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Paul (18), from High Wycombe, started fencing at school in Nov 2000. Paul (18) is currently ranked second in the GB Junior rankings and 27th in the senior rankings. Now a junior, Paul became England u18 Champion in both Epee and Foil and captained the England Squad in the 2006 Junior Four Nations. Paul is a regular member of the GB Junior Squad and competed in the Junior Commonwealth Games in India in January, winning a silver medal in the team event. He won Bronze at British Junior Championships, 2006 and he is the 2006 England Under 18 Champion in Epee and Foil.
Paul has been a Young Blade since the initiative was established in 2004. He was presented with a cheque for £1000 by Colin Jackson and Will King at Wycombe Leisure Centre.
Please scroll down to read the latest updates and news from Paul.
Update: October 2007 by Paul
Senior Winton Cup.
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The first event of the season was the British Open Championships (Men’s Epee), held in the Institute for Sport in Sheffield. I was unlucky enough to come up against the no1 GB fencer early on in the tournament and so ended up 22, but it was a great fight and Jon went on to win the Championships.
Since then there have been a couple of Open events and the British Youth Championships. Although my results have not all been quite as good as I would have liked, I am keeping on pace and am currently ranked number 2 GB junior in Men’s Epee.
As part of the GB junior squad I am looking forward to the up and coming international season; the first event being in November in Laupheim.
Thank you for your continuing support!
Update: June 2007 by Paul
Southern Region Squad.
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Sunday 20th May I competed at the Sheffield Open tournament at my local EIS, I ended the day placed 5th. This was my first competition since the injury I sustained last season; my performance over the day certainly fills me with confidence in my current condition.
Moreover, on the weekend of the 2/3rd June I represented Southern Region at the Senior Winton Cup. After a gruelling weekend of rigorous competition, our six-weapon team took the title returning the Winton Cup to the Southern Region for the first time in twenty-five years. The weekend was thoroughly enjoyable with a fantastic team spirit throughout.
Update: 9 February 2007 by Paul
Paul at the British
Senior Nationals.
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Paul at the Junior Commonweatlhs in India
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On the domestic front I was 3rd at the British Junior Championships and in three out of the five main senior competitions I was 2nd or 3rd highest ranked junior.
There is one more European competition this season for which I was selected, but am not going. I need to settle in my university work and to establish my new training program over the next few months to enable me to start next season feeling that I am back on form.
I’m looking forward to a busy 2007 and expect to have good things to report next season.
Update: 31 August 2006 by Paul
Paul fencing in his last 64 fight against the Canadian, Richard Ishac.
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I am really excited about the up and coming season: it's going to be a crazy year, hopefully competing all over the world as well as starting off at university. I'll be moving up to Sheffield to start my Psychology course in a few weeks.
Update: 8 March 2006 by Paul
Since winning the England U18 foil and epee titles I went to compete in the Junior Four Nations Competition up in Edinburgh as the England Youth Squad captain. This was quite an honour to be captain of my individual weapon (U18 men's epée) as well as the other 11 weapons teams, and as a result I also got to receive the trophy for England as the overall winning team after a resounding victory over Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland.
However, the most inspiring adventure for me these past few months has to be, without a doubt, my ten days out in Chennai, India representing England in the U20 men's epée squad at the Junior Fencing Commonwealth Games. It was a phenomenal experience to be submersed into a culture that contrasts our own so much, although I have competed all over Europe this was my first time on a different continent and although the heat proved to be a challenge (not to mention the food....) it was a greatly enjoyable trip. The trip was also a successful one, achieving the silver medal in the men's epée team event, narrowly losing 43-45 to Australia in an exhilarating final that also served as my first major televised match.
I have also recently attended the Daily Telegraph and Norwich Union 'School Sport Matters' awards at the House of Commons, after being short-listed with two others for the "Male Student of the Year Award". I unfortunately wasn't the overall winner, although I was commended in the category. This was a great day, getting to look around the House of Commons as well as meeting the likes of Kate Hoey, Alan Smith, Roger Uttley and Darren Campbell.
Other exciting ventures these last couple of months have included competing in Luxembourg, Sicily and Switzerland at major A-grade events each of which were fantastic experiences. I am also currently training towards the National Public School Fencing Championships to be held at Crystal Palace later this month.
Update: 3 November 2005 by Paul
Great news - this weekend was the England Youth Championships. They were held up in the Gateshead International Athletic Stadium. On Saturday I became the u18 Boys Epee Champion and on Sunday, in my second weapon, became the u18 Boys Foil Champion. This means I will fence in the Junior Four Nations Competition for England next spring.
