Fencing New Zealand has recently announced that the current international rule requiring the use of what is commonly referred to as 'double Velcro strapping' on all masks will be a requirement for all Fencing New Zealand run competitions from now on.  The first one of these being the President's Cup on 3/4 July in Christchurch.

More information about this requirement can be found in this publication put out by Fencing New Zealand:  https://www.fencing.org.nz/images/FeNZ_Masks_Weapon_Control__Competititon_Requirements_May_2021.pdf

You may also want to read the Leon Paul (equipment manufacturer) publication which addresses the background to this as well as explanation as to what the rules are for their 'contour' and 'tongue' masks. https://www.leonpaul.com/blog/fie-masks-update-faq/

Recognising that many may still have masks that do not meet this requirement, Fencing North has decided that this rule will not apply immediately to all Fencing North run competitions, but it will apply from 1 January 2022. 

Having said that, as this is a safety issue, you are strongly encouraged to comply this requirement before 2022.

It is possible to 'retro-fit' existing masks to meet this requirement. 

There are local suppliers for this retrofit service - Neil Young (Invictus Fencing) This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. can do this for Leon Paul, Uhlmann and Wuxi brands.  Rory Ogg (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.) can advise around PBT branded product.

After the success of the first schools tournament with a large number of entries, we now have the second tournament at this level.

This will be on 26 June 2021 at Trusts Arena, Henderson.

You can enter via the link below. 

Registration here

Please read all of the information in the registration information carefully.  Then click the green 'Continue' button to enter and pay.  If you do not know your FENZ registration number, use the non-registered option, although you will need to be a Fencing North member to participate.  Note Fencing North Membership is free!

Please register on or before 17 June 2021.  All entries after that date will be at the discretion of the Tournament Organiser.  We need to know entry numbers early so that we can plan properly.  

Please note that the following day will be the McLeavy Open Tournament.  This is open to all levels of fencer.  We would like to see more school aged fencers participate at this level.  We want to see more entries at this tournament level.  So please consider entering this tournament and the McLeavy the next day.  

The more competitions you fence in, the quicker you will improve.  There is only so much you can learn at club and through lessons.

Any questions about this tournament, please email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Fencing North Inc. Committee Meeting – 03.05.2021

Meeting Opened:  7:00pm (Microsoft Teams)

Present: David Elder (President), Ben Upton (Secretary), Maja Saran (Head of Tournaments),  Sunnie Sun (Vice President, Massey University), Peter Butler (Auckland Swords), Katie Logan (NZ Academy of Fencing), Amanda Hopkins (Treasurer), Rhys Greensill, Matt Stanley (Whangarei Swords)

Apologies:

Confirmation of the Previous Minutes:  Minutes approved.

Matters Arising – Mary has started a guide for parents etc. for tournaments.  Mary to circulate draft for next month’s meeting.  No other matters arising.

Treasurer’s Report

Doing OK.  Profit of c.$3,000 outside of grants and donations. Major school tournaments to come.  There are pistes to come and some referees to pay. 

There was an agreement some time ago for payment to referees of $25 per half day for age-group and national secondary championships (2019).   There was discussion around payment generally and whether payment would incentivise better assistance and participation.  There was a general view that this should be done to improve the quality of tournaments.  There was a problem in the past with payment.  Vouchers were used in the past.  Katie is currently referee co-ordinator and will be charged with distribution of these.  Costs of this can be factored into the tournament fees.  There does need to be some route to qualification but we need to grow the volume of the referee poule first.  Self-refereeing will not be paid.

Agreed policy emerged - All fencers are expected be able to self-referee if required.  Fencing North will recompense persons who are invited to attend to referee or otherwise asked to referee an event other than that which they are entered into at a rate of $25 per half day.  This will not include nationals (addressed by FENZ).  This policy should apply to all Fencing North organised tournaments.  This was agreed.

Amanda Hopkins to contact Oliver Agnew about outstanding money due for website hosting.

Amanda’s report approved.   

Competitions

Maja Saran will update terms and conditions if required.   

All fencers who have entered Fenton are FN members. 

A new computer has been purchased for Fencing Time.  A router will be purchased – this is on order.  The system will have Wifi.  A third computer is being looked for.  This hardware is required before the new Fencing Time licence is purchased.  

