Fencers ready for a long journey

On a very cold but clear Saturday morning, students from Mosslands School set off to Medway, Kent to compete in the British Schools Team Fencing Championships. This was the first time that Mosslands had entered a team into this prestigious event and although tired the boys were quite excited. We eventually arrived at the venue and settled into the competition. After signing in and checking their equipment the boys prepared for their matches.

The draw for pooles had not been kind as we had been drawn against Kings School Canterbury who went on to finish 3rd overall and St. Pauls School London who finished 2nd. Both of these schools have a long history of producing very good fencers and fielded very strong teams.

The entirely left handed King’s School proved a real challenge for our boys and going into the final match we trailed 40-22. A fantastic performance from Charlie Campbell in the anchor position saw us make a good comeback but a few double hits from their last fencer finished the match at 45-33.

British Schools Team Fencing Championships

Our second match was St Paul’s School London coached by fencing master, Olympic fencer and former World Veteran Sabre Champion Jim Philbin. We got off to a strong start thanks to some great foot hits from Tom Kitto. As the match proceeded the lead changed several times with some excellent fencing from all of our boys. Heading into the final match we were behind 40-38. Their final fencer was a tall strong left hander with a fantastic reach up against Jack Roberts. Jack fought really well but could not get past the very strong defence that his opponent had. Time was not on our side and Jack had to try to at least get the score even or we would lose. Try as he might, every time Jack got near he would get hit or get a double. Eventually we were defeated 45-42.

The lads fought really well and were complimented by Jim Philbin on their fencing. He even found some time to give them a few hints for next year. This was a brilliant performance by our boys and allowed us to finish 11th overall in the under 18 Boys Epee.

Mosslands School was the only comprehensive school to enter a team and the only team from north of the Watford Gap!