Katie Logan
Fencing North Meeting – 26th August 2019
Meeting opened: 7:10pm
Present: David Elder, Amanda Hopkins, Katie Logan, Sunnie Sun, Ainslie McGuire-Barnes, Murray McGuire-Barnes.
Apologies: Kyle Nankivell.
Confirmation of the Previous Minutes: Ainslie moved that the minutes from July be accepted. David seconded. Motion carried.
Matters Arising: In the previous meeting the committee discussed how half and full days of refereeing should be counted and agreed to consult the FeNZ policy. However, FeNZ does not have a set policy on this matter. Therefore Amanda proposed that up to four hours be considered a half day and five hours or more a full day. Katie seconded. Motion carried. The referees will be paid as soon as possible.
Health and Safety: Sunnie reported that at the SS4 competition a fencer was seen using a sabre with the wrong handedness and that this was potentially quite dangerous. The committee agreed that referees should be empowered to turn away fencers who present with wrong-handed weapon.
There were three injuries reported from North Islands.
Treasurer’s Report: Amanda gave her report to the committee. Unfortunately we will make a loss on North Islands, due to low entries and a number of unexpected expenses. Expenses are also expected to be relatively high at NZSS, and North is paying a number of insurance premiums this year. She noted that the end of our financial year is the end of September, at which point the committee will have to discuss how the books can be balanced next year.
David seconded Amanda’s report. Motion carried.
Competitions: The upcoming competitions for September are the National Secondary Schools on the 6th-8th, and the North U20s/23s on the 21st.
Macleavy Open: The Macleavy Open competition, which was meant to be held on the 31st of August, has been cancelled this year. The normal organisers have unfortunately been too busy organising the National competitions to devote any time to the Macleavy, and there were no good opportunities to postpone it. Fencing North would like to apologise for any disappointment or inconvenience caused.
Regional Open Competitions: David presented to the committee a suggestion that may improve participation and reduce the difficulty of organising regional open competitions. He suggested that Fencing North might ask the larger clubs to run some of these competitions, as has been the norm in the past. David will talk to clubs about this and see whether there is any interest.
NZ Secondary Schools: The committee discussed the preparations for NZSS. With only two weeks to go there is still a huge need for volunteers for set-up and pack-up, first aid and referee billeting. Anyone who is willing to help, please contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
NZSS – North Teams: Following the decision at last month’s meeting, Katie has been selecting school teams based on the National rankings. Despite some requests, no composite teams have been selected, as there was neither a mandate nor a mechanism for doing so.
Fencing North would like to congratulate these schools for being selected to enter teams:
- Boys’ Foil: St Kentigerns, Macleans
- Girls’ Foil: Diocesan, Kristin, Macleans, Epsom Girls Grammar
- Boys’ Epee: Mt Albert Grammar, St Kentigerns
- Girls’ Epee: Mt Albert Grammar
- Sabre: Macleans, Auckland Grammar
Feedback from North Islands: The committee discussed some feedback about the organisation and operation of North Islands.
- Some feedback was received from Heather Claydon, the North Islands DT; this will be taken in account when running NZSS and future competitions.
- Fencing North would like to express its gratitude to everyone who helped out at that competition. In particular, thank you to Felix Lun for the very smooth operation of weapons control.
- On the other hand, David expressed his disappointment at the North fencers who consciously avoided the set-up and pack-up at North Islands. The low rates of volunteerism in our region force us to constantly rely on the goodwill of guests from other regions and make it very difficult to effectively run any successful event.
- Katie reported that throughout the process of organising both North Islands and NZSS, she and David experienced considerable communication issues with representatives of the national body. The expectations for the competition organisation are very high and extremely difficult to manage as inexperienced organisers; further, there is no unified document where all of the different factors were explained. This feedback will be passed on to the Officiating Commission following the NZSS.
FeNZ News: Amanda and David reported the FeNZ news.
Nicola Shackleton recently resigned as head of the NZ Officiating Commission, and Bryan Clark was appointed as the new commission head. Following this, there were some issues surrounding the selection of new commissioners. Following an open call for nominations, selections were made and ratified by the FeNZ board; however, despite a very good candidate putting their name forward, no one from the North region was selected.
Katie moved that Fencing North write to FeNZ expressing our concern about the process of selecting the Officiating Commission, insofar as there is to be no representative of the North region on this important board. Murray seconded. Motion carried.
Other Business:
Condolences: Fencing North would like to express our condolences to the FeNZ President Mark Rance for his recent family misfortune.
Thanks: Following Ainslie’s suggestion, the committee expressed its thanks to Katie for all of the organisational work she has done over the last months.