There was a discussion around the selection of secondary school teams.  In the past, selection has been to select school based teams, unless a school cannot put up a team, at which point individuals may be put into composite teams and entered by Fencing North.

FN is organising Oceanics at Te Pai.  Dave Elder advised that both of those events are likely to be covered by Sky Sport Next / 9.    These will not be Oceania championships unless all participant nations can take part.  At the moment, however, we need to plan as though these are taking place and, if not Oceanic, it will be a Nationals tournament in any event.  David Elder is putting together an organising committee for this.    

There is a clash with training camp and Pickworth.  This will be addressed.

Permanent Venue

Rhys Greensill reported.  This is being progressed after Rhys had been taken out of action due to a family bereavement.  There is general interest but concerns about location and cost.  There will be an update report at the next meeting.  There are several leads to follow around venue options. 

Health and Safety

No reports

Better reporting procedures had been raised as an issue by a member (Hannah Choi).  She was not there to present.

Fundraising

There has been one application to Active Auckland - $15,000.   This was not successful.  There is a further application for $8,000 for funding to cover advice on a permanent venue.

Dave Elder outlined items that require priority for funding – Metal pistes, boxes, running costs of Oceanics, televised coverage of both events, virtual referee system, permanent venue, tournament running costs, first aid running costs.

There was discussion around getting funding for production costs for TV coverage – David Elder to progress this.

Quotes are needed for equipment items. 

Hardship funds

Dave Elder has had this as an idea for some time.  There are a number of fencers who struggle to find the funds for travel.  There is a desire to set up a hardship fund to assist fencers who have potential, but simply do not have the money.

This will be discussed further at the next meeting.

Australia U17s

At the last FENZ meeting it was decided not to send a team to Australia U17s.  There was a concern around the travel risks with Covid.  A few fencers wish to go independently

This has been resolved by FENZ as published.

Whangarei tournament

Matt Stanley is looking to promote a tournament in Whangarei in July.  There is also currently a slot on 6 November.

FeNZ News

Nothing to report. 

Other Business:  No other business.

Confirmation of next meeting date – Monday, 31 May 2021.

Meeting Closed:   9:26 pm

Entries for the next open tournament (the McLeavy) are now open.  It is on Sunday, 27 June 2021 at Trusts Arena, Henderson.

You can enter via the link below.  

https://www.registernow.com.au/secure/Register.aspx?E=43853

Please read all of the information in the registration information carefully.  Then click the green 'Continue' button to enter and pay.  If you do not know your FENZ registration number, use the non-registered option, although you will need to be a Fencing North member to participate.  Note Fencing North Membership is free!

Please register on or before 17 June 2021.  All entries after that date will be at the discretion of the Tournament Organiser.  We need to know entry numbers early so that we can plan properly.  

Please note that open tournaments are open to all levels of fencer.  We would like to see more school aged fencers participate.  We had, for example, 40 boys fence at the recent schools tournaments.  If you got into the top 16 of that tournament, you should feel that you are at a level to fence at the open events.  We want to see more entries at this tournament level.  

Any questions about this tournament, please email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Tournament entry is now open for the first secondary schools tournament of the season.

Follow this link, and read the instructions carefully.

https://www.registernow.com.au/secure/Register.aspx?E=43504

Registrations close on 20 May 2021.  Acceptance of any late entries after that date will be at the discretion of the tournament organiser.

Late enties are not welcome because the organisers need to know numbers etc. so that they can plan ahead, get the number of referrees / volunteers etc organised and confirm the venue size.

Congratulations to all the Fencing North Juniors who fenced over the weekend in Wellington at the National U15 and U17 Tournament.

Particularly the medal winners:

Reminder that the Fenton Open Tournament (all weapons) is open for registration until Thursday, 29 April 2021.   

Here is the link for entries:  https://www.registernow.com.au/secure/Register.aspx?E=43373

Please read the entry information in the link carefully, and press the green button at the end of the first page to start enrolling.

If you do not yet know your FENZ membership number, use the non-member option.

LATE ENTRIES ARE AT THE DISCRETION OF THE TOURNAMENT ORGANISERS - WE DON'T LIKE LATE ENTRIES AS IT MAKES PLANNING (INCLUDING WHETHER TO HOLD A PARTICULAR EVENT OR NOT) HARD.

