have now set the standard. All those of you going to BUCS this weekend, we're expecting you to bring back gold. 

That's right, the gallery is back in business!

Any fencing-related (or just embarrassing) pics you have of club members on their travels, let the webmaster know.

(Gallery can be found on the top bar.) 

A general apology for the horrific (yet fairly hilarious) typo on the Teams page. It has now been corrected. In future, could people email me when they find something like that!

Moving on, the Official Fencing Club Christmas Social will be at Tiger and Lily Bar (for a traditional Christmas Chinese/Indian all-you-can-eat) on Tuesday 8th December.

Check your email for full details, head over to the forum, or poke your questions at the social sec himself. 

Warwick Novices is going to be on the 28th November, and we need Novices!

So, as long as you've been fencing for fewer than two years, why not give it a go? No such thing as "too little experience". It's a brilliant way to get experience of a real competition and a great day all round.

Speak to your Novices Rep at training.

 

It think we can all agree that the Fresher's Pub Crawl on Tuesday made an epic start to the week, especially when you factor in the Social Sec's dancing (which was pretty epic all on its own!).
 
Next up, the first (cruelly timetabled) fresher's session. But, if we survive the early start, also coming up is the London Team Trophy. We already have a team of epeists entering, but if you're a foilist who fancies a go, head over the forum and waves your arms around a bit in the "Competitions/Events" section. 

The hotly anticipated Fresher's Pub Crawl will be taking place on Tuesday 6th October.

We will be meeting in the Stag's Head (for any freshers who haven't found it yet, it's next to the Student's Union!) from 7pm and will be moving on to our next stop at 8pm.

All clear? Current members are encouraged to wear their club T-shirts to help the new faces find us. We may also be wielding foam sabres (that is, if the armourer will let us have them back after their horrific abuse at the Bunfight...) 

The new year is approaching fast, which means Bunfight, freshers and (hopefully) a brand new look for the website (if I can ever get my skin to work).

To all current club members, give some thought as to whether you could lend a hand manning our stall at the Bunfight this Wednesday.

To all visiting freshers, the Bunfight is a great time to come and meet us. We don't bite, and we may even be able to answer your questions (unless they involve astrophysics).

In the meantime, sign up to the forum. 

This is the home of Southampton University Fencing Club.

To find out more about the club, please sign up to the forum (which will also put you on the all-important mailing list!).

Alternatively, feel free to contact any committee member with your questions by going to the Committee Page.

Hope to see loads of new (and not so new) faces in October.

For more information (such as details of this year's taster sessions) watch this space, or get on the mailing list. 

And so LIUF (the London International Universities Fencathon) is over for another year. All had a great time, from assigning bunks in our favourite hostel ("Do you want bottom, top, or top-top?") to hitting the clubs, to the actual fencing!

Special congratulations to Andrew Norris for coming joint third in the epee, and to the rest of the team for managing to lose Andrew Norris.

Same again next year?
 

Sadly, it seems we are now coming to the end of this exciting university year. But at least there's still the fabulous End of Year Social.

Date: Wednesday 17th June
Time: 7pm
Location: Lupa

We'll be wining and dining, then hitting the pubs and clubs.

Come one, come all. Social Sec says: dress up smart. 

As the uni year slowly draws to a close, we reach the final few training sessions at King Edward's (for this year at least):

• 2nd June
• 9th June
• 16th June

Good luck to everyone who's still got exams to go, and hope to see you all at training.

 

A better-late-than-never notification that our bus for tonight has tragically been assaulted by vandals, and so won't be in operation.


An email was sent out, but appears to have been eaten by web-monsters.

On the bright side, we have a brand spanking new coaching structure, viewable by snooping through the forum.
 

As of last night, the Southampton Fencing Club has a shiny new committee, fresh out of the box.

Particular congratulations to Beth on her new position/shackles of Club President. We all have complete confidence in you.

The names and faces on the committee page have been updated (all inevitable mistakes and typos to be reported to the webmaster) and all forum privileges should now be as required (again, whine in the direction of the webmaster email if you can't get where you want to).