Moreover, I have also recently heard that I have been selected to compete, for England, in the Junior (u20) Commonwealth Games, these are being held in Chennai, India at the end of January.
Update: 27 May 2005 by Paul
Sorry not to be in touch sooner but it has been really hectic with my AS exams, now with only one more to go, I feel more relaxed. As you know the 2004-05 season has finished, I finished with a final senior ranking of 33rd (the next best cadet placing was over 30 places lower).
In March I went to the Public Schools Championships. This year to help with my schools' team and to preside various fights, it was considered too close to the Worlds to fence all three weapons (as I would have wanted to following last years success) - so I enjoyed having a supportive role, encouraging the young and first time competitors.
Last month I fenced in the Winton Cup, this is a senior national regional team event, held in Stoke-on-Trent. This was hard work, yet most enjoyable, fencing some of the best in Britain over two days.
The highlight of the year was being selected to fence at the Junior and Cadet World Championships in Linz, Austria over Easter. I had lots to do in March in preparation. Then we were there - the start of 10 days of competitions covering all the weapons, in the cadet men's epee there were teams from 47 countries competing. My competition was on Good Friday, I had a tough poule, more than half of us made last 64, and I was the only British epeeist to make it through.
My last fight was against a Canadian, Richard Ishac. It was a very good, very close fight, it went to time with us neck and neck, unfortunately Richard won on priorities in extra time. I lost, but it was a good fight and could have gone either way - I had proved my right to compete at this level and it has made me even more determined to get to the worlds again, and to do better.
Still there was more to do, I was also selected to fence in the Junior Team Competition on the Tuesday. In between supporting the other Brits in their weapon competitions, we were training for our team event. We had a tough draw and unfortunately lost to Venezuela who were captained by the U20 world champion (who went on to end fifth but our coach said we did well and gave them a good run for their money).
Update: 14 February 2005 by Paul
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In addition I fenced in the Slough Open last week and finished in the top five cadets and this weekend I have been part of the Bucks, Berks and Oxon team that fenced in a competition against the Navy and two other area teams from the southern region.
My main news is that this weekend I have been selected to fence at the Junior World Championships. I will be part of the three-man epee team to go as part of the squad covering all weapons to compete in Linz, in Austria, over Easter. This is really fantastic and I am looking forward to the whole event. Obviously this will mean lots of hard work in preparation. In the very short term I have to concentrate on my AS mocks that are coming up next week.
March will be a busy month; in the first week I have to attend a conference at Wycombe Abbey on the 2nd and 3rd the second week there will be a Young Enterprise presentation day on the 9th in the third I am at the Public Schools National Fencing Championships 15-17th during the last week I will be going to the Worlds.
Update: 18 January 2005 by Paul
Happy New Year to you. Trust you had a good Christmas and are keeping well.
Sorry not to write sooner but I had a very bad virus before Christmas, I had to miss the last two weeks of school and in fencing I missed the Cadet Winton Cup that my team won last year and a junior international. However I have some news since my last update.
Early in December I was part of the team that won the Bucks, Berks and Oxon Team Foil Trophy. Thirty-one teams came from all over the three counties to fence foil for this prestigious trophy. Most of the teams were made up of pure foilists, ranging from the relatively new to very experienced. My fellow team members were Nicole Abdul, GB u20 ladies sabre squad member and James Roberts another sabreur. We fence together at Salle Eton. It was the third time we had fenced together in this competition and the second time we had won (see picture to the right).
I went to the European Junior Championships in Portugal in November, this was a fantastic experience. I really want to be able to fence more in Europe - the standard there is so high and the facilities are excellent.
Later in November I went to Germany, again with the GB epee juniors (u20) and, in December, to France with the GB epee cadets (u17). As a cadet, last weekend I was in Belgium and will be Pisa at the end of the month. I have also been invited to Basle in February but my parents may not be in a position to let me go, still it is nice to be selected.
Because I have been abroad, I have missed the county and regional events that I won last year, but the opportunity to fence at competitions with the Europeans has been of great benefit. It has made me more aware of how important good training and lots of good competition experience is.
My rankings are all very good. I am in the top 5 cadets, top 10 Juniors and top 35 in the Seniors (I am the only cadet to have a senior ranking above 50 and am the sixth highest junior). There are still six weeks till the end of the season, I'll let you know how I get on.
