The New Zealand Masters Games is a 10 day event comprising more than 50 different sports and over 2400 different individual events. Fencing is represented at these games, and there will be individual Foil, Epee and Sabre events. You need to be 30+ to enter the Open events, but there is also a Novice event (Mixed Foil) for the 25+ age group.

The Fencing events are being held Saturday 7th - Sunday 8th February 2015. 

Event information is available here: http://www.nzmg.com/sports-info/sports-a-z/f-m/fencing-2015

At our AGM last night we voted in our executive for 2015. Their main focus for 2015 will be improving the quality of our competitions, with a particular focus on the number of entries.

President: John Garelja
Vice-President: Eric Buisman
Treasurer: Linda Boyd
Secretary: Oliver Agnew

We'd like to thank the outgoing executives Johann Ryu (Treasurer) and Heather Claydon (Vice-President) for their work this year. 

We also changed our affiliation fee structure to better communicate the value you get from affiliating. We have created two tiers, students and non-students. Fencing North have set the affiliation fee for students to $0. Non students will pay the same fees as they did through 2014 ($30 for associate membership, $40 for full membership). Reminder that this is separate to the levy charge by Fencing New Zealand.

With this system students will be paying $50 for a full membership to Fencing North ($0) and Fencing New Zealand ($50). This is the same price they paid this year for an associate membership to Fencing North and Fencing New Zealand, and assuming that Fencing New Zealand's fee does not change for 2015. However we will be pushing them to introduce a student rate too!. 

In 2014 with the associate membership, students were only able to enter regional secondary school circuit events, but in 2015 for the same fee they can enter absolutely any event nationally or internationally! This will attract many fencers who previously didn't want to affiliate to only fence at one set of competitions. Through this strategy we will see more fencers at competitions, particularly our regional age group championship events which have been lacklustre through 2014. Additionally, more competitors means more ranking points earned by our fencers, which will give our fencers better national rankings and a better seeding when they compete at national events. 

Additionally we'd like to announce that we've made some large cosmetic changes to our website. The site is now much cleaner with a flat design. It is also fully optimised for mobile devices! Go and check it out. 

Currently the majority of the content on the site is catered towards existing fencers (results/event info/calendars). Moving into 2015 we will be loading the site with all sorts of great new content to cater towards other groups like non-fencers/potential fencers/friends or relatives of fencers. We also want to use the site as a platform to communicate the opportunities you get through fencing across different age groups (such as travelling/representing NZ or your city/attending events like World Championships or Commonwealth Championships). We will highlight lots of these with anecdotes from current fencers. 

Also this weekend three of our fencers are off to Australia to represent New Zealand at Australian National Fencing Champs. We'd like to wish Stephanie Wyllie (North Harbour Fencing Club), Oliver Agnew (New Zealand Academy of Fencing) and Michael Claydon (Auckland Swords Club) the best of luck! 

Finally, our AGM minutes are available on our site here:http://www.fencingnorth.com/useful-files/meeting-minutes/item/250-fencing-north-agm-minutes-2014

Have a great holiday season! See you all in 2015.

Fencing North Annual General Meeting Minutes 2014

Meadowbank Community Centre, 7.30pm – 3rd December 2014

Attendees:

See end of document for a proxy list

Meeting starts 7.30pm

1. Apologies:

Apologies from Heather Claydon, Michael Claydon, Jonathan Claydon, and Linus Harder Barfoot.

Alice Boyd moves we accept these apologies. Jeremy Dyson seconds. All in favour

2. Confirmation of Minutes from Previous AGM

John moves these are true and accurate. Rex seconds. All in favour

3. Matters Arising from Previous AGM

No matters arising

4. President's Report

John moves we accept his report. Johann seconds. All in favour.

5. Vice-President's Report

John moves we accept this report. Jeremy seconds. All in favour.

6. Secretary's Report

Oliver moves we accept this report. Johann seconds. All in favour.

7. Treasurer's Report

Johann moves we accept this report. Gaylene seconds. All in favour.

8. Election of Executive Officers

President: John Garelja is duly elected as no one else is standing against him.

Vice President: Eric Buisman is duly elected with 29 votes. Heather Claydon received 14 votes.

Secretary: Oliver Agnew is duly elected as no one else is standing against him.

Treasurer: Linda Boyd is duly elected as no one else is standing against her.

