Fencing needs you!

To help grow our wonderful sport, we need referees who understand the game - who know the rules and are comfortable to make the call. Therefore, we are holding a referee development course on the 16th-17th of March!

This course is designed for beginner referees who are experienced fencers, or referees with some experience who want to know more. Topics will include: Positioning, hand signals, penalties, gravitas, confidence, weapon testing at the piste, piste management, safety, filling out a score sheet correctly.

There will be a class session on the 16th from 1-5pm. The format will include both discussion and practical assessment, with fencers handy to allow you to practice your skills and get feedback on the day. Attendees will also get a chance to referee the following day at the North U17 competition. There your practical skills will be assessed and feedback given.

Hosted by Neil Young, Laura Harvey and Jess Gundry - a great group of experienced referees giving you the knowledge you need - and it's FREE!

Contact: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. - spaces are limited.

Venue is Trusts Arena - upstairs in the Heron Coaches Lounge (turn right out of the elevator).

Fencing North Meeting – February 25^th 2019

Meeting Opened: 7:06pm

Present: David Elder, Amanda Hopkins, Katie Logan, Neil Young, Vicky Fan, Kyle Nankivell, Mary Black, Peter Butler.

Confirmation of the Previous Minutes: David moved that the minutes from January be accepted. Katie seconded. All in favour.

Matters Arising: As discussed in the January meeting, Fencing North has been working towards securing Trusts Arena as our home venue for 2019. Our agreement with Trusts has since been finalised.

Health and Safety: No incidents reported.

Treasurer’s Report: Amanda gave the Treasurer’s report and moved that it be accepted. Neil seconded. Motion carried.

Competitions: There are two upcoming competitions in March: the Ongley Open on the 4^th and North Under-17s on the 17^th (paired with a referee training course on the 16^th).

Competition Calendar: The competition calendar has been finalised and the updated version will be available on the Fencing North and Fencing NZ websites.

Venue for NZ Secondary Schools: The Mount Albert Grammar School gym has been confirmed as our venue for National Secondary Schools.

FeNZ News:

New Membership Tiers: There has been considerable discussion in FeNZ about alternative types of affiliation, with the aim of getting as many fencers affiliated as possible. Two new membership tiers have been created. First, new fencers can sign up for a three-month free trial affiliation, during which they are covered by FeNZ liability insurance but may not compete in tournaments. Alternatively, fencers may affiliate with a club membership at $10/year, which allows entry in one social or novice competition. Clubs are urged to encourage all of their fencers to affiliate so that FeNZ membership more accurately reflects the actual number of fencers in New Zealand.

FeNZ Strategy Meeting: On February 23^rd a FeNZ strategy meeting was held, which David, Amanda and Neil attended. They reported that the meeting was very productive. A record of the meeting and its results will soon be made publicly available on the FeNZ website.

FeNZ Minutes: Amanda reported that FeNZ will begin to publish minutes of its monthly meetings on its website.

Fencing North 2019 Goals and Strategy:

Club Feedback: David reported that he has been visiting all of the North clubs asking for feedback. He plans to table a full report in the following meeting, which Fencing North can use to guide its planning in future.

Tournament Assistance: The committee discussed a number of areas where Fencing North has need of further volunteer help. In particular, we would like to enlist more people to help with tournament organisation and operations, working with our DT. We encourage any fencers, parents or others who are interested in giving back to the sport to contact us.

Coach Coordinator: David suggested that Fencing North appoint someone to coordinate coaches in our region; for example, by keeping track of coaches’ clubs and specialties, ensuring communication between coaches and Fencing North and arranging coaching development. The committee will consider the exact scope of the role and potential candidates.

Publicity/Marketing Communications: David also suggested that Fencing North appoint a Marketing/Publicity Officer, who would write the monthly newsletter, advertise events and generally promote fencing and Fencing North. We invite anyone who might be interested in such a role to contact us.

Other Business:

FeNZ Insurance Policy: Recently there has been some confusion around how the FeNZ liability insurance policy applies to affiliated clubs. The committee agreed to submit a list of questions to Richard Johnston for clarification.

Tournament Format: The committee discussed the possibility of holding plate events to increase participation in tournaments. It was decided to hold plate events whenever practicable.

Committee Meeting Venue: Kyle proposed that the committee move to a different venue for future meetings, due to safety concerns surrounding our current hall. Neil seconded. All in favour.