Dinner: David mentioned that he is planning a shared dinner event for Fencing North members and volunteers in October.
Meeting Closed: 9:12pm.
Check whether you have entered for the NZ Secondary Schools comp (and who your competition will be!) at this link. Remember that entries close Friday 30th of August!
We are sorry to announce that we have cancelled the Macleavy Open competition which was to be held on the 31st of August. In between North Islands and NZ Secondary Schools it's just too busy a time of year for organisers, fencers and volunteers.
If you would like to help us out with anything - whether administration, billeting volunteers, heavy lifting or just doing a coffee run - please get in touch via This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
Check out these live results from the North Island champs, currently being fenced at Trusts Arena!
If you're using a phone browser to view the results, use this link
If you're using a phone browser to view the results, use this link
Fencing North Meeting – 29th July 2019
Meeting Opened: 7:04pm.
Present: David Elder, Katie Logan, Amanda Hopkins, Mary Black, Murray McGuire-Barnes, Ainslie McGuire-Barnes, Sunny Sun, Ryan Yan, Kyle Nankivell.
Confirmation of the Previous Minutes: Katie moved that the minutes from June be accepted. David seconded. Motion carried.
Matters Arising: The Fencing North survey requires only a final review before it is circulated. It was agreed that it should be sent to previous fencers as well as those affiliated this year so that we can capture the opinions of those who have dropped out.
The waiving of entry fees for out-of-towners was very well-received at the Pickworth Open, with several entrants from outside of Auckland.
The tracksuit specifications are ready to be publicised to fencers.
Health and Safety: There are no incidents or safety issues to report this month.
Treasurer’s Report: Amanda gave her report. Fencing North is still showing a loss to date, due mainly to increased hall hire and decreased entries in competitions. However, we still have one more North Secondary School competition, North Islands and the National Secondary School Championships. With plenty of entries, we should be in positive territory by the end of the financial year. The committee discussed how to increase revenue this year and in following years, and the need to fund new equipment such as pistes.
Katie seconded Amanda’s report. All in favour.
Competitions: The upcoming competitions this month are Secondary School Individuals #4 (4th August) and the North Island Championships (17th-18th August).
Referee Fees: There was some confusion following the previous schools competition about what constituted a ‘full day’ and ‘half day’ for the purposes of paying referees. David will contact FeNZ to ensure that Fencing North conforms with FeNZ rules.
Pistes: Trusts Arena has expressed concern about the use of tape for fabric pistes on their international-quality netball courts. David has designed a new piste layout that keeps fabric pistes off the main court, and is looking into acquiring more metal pistes (potentially second-hand from another region).
North Islands: In the past month there has been a lot of activity organising operations for the upcoming North Islands Championships. The committee various aspects of the organisation of this competition, including assignment of organisational roles.
NZ Secondary Schools: Fencing North is hosting the NZSS competition on September 6th-8th. There had been some hold-ups in the organisation of the competition (in particular the venue and timetable), and the committee discussed some key aspects of the event and created an action plan for getting the details finalised as soon as possible.
NZ Secondary School Teams: This year FeNZ has decided that the NZSS Teams event will again be run with two teams allowed per region, and both school and composite teams permitted (following the resolution from the FeNZ meeting in August 2018, although without the extra Men’s Foil teams permitted in that resolution). The committee discussed how best to select teams for the North region. Katie proposed that Fencing North use the same system that was agreed on last year (see the minutes from August 2018): School teams would be selected on the basis of the school-level national rankings of individual fencers. Murray seconded. Motion carried.
Katie will spearhead the selection process, including: ensuring that the national rankings are up-to-date; calculating school team rankings; contacting schools for expressions of interest; and accepting final team entries.
FeNZ News: David reported that FeNZ has launched its new website.
FeNZ has solicited expressions of interest for the NZ Olympic long list in preparation for the upcoming 2020 Olympics.
The national insurance policy has been renewed, now including cheap travel insurance for international travel. The details will be circulated soon.
FeNZ has finalised a privacy policy for protecting the data of affiliated members. This will be circulated soon.
There is some concern in FeNZ about decreasing National competition numbers. It has been suggested that Auckland fencers (the largest group in NZ) are reluctant to travel to other regions for events, leaving numbers low.
Other Business:
Sponsoring Residency: A foreign national who is currently fencing and coaching in Auckland has asked Fencing North to sponsor their New Zealand residency. David proposed that we agree to sponsor their residency. Katie seconded. Motion carried.
Meeting Closed: 9:15pm.
Fencing North Meeting – June 2019
Meeting Opened: 7:08pm
Present: David Elder, Amanda Hopkins, Katie Logan, Murray McGuire-Barnes.
