University of Leeds Fencing Club

Newsletter

November/December 2008

Upcoming dates for your diary:

Wednesday 3/12- Men’s first team match against Newcastle, away

-         Women’s first team match against Bradford, away

-         Men’s second team match against Durham, home

Friday 5/12 – Sunday 7/12 – BUCS individual competition in Nottingham

Saturday 6/12 – Last advanced training

Monday 8/12 – Fencing Christmas meal, at Zizzi’s

Tuesday 9/12 – Team photos  provisionally booked at 10am Sports Hall 2

- Club beginner’s competition 7pm sharp

Wednesday 10/12 –Men’s first team match against Bangor, away

Saturday 7/02/2009 – Sports ball, at the Hilton

Wednesday 11/03/2009 – Christie Championship, Liverpool

Sunday 15/03/2009- Club Fencing Competition

Team Photos

The team photos will be taking place on the Tuesday the 9^th between 9:15 and 2. Please tell your captains the best time for you so that we can organise for as many people to be in the photo as possible.

Beginners Competition

The beginners’ club competition will be held on the 9^th of December during normal training time. We’ll be taking down the names of those of you that want to compete so that we can organize the poules you’ll be fencing the first round of the competition in. The final and semi-finals will be held on electric piste. There will also be prizes for the top 4 fencers. It would be great to have support from the advanced in refereeing and getting people in/out and on/off electric kit.

Referendum

Leeds University Union holds a referendum twice a year on things its members would like to change about the way the union operates and all members are entitled to vote. The next referendum will be held between 28th November to -4th December (NOW!) when you can vote in person at several polling booths on campus, or online through the union website.

www.luuonline.com/vote

This year there are three motions that have a direct effect on sports clubs at the table:

Motion 1 is about making Wednesday afternoons free so that people can do sports. This would obviously be fantastic for our teams as it would be far more likely that team members would be able to make the matches.

Motion 9 would mean that a greater number of companies would be potential sponsors for the club – although up to this point we have not yet been blocked from any sponsor.

Motion 10 to set up a fund to replace expensive bits of equipment, eg trampolines, rowing boats. If this was put in place, we could apply when necessary for replacement and additional equipment as ours fail or we find we need new equipment for changes in the rules.

It would be of clear benefit to the Fencing Club if as many of you as possible would vote yes on motions 1 and 10. Motion 9 could also have an effect on the club.

Motion 7 Could also effect union income, although the effect is hard to predict at the moment. Changes in the money the union receives inevitably pass on to the sports clubs (note the reduction in funding this year due to Leeds Academy opening as a competitor to The Refectory).

For the remainder of the motions, I would advise to take 10 minutes reading the actual text of them rather than just the headlines – sometimes what they do is very different to what the question makes it sound like. These really do change the way the union is run. Read more at http://www.luuonline.com/referendum/ .

Website

The club website at http://www.luufencing.co.uk has a large collection of information about the club, including all previous newsletters. I have however recently received some feedback about how the website could be improved – if anybody has opinions on the website, both positive and negative, please let me know at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

On the subject of the facebook group – unfortunately you do need to be a member of the University of Leeds network to join it. If you are a current student however, this is very easy to do. Go to settings, then the networks tab and proceed from there.

Socials

Our last social was a very relaxed affair in the terrace (with some people going on to the Fab Cafe). It was really lovely to see so many people there.

The next social coming up is on Monday 8^th December. A Christmas meal (Italian style) at Zizzi’s to celebrate the end of term. To cover the deposit for the meal (and book yourself a place) please pay Anita £5 (you get this off your meal). Don’t forget the facebook event.

Kit

Recently we bought 5 new steam and 2 electric foils for the club. These have enabled us to have more beginners fencing at the same time and get more people fencing on electric.

It would be really helpful if everyone could fold their jackets and plastrons before putting them back in the cages in the correct places, thanks!

Competitions

A few of our members went to the Welsh open last month and gave very strong performances, well done guys J

This weekend is the BUCS individual competition and many of us our traveling down to Nottingham for the 3 day event. Guaranteed to be another hilarious club road trip and we wish everyone the best of luck in their fights.