Onwards!

 

There is NO Tuesday session this week (the 17th).

Our new Sunday session is, however, up and running at Glen Eyre. Follow the link above for more details.
 

Just a note to say "Merry Christmas" from SU Fencing.

It's been a busy first half to the university year. The men's and women's teams have had plenty of matches to get along with, and a small amount of venue confusion has kept everyone on their toes.

The first term was wrapped up nicely by the BUCS Individual Competition at Nottingham.

The weekend started with a hiccup (going back for a certain minibus-driver's wallet) but went on well from there. The fencing included all weapons for both genders, so it was a chance for everyone to show what they were made of.


A terrific effort was made by all who went. Special congratulations to El for coming 7th in the women's sabre and Jimmy for winning his first DE despite his opponent head-butting him... twice.

Commiserations to the (at least) two people who were knocked out of the competition by the number one seed. Also to Cerri for being knocked out by a Welshman.

As well as great fencing, the weekend also included some great nights out, demonstrating once again that fencing, before anything else, is about having fun.

We have managed to book badminton courts 3 and 4 (in the Jubilee Sports Hall) on Monday between 3 and 4!

If you can go please make sure you have sport rec. 

As fencing had to be canceled today (Tuesday), the Activity Room has been provisionally booked for tomorrow (Wednesday) from 6.30pm until 8.

This will be steam training only as the teams are away (and so not able to bring kit) and if the room is double booked I'm afraid we have to give it up.

Hope to see some of you there.
 

Welcome to the Southampton University Fencing Club website, and to 2008/2009 university year.


If you're a new face around the uni (or just around fencing!) feel free to have a browse around the site, or maybe pop over to the forum to introduce yourself.

We look forward to seeing you all at the Bunfight.

 

A great time was had by all in what some referred to as the "social weekend with a bit of fencing". Saturday and Sunday were the London International Universities Fencing Tournament, and a number of Southampton students journeyed up to King's Cross to compete.
 
Despite injuries afflicting the women's team (and the discovery of a rather nice cocktail bar just across the road from the hostel), Southampton combatants made a good account of themselves in all three weapons.
 
Off the piste, a fort was built, an African restaurant served up somewhat dubious "pancakes", and Cardiff fencers attempted to post themselves to Leon Paul. So a pretty average weekend away.
 

Southampton bring home 2 Team Silver Medals!

Southampton fencers won team silver medals in both Mens Foil and Mens Sabre at the 16th X-Challenge Tournament in Paris this year. The Mens Epee team also reached the quarter finals of their competition.

In the Womens individual events Eleanor Hayward finished 6th, Lindsay Badger 7th and Cath Oakes 13th in the Sabre whilst Beth Ricketts came 15th in the Epee.

The 2 day competition, hosted by the Ecole Polytechnique is in its 16th year and is one of the biggest international student competitions of the year. This is the second year that Southampton have competed and the teams achieved the best results of any University in the competition.

As well as top-level fencing the competition is a great social event and a good opportunity to meet other fencers from across the world while representing Southampton University.

Well done to all the fencers!
 

Excellent results for all the Southampton fencers at the Plymouth Open this year.

In the Mens events Antoine came 5th in the Foil and won the Epee with Bastien 16th. Will came 5th in the Sabre with alumni Steve 14th.

In the Womens events Lindsay came 3rd in the Sabre with Eleanor 6th. In the Epee Eleanor came 11th with Beth 23rd.

Well done all!
 

This weekend saw 3 fencers from SUFC compete at the Advalus Pro-Sabre event in Newquay, Cornwall. The event, run by Truro Fencing Club, is one of the premier events of the fencing season and of exceptionally high standard.

Will Purvis finished 26th in the Mens Sabre whilst Eleanor Hayward came 26th and Lindsay Badger came 28th in the Womens Sabre.
 

This year the fencing club received a grant from the Sport Southampton scheme to run a specialist training weekend with a visiting coach.