Apologies: Mary Black, Neil Young, Vicky Fan.
Confirmation of the Previous Minutes: Katie moved that the minutes from May be accepted as correct. David seconded. Motion carried.
Matters Arising: David reported that the changes to the wording of the new membership tiers have been submitted to FeNZ, and that FeNZ is still formulating its approach to privacy issues.
Following a reminder to schools, there has been an increase in affiliations in the past month.
A sub-committee has been put together to plan National Secondary Schools, made up of David, Katie, Murray, Laura Harvey and Kyle Macdonald.
The Fencing North survey is almost ready to be circulated; it is just awaiting a final review.
David has renewed the Fencing Time subscription and donated an old laptop to Fencing North for the purpose of running a second instance of Fencing Time.
Health and Safety: No incidents were reported in the previous month. However, there were a few minor issues with the setup of fabric pistes in the Grandstand Lounge at the Secondary School Teams Sabre – the pistes sometimes lifted from the carpet, causing a few sections to come loose. The committee agreed that the Grandstand Lounge would be the last option for competitions in future and that fabric pistes would be avoided on carpet.
Treasurer’s Report: Amanda gave the Treasurer’s report, noting that the money coming in from competitions was putting the committee in a good financial position. Invoices have not yet gone out to schools for the teams competitions, and some invoices for hall hireage from Trusts have not yet been received. Katie seconded her report. The report was accepted.
Competitions: There are two competitions in the upcoming month: the Secondary Schools Individuals #3 (Saturday 29th June) and the Pickworth Open (Saturday 6th July).
Fees for out-of-towners: In previous competitions, Fencing North has occasionally waived fees for out-of-town fencers who had to travel to attend our competitions in Auckland. David proposed that for regional tournaments, fees should be waived for affiliated members of Fencing North who live outside of the Greater Auckland area. Amanda seconded. Motion carried.
North Islands: The committee discussed the organisation of North Islands, which will be held on August 17-18th. It is important to secure a DT and a competition schedule soon, since people will want to book flights for the competition. Katie will liaise with FeNZ to arrange these.
FeNZ News: Amanda reported the FeNZ news, which will appear in the meeting minutes on the FeNZ website.
Other Business:
Fencing North Tracksuits: The committee discussed organising a branded tracksuit that fencers could wear to represent the region at National competitions.
Fencing Commercial: Fencing North has been contacted by an advertiser who wishes to hire fencers and equipment for a commercial. David will liaise with him to arrange this.
Meeting Closed: 8:42pm.
Fencing North Committee Meeting – 27th May 2019
Meeting Opened: 7:10pm
Present: David Elder, Amanda Hopkins, Katie Logan, Mary Black, Murray McGuire-Barnes, Matt Houtman.
Confirmation of the Previous Minutes: Katie moved that the minutes of the April meeting be accepted. David seconded. All in favour.
Matters Arising: As discussed last meeting, proposed changes to the wording of the School/Club affiliation tiers have been drafted, but not yet put to the FeNZ board.
Murray rose some privacy issues with clubs releasing member information to Fencing North for affiliation collection. Amanda will look into drafting a privacy policy for Fencing North and Fencing New Zealand following the regulations of the privacy act.
The banners mentioned at previous meetings have been completed and will be displayed at future North fencing competitions.
Health and Safety: There were two incidents at North competitions in the previous month. During setup, a piste trolley tipped over onto a fencer’s leg and caused an ankle injury; David will look into getting the trolleys redesigned so that they are less prone to tipping. Another fencer suffered a twisted ankle on the concrete floor of the Genesis Lounge. Fencing North acknowledged that this different surface might caused difficultie, but also that it is normal practice for major competitions to fence on a concrete based; the organisers will monitor the situation to understand whether the surface is appropriate for our needs.
Treasurer’s Report: Amanda presented the Treasurer’s Report, noting that we are in better financial health following the successful tournaments this month. Mary seconded her report. Motion carried.
Payments: The executive signed off reimbursement for a number of expenses incurred by David on behalf of Fencing North in the previous month, to a value of c. $1000.
Amanda proposed the Fencing North write off a number of petty expenses both owing to and owed by the society from the previous year. David seconded. All in favour.
Competitions: There will be three competitions in the upcoming month: the Secondary School Teams events – foil on the 8th-9th, sabre and epee on the 16th – and the third Secondary School individual competition on the 29th.
Venue for June 16th: Due to an event at Trusts Arena on the 16th of June, we will not be able to use the main gym for the Sabre and Epee team event. Trusts has offered to facilitate finding an alternative venue; David will work with them to achieve this.
