Loughborough Students' Fencing Club is a 3-weapon club providing opportunities for both experienced and new fencers to compete and develop new skills within the sport. We are able to supply all required equipment to new fencers. Our head coach is Allan Skipp, who has a wealth of experience in all three weapons, and he is assisted by various volunteer coaches.
The Club currently have 4 BUCS teams, 2 Men's (Premier North and Midlands 2A) and 2 Women's (Premier North and Midlands 2A), which offer all of our fencers a chance to represent Loughborough no matter their level. We also travel to competitions throughout the year including the Welsh Open, Leeds Open, Cambridge Winter Tournament, Merseyside Open, and of course the BUCS Individuals, as well as the Warwick Novice Tournament and Leicester Open for less experienced fencers.
If you'd like to try fencing, please come along to one of our taster sessions in the first week of term! These are free to attend and are just to give it a go, no commitment or previous experience required. Please wear long tracksuit trousers or similar (no jeans), suitable sports shoes and bring a water bottle.
Monday 1st October 20:00 - 22:00 @ EHB Studio
Saturday 6th October 12:00 - 14:00 @ EHB Studio
Please be aware that these will be the usual beginner session times. If you want to join, but can't make these tasters, feel free to drop us an email and we can try to sort out an alternative. However, if you're unable to regularly attend either Mondays or Saturdays, it will be difficult for you to keep up.
If you have fenced before, don't worry about attending a taster - these are targeted at beginners! You're welcome to join us at our Preseason Training, or drop us an email and we'll answer any questions you might have!
Preseason Training
As a fairly small club, we don't run formal trials. However, we are holding a Preseason Training week before term starts, and our team captains will begin to select teams based on what they see there. If you have fenced before, feel free to come along and introduce yourself!
Tuesday 25th September 18:00 - 21:00 @ EHB Studio
Wednesday 26th September 12:00 - 16:00 @ EHB Studio
Thursday 27th September 15:00 - 18:00 @ EHB Studio
MyLifestyle:
Monday 20:00 - 21:00 @ EHB Studio
Beginners:
Monday 20:00 - 22:30 @ EHB Studio
Saturday 12:00 - 14:00 @ EHB Studio
Experienced:
Tuesday 18:00 - 21:00 @ EHB Studio
Wednesday 12:00 - 16:00 @ EHB Studio (BUCS)
Thursday 17:00 - 20:00 @ EHB Studio
Saturday 12:00 - 14:00 @ EHB Studio
S&C:
Friday 19:30 - 20:30 @ SDC Studio (Mandatory for 1st Teams)
Allan Skipp
We are extremely lucky to have Allan Skipp as our Head Coach. He is a fantastic three-weapon coach, and supports the club far beyond just giving lessons!
Allan Skipp became a professional fencing coach in 1980 after studying with Bob Anderson and Ken Pearson, the national coaches, and later worked with Ziemek Wojciechowski and the British Foil team in preparation for the Seoul Olympics.
He was coach to the British Junior womens foil team, and travelled throughout Europe to pro-vide coaching support in their A grade programme.
In 1988 he was appointed Director of Coaching by British Fencing, and he developed a series of childrens competitions which ultimately became the Leon Paul Junior Series.
Club Chair: Elsa Phillipson
Vice Chair: Tom Canfield
Secretary: Fejiro Amam
Club Captain: Clemmie Cooper
Treasurer: Sam Marston
Armourer: Simon Blackwell
Men's Captain: Jose Narvaez
Women's Captain: Bethan Plant
Social/Media Secs: Katie Hughes & Grant Underwood
Beginners' Rep: Michael Berney