Fencers Shine in Regional Competitions and Friendly Matches
Our Fencers have been busy in recent weeks. The first event was the West Midlands Age Group Epee competition, which is the Regional qualifying round for the British Youth Championships, held on Sunday 4 February at Packwood Haugh school in Shropshire.
There were seven RGS fencers in action, each in a different event. Matilda Hawkins finished 8th in the Under 14 girls’ event, Matthew Fallows finished 7th in the Under 18 boys’ event, Edith Wise finished 5th in the Under 18 girls’ event and Finn Bratchell finished 5th in the Under 12 boys’ event.
Both Issy Pottinger in the Under 16 girls’ event and Joseph Kington in the Under 16 boys’ event finished 3rd and gained Bronze Medals and Emily De Bono won the girls’ Under 12 event, taking the title of West Midlands Girls’ Under 12 Champion and a Gold Medal.
In addition, all seven fencers have qualified for the National Finals, to be held at the England Institute of Sport, in Sheffield in May. This follows a long tradition of RGS representation at this event.
On Sunday 18 February, Emily De Bono took part in the West Midlands Age Group Sabre, winning through to the final and taking the Silver Medal, together with a place in Sheffield to fence Sabre alongside the Epee.
On Saturday 24 February, Joseph Kington competed in the West Midlands Senior Championships, where he produced some excellent fencing taking him through to the quarter-finals. He defeated a very experienced fencer (and coach) to win through to the Semi-finals, earning him a Bronze at Senior level to go with his Bronze at the Under 16 level. The next day was the Age Group Foil event, where Emily De Bono added a second Silver Medal and a third qualification for the National Finals in Sheffield in May.
On Monday 4 March, King’s School, Worcester visited RGS for a friendly tournament. Both schools fielded four teams, one Senior team and three Junior teams, the majority of whom were novices at their first and second friendly competitions. Our three Junior teams stepped up to the mark, with RGS A team coming from behind and winning 30/27, with an excellent final display by Finn Bratchell. RGS team B fought very well with strong performances from Emily de Bono, Matilda Hawkins and Sam Booth, but they lost graciously 30/20, giving King’s School a short-lived lead on points.
Our final Junior team RGS C were up against the strongest and most experienced Junior team from King’s School. Issy Pottinger and Ethan Leese got the team off to a great start before a resurgence from King’s School closed the gap during the second phase. In the final stage of the match, Issy Pottinger tactically stepped back in to take victory with a score line of 45/42 to RGS.
Finally, our Senior team fenced extremely well to take a win 41/35 from strong and skilful performances from Matthew Fallows and Jacob Hartley, defeating an opponent who represents Great Britain at international level. This took RGS to victory winning 3 out of 4 matches, and also on points 136/134.
Special thanks should go to Joseph Kington, who refereed for the Senior teams with great distinction, proving to be both level headed and even-handed.
Overall, a decisive 3-1 victory was achieved and all fencers should be congratulated for their efforts and sportsmanship throughout the event and for representing RGS so well. This completed the Home and Away fixtures with King’s School with an overall victory for RGS.
Very well done to all our Fencers for their hard work and dedication this term!
Mr Philip Ehlers, Senior Teacher