9. Setting of Fees for 2015

Oliver Agnew moves that we set the Fencing North affiliation fee to students at $0, and the affiliation fee for non-students to $30 for associates and $40 for full members. Seconded by Tommy Leigh. Large majority in favour.

Meeting closes at 8.46pm

Proxy List

Member (Proxy held)

Oliver Agnew (Kyle Macdonald)

Alex Jacob (Lena Jacob)

Christine Chen (Laura Jacks)

Adrian Roberts (Olivia Roberts)

Tommy Leigh (Sasha Green)

Sara-Louise Williams (Sophie Elborough)

Clovis Dyson (Reilly Oliver)

Laura Harvey (Chris Lear)

Chris Bell (Hamish Chan)

Annika Siegers (Jessica Gracie)

Judit Fliszar (Stephanie Wyllie)

Nicola Buisman (Murray Boucher)

Sarah Gatland (Oliver Jacks)

Hamish Bulmer (Sophie Kincaid)

Alexander Gregory (Roman Amor)

John Garelja (Heather Claydon)

Daniel Garelja (Michael Claydon)

Gaylene Ongley (Jonathan Claydon)

Nominations are invited from any fencer who wishes to be considered for selection to compete in the Asian Cadet and Junior Championships in 2015.

The competition will be held in Abu Dhabi, UAE from 28 February to 9 March 2015.

Selection will be in terms of the relevant FeNZ selection criteria which can be found on the FeNZ web site.

Nominations close on 21 December 2014 and should be made on the FeNZ nomination form found on the FeNZ web site here, to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. no later than 21 December 2014.

Only four athletes can be entered in each category. Where the numbers of athletes attending requires, a referee/s may need to be provided.

No funding is available to assist athletes to attend this competition, and the cost of any referees and management will be the borne by athletes attending. A current FIE licence will be required.

Source: http://www.fencing.org.nz

 The following people have been nominated to be Fencing North Executive Officers in 2015.

• President: John Garelja
• Vice President: Heather Claydon / Eric Buisman
• Treasurer: Linda Boyd
• Secretary: Oliver Agnew

Voting for these positions will happen at the AGM on the 3rd December. If you cannot attend the AGM and wish to make a proxy vote, you need to email the Secretary (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.) and let him know who you’ve instructed to place a vote on your behalf. Remember that any member can only hold one other member’s proxy.

You can find information about the AGM (including the location and agenda) here: http://fencingnorth.com/item/183-fencing-north-agm-2014 

There are several rules documents that are helpful for fencers to read. They're available on the FIE (International Fencing Federation) website : http://fie.org/fie/documents/rules

Fencing North Committee Meeting

Monday 1st November 2014, 7.30pm

Meadowbank Community Centre, Meadowbank

Present:

John Garelja (President)

Heather Claydon (Vice President)

Oliver Agnew (Secretary) – holds proxy Judit Fliszar

Hamish Bulmer

Chris Lear – holds proxy Laura Harvey

Gaylene Ongley

Jeremy Dyson

Apologies:

Laura Harvey

Judit Fliszar

Meeting starts 7.30pm:

Matters arising from previous minutes:

RE: NZ Coaching accreditation program:

Dave Barson is taking over management of NZ coaching accreditation program for Fencing NZ.

Treasurer’s Report:

There was no treasurer’s report this meeting

Administration of Fencing North:

We need to submit the following information to incorporated societies.

• ·      Elected officers
• ·      AGM minutes
• ·      Yearly financial reports

Fencing North Calendar 2015:

Oliver to give Heather access to the North website to populate the 2015 Calendar.

National Events 2015:

Fencing North has been asked to run a national teams event. FeNZ have scheduled this for. We’re waiting for FeNZ to provide a format for this event.

Bills to pay:

Jeremy Dyson moves we pay the following bills, Oliver Agnew seconds. All in favour. 

• ·      Mainland Fencing for a replacement transformer for a box. - $72.00
• ·      John Garelja’s airfares to attend FeNZ planning meeting in October - $278.95
• ·      Fencing MidSouth for 5 Fencing North Teams at Nationals - $200.00
• ·      Outstanding affiliations to FeNZ $250.00

These payments will be made via Internet banking.

Fencing North AGM:

Our AGM will be at 7.30pm on Wednesday 3^rd December at the Meadowbank Community Centre.

Oliver will distribute meeting information and organise call for nominations to officer positions.

