Year of success for sword club

Under the supervision of coach Miroslaw Poplawski, who has been appointed as epee coach to the East Midlands Region Development Scheme, the club has gone from strength to strength.

This year, following the regional qualification competition, four club members qualified to represent the East Midlands at the British Fencing Youth Championships.

They were joined at the finals held in Sheffield by three further club members who had already pre-qualified for the competition.

Following a strong competition Sam Boyle finished in the L8 of the U18 competition.

The club’s younger fencers have also been busy competing throughout the year.

Patrick Sroka took part in the Elite Epee series and, after four individual competitions throughout the year, qualified for the grand final where he came third overall in the U13 competition.

Two club members, Sam Boyle and his sister Hannah, have again been selected to join the Welsh Team for the prestigious Sainsbury’s School Games which will take place in September.

This is not the only national honour that the club has won. After achieving seventh place in the British Fencing junior rankings, Sam has been selected to join the British Fencing junior squad for an epee junior World Cup to be held in Luxembourg in September.

The club has benefited from grant funding this year from Sports Nottinghamshire, which has helped to establish a satellite club at West Notts College on a Thursday evening, which runs alongside their base at Samworth Church Academy on a Tuesday night. The club will be running courses for beginners in September.

Picture by David Bradley.