Update: 13 October 2004
Paul was 1st at the British Cadet Epee Championships last weekend. He is now ranked number one cadet and is in the top 40 seniors.
Update: 02 October 2004 by Paul
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My start to this 2004-5 season so far it is going brilliantly. I have been to three senior competitions and have been top cadet in each of them, not only that but I have also been in the top few of the juniors and have now got myself ranked in the top five juniors. This is in addition to my excellent ranking in the cadets.
For the record the competitions have been:
British Senior National Championships (28th out of 152)
Essex Open (17th out of 149)
Bristol Open (18th out of 205)
In addition I was in the team that won the London International Wilkinson Sword Team Competition. There were 20 teams from all over the UK competing in this event.
The best news has today been confirmed. I have been selected as a member of the four man under 20 Epee team to go to Espinho, Portugal to represent Great Britain at the Junior European Championships. This involves competing in individual and team events during the first week in November.
So there is lots of hard work ahead to do well at the championships and to keep going through this very busy season!
Update: 08 May 2004 by Paul
This is an update from September 2003, when I first applied for sponsorship.
The end has just come on my first season as I regular competitor, I have fenced in Germany, Belgium and Austria, all great experiences. Over the year, the competition for a place to go to the World Junior Championships was extremely tight, all down to the last competition, in Austria. Unfortunately, I just missed out but it has made me even more determined for next year.
However, I have had some other really good results…
Paul about to take the
winning point!
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I was selected as one of a three-man U18 epee team to fence for the region at a national competition that was held in Somerset in December, nine regions from all over the UK were there and we won, it was a brilliant victory.
Having had great results, coming 1st and 2nd in foil and epee at regional level, I qualified through to the British Youth Championships, held in Stoke. In January, I came 3rd in foil (brilliant result, losing to the Scottish no1) and in February I came 7th in epee (somewhat disappointing).
For me, the final highlight of the season came at the National Public Schools Championships. This event has been going for over 100 years, it is the biggest youth event of the year, held at Crystal Palace over three days in March. Pupils aged 12 to 18 can compete at all three weapons, over 1,000 pupils entered from 98 different schools from around the country. The junior epee was my first event and I was really looking forward to it.
After a long, gruelling day I had fought my way into the final, as this was such a huge event I was very nervous but thankfully had my school and my friends supporting me. The final didn’t start well, I was 3-6 down at the first break, and I found it very hard to reduce my opponent’s lead. Time was running out and I was 9-12 down, by now most of my supporters were very worried. We then scored a double making the score 10-13 to my opponent. Time was running out rapidly, with just 30seconds to go, after scoring the next four hits in succession I scored the winning hit in the last few seconds, taking the title 15-13. It was an unforgettable victory. This was also an event won by Winston Churchill, back in the early days of the competition.
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At senior level I have fenced in 12 Open Competitions, all over the country – a number of these had the top GB and international competitors at them. Although my final places have ranged from 110 to 11th, in nine of these my result has been that of one of the top 3 cadets in the competition. Most recently (April) I competed at a senior international in Birmingham, the level of competition was very high. However, I had an excellent day. By beating one of Britain’s top senior fencers I achieved 48th place, which was the top cadet position. In February, I was selected as part of a three-man senior team representing the county at a regional competition at which we came 2nd.
Regularly through the season I have been very involved with the fencing club at school. In particular, helping with the new young fencers. I also help out with the juniors at Salle Eton when I can and have been a referee at several junior county and regional events.
Two weeks ago I fenced at the Stoke Mandeville Sports Centre as guest of the British Disabled Fencing Team. Five fencers from the county went along to fence at a weekend training camp for the team. It was very enjoyable and a great privilege to fence these guys, many of who had fenced at Sydney.
Last night I attended the Wycombe and Marlow areas sports council awards, where I was awarded the trophy for ‘boy aged 12-15 for Achievements in 2003’. I am very impressed to have been chosen to receive this award. A great way to end the season!
Thank you for your support.
A bit about fencing...
Paul fencing with an opponent.
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Fencing as a sport is thought to have first begun in Egyptian times. Images on tomb walls have been discovered depicting Egyptians fighting with sticks with a button on the end while wearing protective clothing.
There are three weapons used in modern competition:
- epee
- foil
- sabre
Each have different ways of scoring points during a game (fight).
At a competition
Everyone in the event is split into groups (called pools) of 5, 6 or 7. The number depends on how many have entered and how the organisers like to split these pools. Within the pool everyone fences each other. In its simplest form - you are connected to an electric score board that lights when you hit you opponent and you have a president (referee) who will say if it is a valid point - to win you have to be the first to score five points.