Meeting closed at 9pm

Fencing North Committee Meeting

Wednesday 1st October 2014, 7.30pm

Meadowbank Community Centre, Meadowbank

Present:

John Garelja - President

Heather Claydon - Vice President

Oliver Agnew - Secretary (Holds proxy for Judit Fliszar)

Johann Ryu - Treasurer

Gaylene Ongley 

Laura Harvey

Jeremy Dyson

Chris Lear

Apologies: 

Judit Fliszar

Meeting starts at 7.30pm

Minutes from previous meeting:

John Garelja moves that we approve minutes from the previous meeting. Jeremy Dyson seconds. All in favour.

Matters arising from the minutes of the previous meeting:

Laura Harvey to email Leon Thomas about coaching.

Oliver Agnew to organise trophy release forms for trophies presented at NZSS/U20s.

We need to pay our outstanding affiliations to Fencing New Zealand, John moves that we pay FeNZ outstanding affiliations, Jeremy seconds. All in favour.

The final figure needs to be calculated, but is expected to be around $1400. Oliver to pay this to FeNZ via internet banking.

Treasurer’s Report: 

Laura moves that we accept the report. Gaylene seconds. All in favour

Fencing NZ Planning Meeting:

Fencing Central have indicated that they would like FeNZ to employ a part time administrator. Laura Harvey moves that Fencing North would like to support this. Chris Lear seconds. All in favour.

We are also going to propose that FeNZ distribute meeting agendas and treasurer’s reports at least a week in advance of each meeting, and meeting minutes within a week following each meeting.

Oliver Agnew moves that we pay for John Garelja to attend the FeNZ Planning Meeting in Wellington (4^th October 2014). Laura Harvey seconds. All in favour. This is expected to be around $300 for airfares.

North Open Champs:

Fencing North Open Champs will be held on the 18^th October in the hall at Massey High School. Epee will run at 9am, Foil at 11am, Sabre at 1pm, originally foil was to be run first but we have swapped foil and epee around.

There will also be a training camp on the 19^th October at Rangitoto College. This will be run by Anya Kamynina, Judit Fliszar, and Paul Hentschel.

Fencing North Event Calendar 2015:

Heather Claydon will continue organising this. Jeremy Dyson mentioned that there is an opportunity for a large number of fencers from Noumea/Tahiti attending an event in Auckland. We may change some dates to cater for this group.

Club Plans and Information for 2015:

Oliver Agnew to email fencing clubs and see what plans they have for 2015, also collect information from them to add to our website (training times/locations/contact details/etc)

Fencing North Website & Facebook Page:

Oliver Agnew wants to upgrade the Joomla! template and hosting for our website. John Garelja moves that we budget $250 towards this, Laura Harvey seconds. All in favour.

Oliver also wants more people to contribute to the content and management of our Facebook page, Oliver will look into how we can do this.

Other Business:

Laura will send a copy of the Fencing North constitution to the North Executive

We sold two old copper pistes for $450

Meeting closed 9.20pm

Fencing North Committee Meeting

Wednesday 30^th July 2014, 7.30pm

Meadowbank Community Centre, Meadowbank

Present:

John Garelja - President

Heather Claydon - Vice President

Oliver Agnew - Secretary (holds Johann Ryu’s proxy)

Gaylene Ongley

Laura Harvey

Jeremy Dyson

Chris Lear

Apologies:

Judit Fliszar

Anya Kamynina

Johann Ryu

Meeting starts at 7.30pm

Confirmation of previous minutes. Jeremy Dyson moves that we accept the minutes,  John Garelja seconds.

Level 0 Coaching Clinics and accreditation:

We don’t have anyone in Auckland to do accreditation of coaches at any level. Judit/Anya need to be re-accredited through this system in order to give out accreditation. Laura should email Leon Thomas to work out how this works.

NZ SS & Under 20s: 

Gym at Massey High is booked.

Massey High may waive hall hire for Thursday/Friday

Discussion about referees, we are happy to spend money to bring two referees up for this event. We will explore requirements for additional referees as entries come in.

Trophies need to be organised for this event. These need to be sent to Gaylene Ongley. Need to email Vanda Symon to organise who was awarded with trophies so we can acquire them. We need a copy of the FeNZ form.

Jeremy moves that a form be used when trophies are handed out and that the recipients of the trophy must sign the form. This form must include a clause that states that the holder of the trophy holds the trophy for 11 months and must return the trophy in good order at the end of those 11 months. Seconded by Laura Harvey. All in favour.

