Term One 2025 Details

Term One is fast approaching and Coach Avery finally has the details organised.

If you have any friends who’re keen to have a go at fencing, NOW (well, in a couple of weeks) is the time! We’ll have beginner courses on Mondays (7 pm - 8:30 pm), and on Saturdays (1:30 pm - 3 pm).

See below for the dates and fees for club membership.

Beginner course details will be posted shortly.

Sydney International Fencing Camp 2025

Where do we start?

Bill Ronald OAM OLY and his team put together an incredible eight-day fencing camp for Foilists and Epeeists this year. Maestro Enrico di Ciolo, Maestra Virginia di Franco, and their three assistants (Nicol, Tommaso, and Giulio) came all the way from Italy to work with the athletes and coaches to help everybody to improve their skills.

Our Head Epee Coach Avery Holderness-Roddam attended for the coaching professional development program, and our fencers Abi, Quincy, Noah and Tim attended as athletes.

Each day was action-packed and there was so much knowledge-sharing.

Our fencers gave 100% and truly rose to the occasion.

Coach Avery attained his Oceania Fencing Confederation Epee Coach Level 2 qualification.

The five Tasmanians returned on Sunday feeling tired and excited to share their skills with the Tasmanian fencing community when club opens in February.

L-R: Avery, Nicol, Tim, Quincy, Tommaso, Giulio, Noah and Abi.

2024 Brian Sibson State Foil Championships

Saturday, November 23rd, saw twelve Tasmanian Foilists come together at Tarremah Steiner School in the South of the state to compete in the Novice and/or Open Senior events.

DT’d by Karina Halys, and with volunteer referees (Emil, Daniel, Isaac and Tim), volunteer score-keeper (Jacqui), volunteer and photographers (Alma - 8 years old - and Avery), the tournament ran smoothly and had a lovely, friendly atmosphere.

The tournament’s namesake, Brian Sibson, stayed for the whole day both spectating and providing valuable coaching insight. Everybody shared a delicious cheesecake to mark his October birthday belatedly.

We had the pleasure of meeting friends and loved ones of some of our fencers. :)

Our Novices all fenced so well, with only a couple of points between places after their pool. Both semi-finals were close - won 10-9! In the end, Tom emerged as the 2024 Novice Champion - in spite of having begun fencing at the start of this term!

There were eleven entrants for the Mixed Open Seniors event. Three of our novices entered, putting up a good fight. After several hours of energetic and sometimes very tense fencing, Karina emerged as the 2024 Open Champion, having beaten Noah in their Finals match, and prior to that narrowly beating Quincy by one point in their Semi-final.

Final results:

Mixed Novice:

1st: Tom Galpin

2nd: Willem Harrison-Narraway

3rd: Newton Jones

4th: Vienna Rule

Mixed Open Seniors

1st: Karina Halys

2nd: Noah Clarke

3rd: Isaac Laredo

=3rd: Quincy Green Carlos

5th: Daniel Muller

6th: Tim Harvest

7th: Ashley Collison

8th: Titia Bohlken

9th: Newton Jones

10th: Vienna Rule

FOR PHOTOS FROM THE EVENT, VISIT OUR FACEBOOK PAGE AT THIS LINK:

Club Facebook Page

October Update!

It’s been a busy few months for the club!

Quincy attended his first National event - the National Cadet (U17) Champs in Sydney.

Quincy attended his first Open Nationals - AFC #1 - in Perth.

Tim attended his first Fencing Victoria B-Grades Seniors Epee in Melbourne.

Coach Avery collected a pre-loved Tarago from Sydney. This will make transporting club equipment much easier!

Noah, Tim, Quincy, and Titia have been training hard to prepare for AFC #2 Nationals in Melbourne at the end of October.

This will be Tim and Titia’s first National tournament!

Abi, Quincy, and Noah have registered to attend the Sydney International Fencing Camp in January 2025 as athletes, and Coach Avery has registered to attend for coaching development.

Term Four details are out - if you didn’t receive an email please contact Coach Avery so he can send you one.

Tim Harvest (left) fences Victorian David Lee at FV B-Grade Senior Epee, October 2024.

September/October Snaps

Some snaps from September & October; club footwork, Quincy at AFC #1 in Perth, Tim at Fencing Victoria B-Grades Senior Epee in Melbourne, and Max’s new Quokka friend, Floreat.

Tas Epee Championships!

On June 29th, Tassie’s competitive fencers will gather in Huntingfield to fence in the 2024 TFA Inc State Epee Championships.

Caterogies:

  • Open

  • U20

  • U15

  • U12

  • Veterans (40+)

  • Novice - U15

  • Novice - Open

Fencers can only fence in one age category, for example, if a fencer is eligible for U15 and they want to fence in U20, they must select which event they will compete in. This is in line with other states. and prevents the tournament from running late due to fencers attempting to compete in multiple categories that are being fenced at once.