Meeting Closed: 8:52pm.

A message from our President:

STOP PRESS - The Crowd Goes Wild on Sky Sport and Prime should feature a brief news item on Lena Jacob's recent victory either tonight (20th February) or tomorrow night! Spread the word!

Fencing North Meeting – January 25^th 2019

Meeting Opened: 7:05.

Present: David Elder, Amanda Hopkins, Jess Gracie, Katie Logan, Mary Black, Kyle Nankivell.

Confirmation of the Previous Minutes: Katie moved that the minutes from October 2018 be accepted. Jess seconded. Motion carried.

Matters Arising from the Previous Minutes: There were no matters arising.

Health and Safety: There have been no injuries or safety issues reported since our previous meeting.

Treasurer’s Report: Amanda gave the Treasurer’s Report. We have spent $4500 since our previous meeting, taking the account down to $29,000 total. Costs were largely made up of insurance and gym hire from 2018. David seconded Amanda’s report. The report was accepted.

Payments: Gym hire for last year’s training camp at Auckland Grammar is yet to be paid.

Competitions: The W. Dawn competition will be held on Ferbruary 9^th at the Trusts Arena. More details will be available soon.

Competition Venue for 2019: There has been a widespread feeling that we have outgrown Massey High School as a competition venue: some events would need to be split over two days this year and the school has increased its hall hire fee. Therefore, the  committee has been looking at potential new options since late last year. David and Mary reported that the Trusts Arena is an excellent potential option for this year. Although more expensive than Massey, it is a top-level venue with various options for larger and smaller competitions. We have been offered extremely favourable rates and plan to run the W. Dawn competition there as a trial.
  David moved that subject to final testing, the successful conclusion of the W. Dawn competition and agreement of contractual terms and conditions, Fencing North adopt Trusts Arena as our home venue going forward. Amanda seconded. Motion carried.
  It should be noted that some competitions will need to be moved to accommodate this new venue. The new calendar will be prepared and circulated as soon as negotiations have been completed. Regardless of whether we relocate or not, competitions fees will most likely need to be raised slightly in 2019.

Venue for National Secondary Schools: The Trusts Stadium will unfortunately not be available for the weekend of National Secondary Schools. However, Kyle Macdonald has notified us that Mount Albert Grammar School will offer Fencing North their gym for free in return for an equipment grant to the school fencing club.
  Kyle Nankivell moved that we approve this deal subject to negotiation. Mary seconded. Motion carried.

FeNZ News: David and Amanda reported that FeNZ has scheduled a mid-term strategy session for February 23^rd.

Other Business:

Committee Meeting Dates: The committee set the 2019 committee meetings for the final Monday of each month.

2019 Goals and Strategy: David presented some thoughts on Fencing North’s operational and future planning for discussion by the committee. Due to time constraints, further discussion and conclusions were left for a future meeting.

European Cadet Results: Fencing North would like to congratulate all of our fencers who recently competed in the Junior World Cup, Senior World Cup and European Cadet circuit. Well done especially to Lena Jacob, who achieved an amazing 8^th place result in a world-class field at a European Cadet Circuit tournament.

New Clubs: Congratulations to Rangitoto College, Massey University and Phoenix Fencing for being recognised as official fencing clubs in 2018.

Meeting Closed: 8:57.

Fencing North Annual General Meeting 2018
Thursday 29^th November
Outhwaite Hall, Grafton

Meeting Opened: 7:07pm

Present:
David Elder
Wendy Irwin
Henry Lockhart
Andi Liu
Nour Malak
Sunnie Sun
Ryan Yan
Peter Butler
Amanda Hopkins
Bryce Gracie
Jessica Gracie
Katie Logan

Apologies:
David Singh (Proxy: David Elder)
Matt Stanley (Proxy: Katie Logan)
Kyle Macdonald (Proxy: Peter Butler)
Mary Black (Proxy: Nour Malak)
Hannah Irwin (Proxy: Wendy Irwin)
Daljit Dhillon

Confirmation of Minutes of the 2017 AGM: Andi moved that the minutes from the previous AGM be accepted. Amanda seconded. The motion was carried with all in favour.

President’s Report: Bryce, the outgoing president, gave his report. On behalf of Fencing North, the executive thanked him for his service over the past two years.