On the entry form, we will have a field for Auckland Fencers to select if they will help out on Wednesday night or Sunday (or neither). If we don’t get enough we will approach the neither group to help out.

Trophies:

Gaylene will create a list of missing trophies so we can ask for sponsors to replace these.  

Other business:

Named Competitions: 

At some point in the future, Gaylene will delve into records and her own knowledge to work out who the named competitions are in honour of and write some words about these people so we can build our own history.

Oliver’s report on Asian Champs/World Champs:

Oliver has made a report to the North meeting. Oliver will write a formal report including criticisms and recommendations, which North endorses and will table at the next FeNZ meeting. Chris moves and Heather seconds, all in favour.

Meeting closes 9:25pm

Minutes of Fencing North Meeting,

Wednesday 2^nd July 2014, 7:30pm

1.   Present: John Garelja (President), Heather Claydon (VP), Johann Ryu (Treasurer),  Jeremy Dyson (AHP), Gaylene Ongley (ASC)

2.   Apologies: Oliver Agnew

3.   Previous minutes

Minutes from June 2014 meet not available.

4.   Financial Report

a)     Affiliation Fees ($4300) to FENZ were paid in the period.
Fencing north has 47 Associate members, 69 Full members and 1 Life member; a total of 117 members.

b)    Account Balances as at 4/6:

1.     Current Account  $12,474.241

2.     Savings Account $11,712.78

c)     The internet Banking option has appeared (un-requested) on the account.  It was confirmed that Fencing North Bank accounts should be Read only and all payments made by cheque to ensure there are two signatures.  Johann will take this up with the bank.

d)    It was noted that the signatures have still not been changed to reflect the new office holders and this needs to be actioned asap.  It was suggested that time be taken during the MacLeavy or other competition.

e)     Outstanding Accounts/payments.

Fencing North is still waiting for Steve Clarke to provide invoices for Accommodation and Airfares for NI Champs.

Massey High School is owed $350.00 for North Islands and $300 for two of North Secondary Schools events.
Moved: That these payments be made                           Jeremy / John   Carried.
Heather Claydon requires payment for the SS Shield ($25 .  )  John / Jeremy Carried

Following a discussion around how payments to Massey High School could be sped up it was moved that all Massey High School Hall Hire invoices for use of Gymnasium and use of Hall are preapproved for payment.                                    John / Gaylene Carried

Moved: That the financial report be accepted                  John / Jeremy   Carried.

5.   FENZ topics

a)     Leon will be here for more Level 0 Coaching Clinics.  If anyone is interested Fenz will require notification.   A query was raised about any Level 1 training as Robert Ogg may be interested. 

b)    Under 23 Ranking

Could Fenz please be asked if there .is going to be an under 23 Ranking?

c)     Under 15 Affiliations

As many under 15’s .only enter Secondary School and Under 15 Champs would FENZ consider letting these fencers remain as associate for affiliation purposes?

6.   National Secondary Schools & Under 20’s

This will be held in MHS Gym. 

a)     Concern was raised about access and parking as the school will be working (Thursday & Friday) whilst the SS are running.  School Buses will arrive between 8:15 and 8:30am.   John will investigate.   This may mean that we have to adjust the 9am starts so that we do not cause problems for MHS.  – Further discussion next meeting.

b)    It was decided that we would need eight Pistes. We have 4 Aluminium and with the equipment in storage at Gaylene’s we could have 4 Copper Pistes.  This means we do not need to borrow from the other regions or FENZ.

c)     Two teams need to be identified; one to set-up on Wednesday evening and a second to take down on Sunday afternoon/evening.

d)    FENZ will provide Medals.  A4 Certificates will also be created by Fencing North.

e)     High Performance Auckland will be undertaking catering (Jeremy)

7.   Other Business

a)     First Aid.   During a discussion at an earlier competition it was noted that Fencing North no longer had a First Aid Kit.  There should be one available.  From an operation view it was suggested that the kit be held at DT table and all uses/material used be note so that replacements can be made promptly.
Moved that purchase of a First Aid Kit be organised             John / Heather   Carried

b)    Under 9’s and Under 13’s Competitions.  These were evidently held within the region with fencers attending from other regions.  A committee member was asked why information wasn’t made generally available.  It was decided that how notification of competitions is managed needs to be discussed at a further meeting.

            Meeting closed 8.30pm