We were lucky enough to persuade National U20s coach and British Grand Prix team member Jon Salfield to provide a weekend of intensive fitness, movement and technical training. This was an exciting opportunity for all the team members involved to receive the highest level training available in the UK. Hopefully the team members will be able to take this experience into next seasons BUSA fixtures,  national and international competitions
 

This weekend saw 3 fencers from the club take part in the annual LIUF, Britain's biggest independent students competition, now in its 7th year. This exciting event gave everyone a chance to compete against a range of high standard fencers from around the world and also catch up with friends from other British universities. The competition is a 3 weapon event with men and women competing together.

Will Purvis came 3rd in the Sabre with Francois Belanger 33rd and Eleanor Hayward 57th. Excellent results all round in a difficult competition. 

Well done to everyone who went to the 15th X challenge event at the Ecole Polytechnique in Paris last weekend. There was excellent fencing across the board despite a lot of dodgy refereeing and I think a good time was had by all. Particularly well done to Eleanor on coming 3rd in the womens sabre individual event and congratulations to both Beth and Steve on excellent performances in what was the first major competition for both of them.

Will

 

The Mens Team are BUSA SE League 1 Winners.

After a fighting their way to a hard victory against Kings College London the Mens Team are Southern Eastern Conference 1A winners.

The team won all 7 of their matches this season, putting them 6 points clear at the top of the league on 21.

They now qualify for the championship and a promotion play-off to get into the national Premiership.

The Womens Team have also qualified for the Trophy competition from their league.

Well done to all team members!
 

This weekend we took 13 fencers up to the BUSA Individual Championships in Nottingham. A good weekend was had by all with some excellent fencing and plenty of socialising too!

Particular congratulations are due to Eleanor Hayward for an excellent result in coming 8th in the Womens Sabre and Antoine Daufresne for coming 9th after narrowly losing out 15-14 in the L16 of the Mens Foil.



Full Results:

ME 23 - Bastien Baticle 76 - Mark Amos 79 - Mark Rhind	WS 8 - Eleanor Hayward 25 - Lindsay Badger 43 - Jess Chandler
MF 9 - Antoine Daufresne 22 - Mark Amos 34 - Bastien Baticle 98 - Mark Rhind 100 - Vincent Quan 114 - Nathan Hartland	WE 41 - Eleanor Hayward 53 - Elizabeth Robertson 67 - Beth Ricketts 79 - Lindsay Badger
MS 18 - Will Purvis 30 - Antoine Daufresne 38 - Mark Amos 82 - Francois Belanger	WF 39 - Lindsay Badger 49 - Jess Chandler

Well done to all the novices who travelled to Warwick this weekend to compete in the National University Novices Competitions.

5 SUFC fencers competed this year and all did extremely well in what was, for many of them, their first competition.

Particular congratulations are due to Vincent Quan for making the last 16 in the Mens event and Beth Ricketts (our Novice Rep) for coming 6th in the Womens event.
 

Well done to the SUFC fencers who competed in the Welsh Open in Cardiff this weekend. Will Purvis came 16th in the Mens Sabre, losing to the eventual winner, whilst Eleanor Hayward and Lindsay Badger finished 29th and 34th respectively in the Womens Sabre.

Excellent results all round in an extremely strong competition.
 

Mens Team
The Mens' Team have got off to a great start this season beating Essex University 135-72 in the first week. Their second match was a much closer affair, Southampton won the Foil but Imperial College fought back to win the Epée. The result came down to the Sabre with Southampton eventually winning 124-119. An excellent start to the season from the whole team!

Womens Team
The Womens' Team have faced strong opposition in their first 3 matches narrowly missing out to Swansea 117-112 in the first week and by only 1 point in their match last week to Aberystwyth. A difficult start to the season but with strong fencing from all the team the future looks better for the team.
 

The fencing club has kicked off the new academic year with loads of exciting socials to help new members get to know everyone.

Social Secretary Lindsay kicked off the fun with a Zorro-themed indian meal and pub-crawl through Portswood. A lighter, non-alcoholic option was provided by the club outing to see Ratatouille at the cinema and on Thursday the club took a night off from training for Pie, Pudding and Pint night at the Highfield!

Loads of fun and games and many more socials to come!