Naming of Tournaments: This year there has been confusion about the names of some tournaments – in particular, those named ‘Foil’, ‘Epee’ or ‘Sabre’ when they are in fact open for all three weapons. David proposed that we advertise these tournaments without the specific weapon in their names in future. Murray seconded. All in favour.
Large and Small Competitions: Following discussions after the previous Secondary School competition, the committee discussed how to implement better practices for running large competitions. The committee also discussed how to increase participation in the smaller open competitions.
Affiliations: David reported that a large number of fencers have competed in tournaments without being affiliated to Fencing New Zealand. In future Fencing North will enforce affiliation more strictly at competitions.
Tournament Sub-Committee: Katie proposed that Maja Saran be appointed to the tournament sub-committee. Amanda seconded. All in favour.
National Secondary School Teams: Fencing North will be holding the National Secondary Schools event in September this year. The teams event of this competition caused a lot of difficulty last year when the regions had to select regional teams on short notice. Katie suggested that the format of this competition should be discussed and set soon to avoid similar issues this year.
David proposed that we put together a subcommittee for organising this tournament, comprised of himself as Chair, Katie, Murray and whoever else thye should invite. Katie seconded. Motion carried.
FeNZ News: David reported the news from FeNZ:
A new automatic email address, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., has been set up to direct people to clubs and the Fencing New Zealand website. It will be advertised on Fencing North’s new banners.
Nour Malak from North has been selected to compete at Asian Champs. Best of luck to Nour.
FeNZ has put together a sub-committee to investigate a complaint laid against a coach. Fencing North would like to take the opportunity to remind all of our coaches that they are expected to behave with appropriate conduct at all times.
Other Business:
Fencing North Survey: Fencing North has commissioned a survey for members so that we can configure our goals for the short to mid-term future.
Fencing North Subscription: Our Fencing Time licence is up for renewal. The committee discussed whether it would be useful to purchase a server connection for simultaneous access on multiple computers; David will inquire about what is done at larger national competitions.
President’s DFA: David proposed that he be granted Delegated Financial Authority to spend up to $1000 without committee approval for this year. Katie seconded. Motion carried.
Gear Borrowing: Mary suggested that we come up with a centralised way of tracking borrowed Fencing North equipment. Katie will look into a solution for this.
Meeting Closed: 9:06pm.
Fencing North Meeting – 29th April 2019
Meeting Opened: 7:13pm
Present: David Elder, Amanda Hopkins, Katie Logan, Vicky Fan, Neil Young, Mary Black, Kyle Nankivell, Matt Houtman, Judit Fliszar, Ryan Yan, Sunnie Sun, Murray McGuire-Barnes, Matt Stanley.
Confirmation of the Previous Minutes: David moved that the minutes for March be accepted. Neil seconded. Motion carried.
Matters Arising: The committee discussed the new affiliation tiers which were mentioned at the previous meeting and have recently been placed on the FeNZ website. Judit pointed out that the wording of the new tiers is very confusing and off-putting, especially to new fencers and parents; David agreed to raise this issue at the upcoming FeNZ meeting.
In the previous meeting the committee had discussed referee per diems. David had raised this at the following FeNZ meeting and confirmed that Fencing North could not offer more than the official FeNZ rate of $50 per diem.
Murray noted that insufficient equipment had again been a problem for some schools at the recent secondary schools competitions. David agreed to email schools in advance of the next competition and remind them of their gear requirements.
David mentioned that he had made an error in the distribution of FIE gear to clubs, and may need to recall some equipment to rectify this.
Health and Safety: Neil reported that he had not received notice of any incidents this month.
The committee discussed ways of making large competitions safer. Judit suggested that we could invite any spectators with medical expertise to make themselves known to tournament organisers. Ryan presented some diagram of piste setup which would provide more space for fencers and referees. These will be trialed at upcoming competitions.
Treasurer’s Report: Amanda gave the treasurer’s report. She reported that the society was in better financial health with competition fees coming in, although referee per diems have not yet been paid. Katie moved that her report be accepted. Vicky seconded. Motion carried.
Payments: Some payments are outstanding to David Elder for expenses related to moving equipment from Massey to Trusts Arena. Fencing North thanks David, Katie, Jess Gracie and David’s family for their help with the move.
Competitions: Fencing North has three competitions in the upcoming month: Larsen Foil on the 11th, Secondary School Individuals #2 on the 18th, and Fenton Epee on the 25th.
Tournament Sub-committee: Katie moved that Ainslie McGuire-Barnes be appointed to the tournament sub-committee for this year. Amanda seconded. Motion carried.