From the results of this first pool, everyone is then seeded, there might then be a second set of pools with the people mixed up and from these seedings the Direct Eliminations (DE) or playoffs, are organised. These DEs are longer games and the winner is the first to reach 15 points. You then work though as many DEs as you can, eventually reaching a final with the top two fencers.
A bit about Paul (in his own words)...
Paul in his fencing kit.
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I’m 15 years old and I live with my family in High Wycombe. I have a 20 year old brother who is studying in Durham and 18 year old twin sisters also at uni, one at Keele and the other at Sheffield.
When we were young we all danced, all qualifying through to dance at the Nationals in one or more discipline, I have a number of medals to show for my time as an u12 competitor. I think this helped me with my fencing and it certainly helped me want to win.
Discovering fencing
After my first year at the Royal Grammar School I felt I wanted to do something different. Fencing was offered as an after-school activity and as this sounded exiting and quite different. Like most beginners I started with foil, but as I found out more I really liked the idea of epee - it is the traditional duelling weapon and I found when I started it is technically and tactically more enjoyable. Even I am surprised by my rapid progress in epee. I started epee at Christmas, two years ago and went to my first competition six weeks later. I came about 12th from the bottom but my coach said that was good as I was by far the youngest there and this competition is very tough with a number of international fencers competing.
By the end of the year I was doing well enough to be noticed by the managers of the British Cadet squad and was invited as a guest to go with the squad and fence at a cadet competition in Belgium. I had to borrow the correct kit to go, it was a great event finishing 14th, beating a number of the squad members. I was then asked to go to Pisa as a full member of the squad. Unfortunately, I had to turn this down as it was expensive to go and I did not have the correct kit and I did not like to borrow it all again.
Paul accepting a medal from Esme Cowan, the organiser for English Youth Fencing.
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We started to look for sponsorship. When the season got going it seemed very likely that with the results I was getting I could be invited to fence in Bonn. I was really worried because I still didn’t have the right kit and it is expensive to go to a European event. We then found out that there was a grant that individuals could apply for every two years if they were ‘an international competitor’ and they kindly gave us some money towards the cost of going. I was asked to produce a sheet showing what I needed to go to Bonn and to present it to the headmaster. He was very helpful and said that he thought the school could help out as it had some money that could be used for this sort of event. It meant I could accept my place in the squad and am now looking forward to going.
It is a very tough competition. Apparently, last year only three cadets got high enough in the competition to score any points. I’m going to do my best to do so. I am now ranked number two cadet. I want to stay in the top three and get to go to the World Cadet Championships. I had a great day on Sunday; I won the epee event at the English Youth Championships. This means that I will represent England at the four nations competition next Easter - against Wales, Scotland and Ireland.
As well as my training I like to help with the younger fencers. I really enjoy this; I help at school with the beginners after school and on a Friday night at my club. There is a new club just started in Beaconsfield for youngsters and I have been there to help too. I train for myself 2-3 evenings a week and one afternoon at school.
Although fencing takes up a great deal of my time I do like other things. I enjoy playing the baritone horn and the tuba and I play at school in the Senior Wind Band and the Senior Brass Ensemble. I was also playing at the local music centre, but have had to stop this autumn as I felt could not attend enough sessions. I enjoy drama a lot and, this summer, was part of the Swan Youth Project, it was a production of Honk. When I can I like just hanging around with friends, perhaps going to the cinema or a local gig. To relax I have learnt to use Poi, I think this is great and have worked hard to master some of the more difficult moves.
I like school, but have loads to do, especially as I take my GCSEs next summer. I have to be very organised to get my schoolwork done to allow time for fencing. I now really appreciate any free time I get for my friends.
My goals within fencing
What I want to achieve in 2004 and 2005 (as an u17 cadet):
- To continue to do well
- To be no 1 cadet at the four nations (England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland)
- To make it to top British cadet
- And to represent Britain at the World Cadet Championships in Bulgaria
What I want to achieve in the longer term (as an u20 junior and beyond):
- To continue to do well
- To go on to be top British Junior
- To represent Britain at the World Junior Championships
- To be no 1 Brit
- To represent Britain at the Commonwealth Games
- To represent Britain at the World Championships
- To represent Britain at the Olympics
- And to win medals at all these events
Note: At the time of writing (2004) Paul was currently in the top 40 senior fencers, top 25 junior fencers and is the number one cadet British fencer.