With Roses fast approaching, the University of York Fencing Club are eager to take the fight to Lancaster. After a considerable period of training and preparation, all the teams are confident of putting in a strong performance and building upon the success of last year’s tournament.
Men’s First Team Captain Bairong Huang has emphasised that his team is even stronger than last year’s fencers that claimed victory and that belief in the team’s ability is high. Bairong had this to say:
“After our victorious match in York last year, the fencing club is now ready with an even stronger line-up for Roses 2012, in Lancaster. Our current line-up consisting of four third years and four first years has achieved an impressive ranking of second in the British Universities and Colleges Sports (BUCS) Northern 1A league. We have beaten Lancaster on both occasions during the previous season convincingly, with score margins of more than twenty points. So we are set to defeat Lancaster this May and win the Roses trophy.”
The York team is expected to win by at least 135-100 this time round with Thomas Jones, our former captain, the player to watch out for. He is the centrepiece of our team, with his inspiring stability and consistency that he displayed at all our past matches. On top of that, he is also a speedy and skilful sabreur, who will definitely be an entertaining fencer to pay attention to.”
Men’s Seconds Captain Rob Phillips also appears optimistic ahead of the tournament and is especially excited about the attitude and energy displayed by the new influx of fresh faces within the Men’s Seconds:
“The Seconds have had a good season compared to that of the previous year and has competed in all eight matches. Whilst we have not won many of them, it has at least been close when we have lost – in some cases with the opposition scoring the winning point in the last few seconds of the final timed bout! We have achieved this despite some of our team members often being absent due to fencing for the firsts, giving us a very inconsistent team. Nevertheless, this gave plenty of people an opportunity to enjoy some exciting match play. In all but two matches we achieved a score of over 100 out of a possible 135 and are the only other team to obtain such a score against this year’s league winners, the Newcastle firsts.
I would be unable to give an even vaguely accurate predicted score because Lancaster is once again unable to field a complete student seconds team and so is dependent upon help from alumni students. Furthermore, we only have one fencer who took part in the Roses competition last year, giving us no reliable guide to how well we will perform this time. We are usually defeated since the non-student fencers that supplement the Lancaster team are of exceptional quality but after examining this season’s results I’d say our aim is to get a score of over 100 and looking at the team, I’m confident that is what we’ll achieve. We aren’t playing for Roses points but something even more important – the post-match round of drinks!
The player to watch is definitely Jack Warman; a first year who only took up fencing since he joined the university in October and now representing us for the first time. This is testament both to his dedication and the coaching he has received in a sport that relies as much on speed as technical skill. It will be interesting to see how our home-grown fencer fares against those who have had many years of club and university experience.”
The Women’s First Team are without a doubt one of the most consistent teams within the fencing club and new captain Sophie Mason will no doubt be very pleased with the strength of the Women’s First Team and even more so with their morale which is especially high after last season’s form, which saw the Women’s First Team maintain their position within the BUCS Northern Premier League. Expectations of Louise Highton are especially high, given the excellent skill she has displayed throughout the season, winning the silver medal in the Women’s Epee at the BUCS Individual Championships in March. Louise will no doubt wish to continue her good form against Lancaster during the Roses tournament.
The University of York Fencing Club is also proud that it has earned more BUCS points than any other York Sport, which is a record that all of the fencers are determined to keep at Roses. In any case, spectators are guaranteed a great day of fencing!
Fencing isn’t a sport.
Have you ever tried it? To be good, you have to be dedicated and physically fit. As a martial art, it’s as much of a sport as Judo.