Referee Sub-committee: Mary moved that Ryan be appointed to the referee sub-committee. Amanda seconded. Motion carried.
FeNZ News: David reported news from FeNZ:
- Steve Clark is beginning to organise a national high performance development programme.
- Although the FeNZ insurance currently does not include clubs, Richard Johnston is looking to arrange a special deal for affiliated clubs with our provider, Marsh.
- The feedback that Fencing North received about the recent National Under-20s event was passed on the FeNZ. It was acknowledged that the repechage format was poorly organised and communicated. However, since this format provides more fencing to competitors and will be used at Asian Champs there is a desire to implement repechage in national competitions going forward.
- FeNZ voted to end the trial of high-performing female fencers being permitted to enter men’s national events.
Other Business:
Training Camps: Two coaches have approached Fencing North about organising training camps this year. There is also some interest in coach training. The committee agreed to support any proposed camps.
Meeting Closed: 9:05pm.
Fencing North Committee Meeting – 25th March 2019
Meeting Opened: 7:08pm
Present: David Elder, Amanda Hopkins, Katie Logan, Murray McGuire-Barnes, Sunny Sun, Nour Malak, Kyle Nankivell, Neil Young, Vicky Fan.
Confirmation of the Previous Minutes: Katie proposed that the previous minutes be accepted. David seconded. Motion carried.
Matters Arising: David reported that the pricing for the new membership tiers discussed in the previous meeting has been altered, as some regions are constitutionally required to charge a regional levy to all members. Therefore, the FeNZ fees for the beginner and social membership tiers have been waived so that regions can charge their own fees if necessary. Fencing North’s affiliation levy will remain at $0 for all membership tiers for 2019.
The record of the FeNZ strategy meeting will be circulated to all members in the near future.
There has been some progress in recruiting volunteers for tournament assistance, coaching coordination and publicity/marketing.
Health and Safety: Neil and Vicky reported an incident from the North U17s competition: one epee competitor’s mask flew off when it was struck by the opponent, due to incorrect tongue configuration and a fatigued elastic strap. There were no injuries, but the committee considered this a serious safety risk. In future tournament organisers will emphasise the importance of safe and functional equipment at competitions and ensure that all referees check competitors’ masks before the bout begins.
It was also observed that occasionally basketballs would roll across the pistes during fencing due to the shared nature of the Trusts Arena. David will attempt to move as many competitions as possible to enclosed courts.
Treasurer’s Report: Amanda gave the Treasurer’s report. The accounts are currently missing information on competition receipts and payments; the officers will attempt to fill in missing figures before the following meeting. Neil seconded Amanda’s report. Motion carried.
Payments: Fencing North has received its first invoice from Trusts, which will be paid in arrears. Hall hire is still owed to Auckland Grammar, who have not yet invoiced us.
Competitions: The following month sees the beginning of our Secondary Schools Circuit, with SS Beginners on April 6th and SS Individuals #1 on April 13th.
Referee per diems/incentives: Neil reported that referees have been somewhat discontent about the per diem rate for competitions, and that there has been general confusion about how much and when they will be paid. The committee discussed the issue and concluded that it was necessary to sort out the books before setting a new rate for referees. David will raise the issue at the next FeNZ meeting to ensure consistency throughout the country.
FeNZ News: The FeNZ AGM was held on March 17th. Congratulations to Alice Boyd, who was elected to the FeNZ board.
In late 2018 FeNZ received a package of beginner fencing gear from FIE. David is arranging distribution of the equipment to clubs throughout the North region.
The National U20s championship was held recently, on the 23-24th of March in Christchurch. Nour reported that she received some complaints from youth fencers about the competition, particularly surrounding the repechage format. Although they appreciated getting more fencing time, there was lack of communication surrounding the format, which led to confusion and extremely long periods of waiting for no clear reason. David will will discuss this feedback with FeNZ and Fencing North will take it on board for future competitions.
Other Business:
Training Camps: David reported that some coaches have approached him about obtaining Fencing North support for training camps. The committee agreed that Fencing North would be happy to either run or facilitate such camps.
Marketing Banners: David presented some concepts for marketing banners to the committee. These banners would be displayed at the Trusts Arena reception full-time and could be borrowed by clubs for promotional exercises.
Competition Results: Neil, on behalf of Kyle MacDonald, noted that results for the last several competitions are not yet online. Katie will attempt to rectify this issue as soon as possible.
Competition Equipment: Murray commented that issues had arisen at the previous competition due to insufficient and faulty school equipment. Schools and clubs will be advised of the gear requirements for competitions and reminded to check their equipment before sending fencers to compete.
Meeting Closed: 9:00pm.