Fencing in Gelding schools
The School Sport Partnership in the Gedling borough of Nottingham ran a project to introduce fencing to year 5/6 children from across the borough. Following a successful pilot project in the 2007/8 year, 12 primary schools took part between September 2008 and April 2010.
The lessons were run as an after-school club, and include not just fencing but games, timekeeping and refereeing. In March 2009 I helped to run a competition between a number of the schools.
The lessons used Mini-Fence foam swords and plastic masks supplied by Leon Paul. This equipment is safe and allows a lot of basic fencing moves to be taught. It is also economical for the partnership to buy and maintain.
As part of the project, clubs were established at local secondary schools (Arnold Hill and Wheldon Sports College) and links established with two local fencing clubs: Sherwood Cadets and Arnold and Carlton Sword. These clubs and links enable children to continue to develop their fencing, moving from the foam equipment to conventional swords and protective clothing.
If you are a competition manager or are involved in another school sport partnership and would like to set up a similar project, please get in touch.