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Fencing North Meeting - September 2018

Fencing North Meeting – 6th 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 Since then, Fencing MidSouth has withdrawn that request and purchased the equipment themselves.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 15th 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 5th-7th and 12th-14th 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 23rd 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 29th 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.