Treasurer’s Report: Amanda presented the Treasurer’s Report. The Society has made a small loss over the course of this year, with some payments still outstanding. She recommended that we increase competition fees in 2019 to cover the increasing expenses of hall hire, referee per diems and Fencing North’s development aims. This will be discussed further by the executive in future meetings.
Jess seconded Amanda’s report. The motion was carried with all in favour.

Election of Executive Officers: There was a single nominee standing for each executive position:
President: David Elder
Vice-President: Jess Gracie
Treasurer: Amanda Hopkins
Secretary: Katie Logan
Henry moved that the nominees be elected as a bloc. Nour seconded. The officials were elected with all in favour.

Setting of Affiliation Fees for 2019: For 2018 to fee to affiliate to Fencing North was set to $0 for all members. Bryce recommended that the affiliation fee should remain at this level for 2019 in order to encourage as many new fencers as possible to affiliate. He also suggested that Fencing North use our voice on the Fencing New Zealand committee to advocate a tiered affiliation system to further encourage casual fencers.
Bryce moved that the affiliation fee be set at $0 for 2019. Jess seconded. Motion carried with majority in favour, one abstaining.

Meeting Closed: 8:26pm.

Fencing North Annual General Meeting

Wednesday 29th November 2017, 7:00pm

Parnell Community Centre, Parnell

Present:

Jess Gracie (Secretary)

Bryce Gracie (President)

Katie Logan

Amanda Hopkins

Oliver Agnew (via Phone)

Andi Liu

Hannah Irwin

David Irwin

Canny Peng

Owain Llyod Davies

Rob Ogg

Vicky Fan

Neil Young

Jess Kaiser

Apologies:

Laura Harvey

Meeting starts 7:00pm:

Minutes from previous meeting:

Motion that SGM be held in January to accept meeting minutes from 2016 AGM.

President’s Report:

Bryce presented a verbal presidents report.

Treasurer’s Report:

Oliver presented his report. Katie moves that we accept the treasurers report, Amanda seconds.

Election of the Executive Officers:

There was only one nominee standing for each position and all were voted in unopposed.

President – Bryce Gracie

Vice President – Eric Busiman

Secretary – Katie Logan

Tresurer – Amanda Hopkins

Setting of Affiliation Fees for 2018:

Amanda moves that we set the fees for Fencing North at $0, Bryce seconds.

Meeting closed at 8.38pm

A youth fencing club for ages 10-16, promoting the love of swords and training the next generation of fencers. Come join us!

Location: Gym 2, Rangitoto College
564 East Coast Road
Mairangi Bay, Auckland

Weapons: Epee, Foil and Sabre.

Training Times: Saturdays 10-11am

Contact: Kyle Nankivell
Phone: 0274517044
Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Website: www.phoenixfencing.org

Fencing North Meeting – October 4^th 2018

Meeting Opened: 7:05pm.

Present: Bryce Gracie, Jess Gracie, Katie Logan, Amanda Hopkins.

Apologies: Eric Buisman, Mary Black, Sunnie Sun, Nour Malak.

Previous Minutes: Jess moved that the previous minutes be accepted. Bryce seconded. Motion passed.

Matters Arising from the Previous Minutes: No matters arising.

Health and Safety: Jess reported that there were two incidents at National Under 20s: one concussion, and one minor injury requiring an ice pack. Reports were filed and transferred to the FeNZ Secretary. The use of cones and ropes to separate spectators from the pistes and separate rooms for bags worked well to prevent crowding.

Treasurer’s Report: Amanda presented the Treasurer’s Report. The society made a small loss on National Under 20s, although there are still some outstanding entry fees. The training camp run by Fencing North made a small profit. Bryce seconded that the report be accepted. Motion carried.
Amanda moved that the profit from the training camp be used to partially reimburse a private sponsor who underwrote the expenses. Bryce seconded. Motion carried.

Payments: Hall hire payments are due for the Auckland Grammar and Massey High School gyms.

Competitions: The North Open, Fencing North’s final competition for the year, will be held on the 6^th of October. The draft calendar for next year will be circulated among the committee for feedback soon.

FeNZ News: There was no news to report from FeNZ, as there has not been a FeNZ meeting since the previous Fencing North meeting.

Other Business: The committee discussed the upcoming AGM, to be held on the 29^th of November. There was consideration of potential constitutional changes. It was agreed that major constitutional changes should wait until the Incorporated Societies Act is updated in 2019.

