General Squad Information
All State Squads are run out of the State Fencing Centre in Nth Melbourne
Membership Requirement
All squad members must also be affiliated with Fencing Victoria, with a minimum of 2024 Club/School Membership, which implies fully paid up membership of an affiliated Victorian Fencing Club. An exemption for this applies for interstate or overseas fencers who expect to train with a squad for less than 3 months (but the requirement for full squad payment still applies in this instance).
Coaches
Epee Squad – Maître Vlad Sher, National Technical Director
Foil Squad – Rob Di Pasquale – National Assistant Coach (Foil) (Fridays) and Tais De Morais Rochel – National Assistant Coach (Foil) (Tuesdays)
Sabre Squad – Currently not running
National Squad
The National Squad runs its sessions at the same time as the Foil and Epee Sessions and are run by the nominated coaches. There is also an additional National Squad Epee session on Tuesday mornings and a National Squad Foil session, on Thursday mornings, at the State Fencing Centre.
- Please note that attendance at these sessions requires National Squad Members to also be members of the State Squad, or a non-resident (Interstate) visiting National Squad Member.
Times
Senior Epee Squad : Wednesday Night – 7:00pm to 9:00pm & Saturday Morning 8:30am to 1:00pm (finishing time may vary on Saturdays depending on the amount of participants on the day. Saturday Squads are run in Competition Format – see details below)
Foil Squad : Tuesday and Friday Nights – 6:30 to 8:30pm
Sabre Squad : Not Running
Try-before-you-buy – Epee Squad
All are welcome to join Senior Epee Squad, if they are over 13 years of age. Prospective squad members who have never attended a Fencing Victoria squad program are invited to attend one squad session at no charge, to confirm that the squad is appropriate for their training level and objectives. Sessions attended, after the first one, will be taken as confirmation of ongoing commitment to squad, and squad fees then become due. Also, fencers who join in with squad activities (including bouting and/or warm-ups) are deemed to have joined the squad, and squad fees in this case are also due.
Requirements
Squad members are requested to have two or more working weapons, and two or more working body wires at each training session.
Squad members are also required to wear full whites, including plastron and socks. Full Whites should be in good order and serve the protection purpose they where designed for. Shorts and short socks are not permitted.
Fees
Epee Squad Fees:
$285 per quarter (2 sessions per week)
$200 per quarter (1 session per week)
$30 for a single session
Foil Squad Fees:
$285 per quarter (2 sessions per week)
$200 per quarter (1 session per week)
$30 for a single session
Sabre Squad:
Not Running Currently
Saturday Epee Squad Competition Training Weekly Epee Competition
In order to give fencers some in-competition training, an informal competition takes place each Saturday morning as part of the Epee Squad session. Please Note: Epee Squad is a Senior Squad, which means members must be 13, or over.
Format
The first round of the competition is run as pools (usually 6-8 fencers per pool). At the conclusion of the pools, each fencer is given a ranking based on the number of bouts won, lost, and the hits in each bout. Then there is an “exhaustive” direct elimination, where bouts of 15 hits are fenced. However, in distinction to a regular direct elimination, losing fencers compete against other losing fencers to regain placings. This happens successively until all places have been fenced off. Typically, this will mean that each fencer has up to five fifteen-hit bouts in the second round.
Payments
Payment for Sessions can be made via the following link –
2024 State Squad Full Quarter Payments
2024 State Squad Full Quarter Payments – Q1- https://account.fencing.assemblesports.io/finder?id=270
2024 State Squad Full Quarter Payments – Q4 https://account.fencing.assemblesports.io/finder?id=315
2024 State Squads – Single Session Payments – https://account.fencing.assemblesports.io/finder?id=235
2024 State Squads – Single Session Payments – https://account.fencing.assemblesports.io/finder?id=350
Further Information
Questions regarding squads and squad eligibility are welcomed and should be addressed to operations@fencingvictoria.org
