QE’s young fencers competed in their own tournaments, rounding off a successful year for the sport at the School.
In the two competitions, for Year 7 and Year 8 boys, the fencers took on a number of their peers in their group – or ‘poule’ – with the winners decided by aggregating the scores from these fights.
Coaches for fencing at QE are provided by the Paul Davis Fencing Academy. In an end-of-year report, the academy’s Operations Manager, Lisa Walter, wrote that she had been very pleased with the progress made by the Year 7s during their first year of fencing. “All the boys exemplified the behaviours we look for in fencing and were an asset to the School.”
Of the Year 8s, she wrote that the academy coaches were pleased not only with the progress of the boys, but also with the atmosphere in the group: “All the boys are working towards helping each other and improving as a whole.”
This term, a Fencer of the Week programme was introduced for the Year 8 fencers. The boy given the accolade was selected by the Fencing Captain, Batu Cakir, and Vice Captain, Abdullah Chisti, and announced to the fencing class at the end of each session, with the pair also explaining why they had chosen that person. “This has been a huge success, helping to recognise hard work,” said Ms Walter.
Earlier this year, QE’s older fencers achieved league success: the A squad won the Hertfordshire Schools Spring 2017 Foil League, while the B team came second in their division.
In the end-of-term Year 7 competition, first place went to Umer Saad Rahman, second to Aaron Hare, third to Dilan Patel and fourth to Pranav Chawla. For Year 8, the final standings were: Ayush Patel in first position, followed by Batu Cakir, Sultan Khokhar and then Dilan Velani.
Ms Walter commended the boys in the Year 7 competition for fencing “brilliantly”; the Year 8 event had been “a great afternoon’s fencing to round off a great year!”