1 x category: $25
2 x categories: $40

Entrants must also be financial members of the Tasmanian Fencing Association to enter:
U18: $20
18+: $40
Enter here: www.tasfencing.org.au

2024!

Happy New Year everyone!

2023 was a big year and we’re gearing up for an even bigger year in 2024!

Coach Avery had been busy planning sessions, ordering medals, making a display at the Kingston Library, and lots more!

Term One details are up and registrations for our Term One beginner courses are open!

The club resumes on the following dates:

Tuesdays: Feb 13th

Saturdays: Feb 17th

Mondays: Feb 19th

See the ‘Fees’ page for term fees.

Don’t forget to follow us on Facebook and Instagram for regular updates. :)

We can’t wait to see everyone!

Best wishes,
The VDFC Team

Neil Hick Victorian Epee Shield 2023

On September 17th, VDFC fencers Abi, Quincy and Jeremy attended the Victorian High Performance Fencing Centre to compete in the Neil Hick Victorian Epee Shield,


This was the second year for Abi and Quincy, and Jeremy’s first experience at an interstate tournament.


The three fencers competed in the U15’s event first, where they fenced very well and all won some bouts.

Quincy and Abi remained at the venue to compete in the U20’s event as well, where they had to fence each other in their first DE (never a fun situation for fencing friends). Quincy won the bout and proceeded on to beat his next opponent in the Tableau 8. Quincy’s winning spree was only stopped by an opponent who is currently ranked 17th Nationally in U20’s, leading Quincy to bring home a bronze medal.

Quincy and Abi’s fencing on the day demonstrated that their hard work for the past year had paid off. Their fencing was patient but proactive.

Jeremy had his first experience of fencing on an actual piste, and he knew what he was going to work of with his training on his return home.

All three fencers represented Tasmania and VDFC well, modelling great sportsmanship.



Tasmanian Epee Championships - August 5th 2023!

It’s almost time again!

The Tasmanian Fencing Association Inc State Epee Championships will be held on Saturday, August 5th, at Tarremah Steiner School hall in Huntingfield.

All events will be mixed (not gendered), and the categories are: U12’s, U15’s, U17’s, Open, Veterans, and Open Novice.

Entry fees are as follows:
1 category: $25
2 categories: $40
3 categories: $50

TFA Inc membership for 2023 is as follows:
Ages 17 and under: $20
Ages 18+: $30

To register, please head to the Association’s website: www.tasfencing.org.au

2023!

Happy New Year!


Summer Camp

This year we’re kicking-off fencing with the 2023 VDFC Summer Camp on January 21st (Tarremah Steiner School hall) and 22nd (Claremont Memorial Hall).

The camp will be a good way to brush the cobwebs off and give a boost to your fencing skills going into the new Tassie fencing year.

Third Club Location - Hobart!

Late in 2022 we organised to take-on Monday sessions due to the sad closure of the Tasmanian University Fencing Club. We’ll be welcoming their fencers, and their fencers will be welcoming us to their space, from January 20th.

Our Club Values

Members recently voted for the values they believe represent our club, and which they feel are important to uphold. Meet our official club values:

COMPASSION
INCLUSION
HONESTY
RESPECT
HUMOUR
and two bonus values
PERSEVERANCE
RESILIENCE

We love that so many members were of the same mind when it came to selecting the key values.

We really loved the additional suggestions too and we wish we could adopt all of them, but the list would have ended up seventeen values long!

6-week Beginner Courses in Term 1

We’re kicking-off the New Year with some beginner courses!

As a special for our new Hobart Monday sessions, we’re offering a $45 course fee plus a friend for free! The classes start on Monday, Feb 20th, running from 6 pm to 8pm.
Participants just need to text us to register their interest: 0428 057 473, and bring full length pants, sneakers and a drink bottle.

In Huntingfield, we will run a course starting on Saturday, February 11th, from 1:30 pm to 3 pm.
This course will be the standard $75 fee, but we’re also inviting beginners to bring a friend along for free!
Participants just need to text us to register their interest: 0428 057 473, and bring full length pants, sneakers and a drink bottle.

Term 4...

Well, Term Four was off to a lovely start with a hall full of fencers (new and experienced) fencing all three weapons.

The State Epee Championships were to be the first tournament in quite some time.

The tournament was scheduled for October 16th. It was precisely 18.5 hours before the first Epeeists were due to start bouting that it was announced that Southern Tasmania was going into lockdown for the weekend plus Monday.

Luckily fencers are adept at being flexible, handling sudden changes with grace, and making the most of any opportunity to get in a few more weeks of training before a big tournament, so they all got ready to focus on their footwork and target practice at home instead.

The State Epee Championships have been rescheduled to November 20th, 2021.

The next fencing tournament is the Brian Sibson Tasmanian Foil Championships which will be held on Saturday, October 30th, 2021.