Fencing North Inc. Committee Meeting – 29.03.2021

 Meeting Opened:  7:00pm (In person – Simpson Grierson offices.  By phone – Dial in)

Present: David Elder (President), Ben Upton (Secretary), Maja Saran (Head of Tournaments), Judit Fliszar, Sunnie Sun (Vice President, Massey University), Peter Butler (Auckland Swords), Mary Black (Tuatahi), Amanda Hopkins (Treasurer)

Apologies:  Rhys Greensill (Fund Raising), Matt Stanley (Whangarei Swords),

Confirmation of the Previous Minutes:  Minutes approved.

Matters Arising – No matters arising.   

Competitions

Maja Saran presented her report.  Late fees not working.  More than a third of entries are late.  Need to incentivise early entry (Suggestion - Early bird rate - $25, Standard - $35, Late - $45).  Would like to pay referees.  This was discussed.

There was discussion about raising fees generally, to ensure tournaments do not run at a loss.

Dave Elder proposed to raise fees to $50 standard to alleviate this problem.

There was opposition to this and the motion was not passed.

There is nonetheless an issue around late enrolment which causes problems around whether to proceed or not and with the organisation of the event. 

There is a concern about U14 being left unsupervised.  There needs to be a direction that this cannot happen.  U14s must be under supervision of a parent or guardian.

 There is a preference for Courts 5 and 6 at Trusts.

Some data is being collated about tournaments and participation.  This will assist in the future as more data is gathered.

There is a view that there should be no refunds, subject to discretion based on common sense.

Maja presented a fulsome report about the current state of play around tournaments.  This report was well received.  There needs to be greater support and a better attitude towards the DT. 

Mary to draft up an information sheet with guidelines for fencers, parents and coaches to outline where they can help and assist.  There will also be effort to ensure the DT is not disturbed during the organisation of the tournament.   

There was brief discussion around gender separation.  There is a feeling that the current approach is working appropriately, albeit this is driven by lack of entries.  The preference is to run separate gender events when this is possible.  The threshold is currently 6.

Treasurer’s Report

There current position is positive.  Payment for $4,000 is due from FENZ.  Payment to Oliver Agnew is still due, but he is yet to invoice for the website.

The purchase of pistes (2) is under way.  There is an option of ribbons instead of medals.  Ben Upton to inquire around this.

Report was approved.

Permanent Venue

Peter Butler reported.  FN is in a process about how to take this forward.  Rhys and Peter have received some club feedback (5) which is being processed.  Thanks were extended to those who have reported in.  A discussion document will be produced and this will be presented to the FN executive.  A proposal will then be presented to the wider club membership.  The key issues will be the governing structure and the funding model.

Hoping to be in a position to report more fully in June.

Health and Safety

Nothing to report.  FN is still looking for a welfare officer.

FeNZ News

FENZ AGM took place and was reported on.  There was an outline of FIE events.

School Sponsorship

There is an offer from Daniel Chan at Mainland Fencing for equipment prizes at school tournaments.  He would set up a stall.  There is potentially a scoring box on offer (or equivalent) for the top school.  That proposal was accepted.   

Coaching Report

There is a coaching course coming up which is a trial.  A coaching database needs to be established which records FN accepted coaches so they can be supported.

There needs to be some place on the FN website for coaches.  Judith to provide a list of currently registered fencers.

Equipment

Of the 9 there are 7 working boxes.  There is one box missing – This needs to be found.  Another is under repair – Permission given to progress this.    

Confirmation of next meeting date – Tuesday, 27 April 2021.

Other Business:  No other business.

Meeting Closed:   9:26 pm

The dates and event details for the Oceanic / NZ Championship Junior (10 - 12 September 201) and Senior (23 - 25 October 2021) have been confirmed by the New Zealand and the Oceanic Fencing governing bodies.

See all the event details by going to the tournament links in the Fencing North Tournament Calendar.

NB The Oceanic status of these events will only apply if travel between Oceania member countries is allowed. This will be determined closer to the date of each Championship.

Whether the National (New Zealand) aspect of these championships can proceed will then depend on the Covid alert levels that apply, and will be decided upon by Fencing New Zealand.