Fencing club rack up the medals at national competitions
A Diagnostic Imaging student has been reflecting on a successful few months for both GCU’s Fencing club and herself.
Third year student Elsie Llewellyn helped set up a brand-new male and female team during her first year at University and is now leading them to success in national competitions.
Elsie, who has previously competed with Scottish and British Fencing, said: “Charlotte and myself from the women’s team have competed for a long time and it was lucky we came to the same University to help create the team alongside the GCU Students’ Association.
“Paulina and Claudia also joined us, and their enthusiasm has been amazing for us as a group of four. They are both beginners, but they are developing all the time. I think the mix of experience works well because Charlotte and I can guide Paulina and Claudia.
“Most of our men’s team are beginners and have only been doing it for a year or two. Our president, Ruaridh, has been involved for quite a while, so he has that that experience to lend to the others.”
Elsie has been enjoying competing while also taking on a new role as a coach with the club.
She explained: “I like coaching because you get to see people develop. It is nice to see new fencers and watch them get better through doing things you have taught them.
It’s funny because I do see girls at competitions now who are going to Worlds and Euros at the age I was. I do get a bit jealous because there’s a small part of me that misses that side of things, but I look at where I’m at now and I’m really enjoying the University side of fencing. I am really happy to be helping other people develop their skills.”
The group of students are involved in all three disciplines of modern fencing: foil, épée, and sabre. Training twice a week has allowed them to perfect the tricks of the trade and set them up for a number of strong performances recently, starting at BUCS Scottish Conference in November last year.
Elsie said: “It was held in Edinburgh and basically involved different Scottish Universities competing in team matches. We had never competed as a team before, so doing that really brought us together and showed us how everyone coped during the competition.
“There are only four of us on the women’s team, which means most of us are doing all three weapons (foil, épée and sabre). They are all very different with different target areas and different swords. A lot of the bigger Universities have teams for each weapon, but we don’t have that luxury. It was particularly exhausting for the girls because we had more than 40 fights in a day!”
The new year brought new opportunities for the students. The Scottish Student Sport (SSS) Beginners individual event at the start of February led to GCU finishing second in the medal table ahead of Strathclyde, Aberdeen and Edinburgh University.
Elsie explained: “We were represented in four of the six finals and won a gold and three silvers, which was incredibly good going.
“To finish second in the medal table was really big for us because we’d barely had anyone compete individually before.”
GCU’s Fencing club looked to take their fine form into the BUCS (British Universities and Colleges Sport) Conference, which was held in Sheffield between the 17th and 19th of February.
Elsie said: “A lot of our team had done well in the SSS beginners so we just wanted to see how this would all go.
“Five of us went down in total. Two people went by car and the rest of us were on the bus for seven hours. Thankfully it was cheap with my Young Scot Card, but it probably wasn’t the best preparation!”
Despite a lack of leg room on the way down the M6, Elsie managed to find her feet in time for the competition and claimed a remarkable gold in the sabre.
She said: “I really wanted to win gold at BUCS this year… I was a bit stressed in the lead-up.
“I made it through to the semi-finals against a girl who I’ve previously competed against a lot. I ended up winning, which was really surprising. It was nice because I had all the Glasgow universities cheering me on – which was pretty special.
“I then faced a girl in the final from a University in London, who I’ve also known for years. She had beaten me the last time, so I was desperate to do well. I had all of the Scottish Universities behind me, supporting me - the crowd was just insane.
“When I won, everyone ran at me to celebrate… it felt like something from Rocky!”
Elsie added: “I’d won bronze in 2022, so I really wanted to win this year and avoid the pressure of having to win it during my final year next time around. Now I can go down to Sheffield without having to worry about anything, which is a nice feeling!”
The success didn’t stop there for Elsie and the rest of the fencing club. They rounded off a fantastic year with a gold and silver in the Women’s Sabre at the SSS Individuals competition at the end of March.
Elsie said: “I was delighted to get two golds this year. I had to compete against Charlotte in the final and she’s slowly creeping up on me with her scores. I’m not sure I want to go up against her again because her performances recently have been amazing!”
“I also have to give a special shout-out to Marek in the men’s team. He has only been fencing for two years but made it to the top eight in Scotland for the épée, which is just crazy. He even beat someone who was ranked higher than him, so it was a really good all-round performance on the day.”
Despite all the medals over the last few months, Elsie insists that success isn’t just measured by gold, silver and bronze.
She explained: “It was so important for Charlotte and me to lay the foundations of the team. The fact we didn’t have a team to now having this tight-knit group is just incredible.
“Training takes place on a Tuesday and a Friday – all students are welcome! The fencers who started out at SSS Beginners in February are now helping the new students settle in which is really nice.”
Elsie added: “Things are starting to slow down for next year so it will just be about consolidating everything and making sure we have our team in place for another successful year come September.”
You can find out more about the GCU Student’s Association’s Fencing club by following them on Facebook and Instagram
By Ross Clark
Got an SHLS or GSBS story? Email me at Ross.Clark@gcu.ac.uk or message me on Twitter