EN GUARDE!
Year 7 pupil, Jessica Fortune, took part in the British Youth Fencing Championships.
I have been fencing at Warminster School for almost 2 years. Our fencing classes are coached by Robert Bruniges and Sandra Egginton on a weekly basis at Warminster and they have entered us for a few local competitions. Robert is a British fencer and Three Weapon qualified coach. He became World Junior Foil Champion in 1976 and competed at the 1976, 1980 and 1984 Summer Olympics. Sandra is a Level Two fencing coach.
After entering a South West Fencing Competition on 4th February 2018 at Millfield School, I was lucky to qualify for the U12 Girls Epee, for the South West Region, British Youth Championships Finals Event in May 2018.
I travelled to Sheffield with my parents on Friday evening, ready to compete on Saturday 5 May, at the English Institute of Sport in Sheffield. The venue was amazing with two multi-purpose sports halls, table tennis hall, netball hall and an indoor athletics arena. We arrived early, making sure I had enough time for a warm up and to find my piste number and start time. I was very nervous as I had not entered a competition of this size before.
The poules rounds were tough with many experienced fencers coming from most regions of the UK.
In the poules round I was very pleased with my results of:
4 – 0 won
1 – 5 lost
5 – 2 won
3 – 1 won
5 – 2 won
This meant in the ranking of poules, round No 1, I was ranked No 8.
After this it was the DE – direct elimination.
My next match, I unfortunately lost 10 – 8 which meant I could not have any more matches.
After the final scores were in, I was placed 17th which I am very pleased with. It was a long, exhausting and exciting day in Sheffield.
Jessica Fortune, Year 7