Meeting Closed: 7:37pm.

We are specialised in Sabre advanced lessons.

Location: Massey University Recreation Centre

151 Dairy Flat Highway

Albany

Weapons: Epee, Foil and Sabre.

Training Times: Fridays 19:00-20:30, Sundays 13:30-15:00

Contact: Sunnie Sun

This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Ph:02108299661

Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/MUA-Fencing-Federation-404469283393201/

Fencing North Meeting – 6^th September 2018

Meeting Opened: 7:04pm.

Present: Bryce Gracie, Jess Gracie, Amanda Hopkins, Katie Logan, Nour Malak.

Apologies: Mary Black, Adrian Roberts, Steve King.

Previous Minutes: Katie moved that the minutes from August be accepted. Jess seconded. Motion passed.

Matters Arising from the Previous Minutes: Nour Malak was appointed the Youth Representative for Fencing North. She reported that the high school fencers in our region have been quite confused recently about the situation surrounding the National Secondary School team events and somewhat concerned about the balance of the competition. Fencing North will take this feedback on board when handling such situations in the future.
In the previous meeting, the committee discussed a request by Fencing MidSouth for each region to put in money towards video refereeing equipment. Since then, Fencing MidSouth has withdrawn that request and purchased the equipment themselves.
There was further discussion of potential options for gyms that could be hired for competitions in 2019.

Health and Safety: There have been no reported incidents since the previous meeting. Henry Lockhart was appointed the Safety Officer for Fencing North, as of the Pickworth Open.

Treasurer’s Report: Amanda presented the Treasurer’s Report to the committee and moved that it be accepted. Bryce seconded. Motion passed.

Payments: Fencing North must pay a $500 deposit to Auckland Grammar School for hall hire for the upcoming training camp.

Competitions: There will are two competitions scheduled for the following month: the Pickworth Open competition on the 15^th of September, and the New Zealand National Under-20s Championships.
The Fencing North committee had hoped to run a regional team event at the National U20s. Unfortunately, this will not be possible this year due to complications in its organisation.
The committee discussed the scheduling of the Secondary School circuit for 2019. There have been mixed responses from schools about the relative order of team and individual events; however, there is a strong argument for putting the school team events earlier in the year so that teams can be selected more easily for the National event in future. The committee agreed that a good option would be to split up the individual competitions, holding one earlier in the year, then the others after the team events.
Fencing North has run out of gold and silver medals and is low on bronze. Jess moved that Fencing North should order a run of medals (100 gold, 100 silver, 150 bronze) which would last for the next two years, at c. $1700 in total. Nour seconded. Motion passed.

FeNZ News: Bryce and Amanda reported news from the last FeNZ meeting.
FeNZ is currently revising its planned forward calendar for national competitions.
FeNZ has finalised a Code of Conduct for coaches, to be published on their website. There has also been a suggestion that each fencer must agree to the general Code of Conduct upon affiliation.
Recently FeNZ has implemented a country-wide liability insurance policy, which will apply to all affiliated fencers in New Zealand. Each region will pay a share of material damage insurance; this will replace Fencing North’s existing assets insurance.
There have been calls for nominations for two positions: for the role of team manager for Senior Commonwealths, and for members of a Competitions Subcommittee. Bryce proposed that Fencing North nominate Jess Gracie for the Competitions Subcommittee. Katie seconded. Motion passed.
A Level 1 Foil Coaching course will be held in Christchurch across the 5^th-7^th and 12^th-14^th of October. This course is intended for fencers who wish to begin coaching others.

Other Business:

New Zealand National Open Teams: Fencing MidSouth has recently announced that there will be a regional team event at the Open Nationals in October this year. The committee decided that Fencing North would put out a call for nominations for selection, which would then be passed to a selections subcommittee. Fencing North’s selected teams would be published by the 23^rd of September. Bryce moved that this process be implemented. Amanda seconded. Motion passed.

Fencing North AGM: The Fencing North AGM will be held on the 29^th of November. Formal notice and calls for executive nominations will be circulated closer to the time.

Jim Reeve: We are saddened to report the passing of Jim Reeve, long-time fencer and coach in the North region. Fencing North would like to extend our condolences to Jim’s family, friends and club for their loss.

Meeting Closed: 8:04pm.