Our Coaches
Our Club
We are one of the most vibrant and successful sports clubs at the university, and one of the best student fencing clubs in Scotland. Fencing is one of the oldest Olympic sports, is cheap to start, and keeps your brain and body active. Fencing is a fun and exciting sport to take part in and one of the few that are ideal for all ages and abilities. The club caters for all three weapons. Foil: the most widely used point weapon. Epee: a very tactical point weapon that is most closely related to duelling out of the three. Sabre: a fast paced cutting weapon based on cavalry swordplay.
Our membership comprises both very experienced fencers and complete beginners, with over 70 active fencers in the academic year 2016-2017. Our members come from a wide range of backgrounds, which both contributes to, and reflects the clubs friendly and welcoming atmosphere. The fencing club's teams are also given additional support from the Athletic Union, through strength and conditioning sessions, to help them continue achieving top results (see club archive).
Club life is very vibrant, with several social events throughout the academic year which are open to both members and non-members, including: our annual club dinner, club BBQ, and wine & cheese events. We also hold friendly fencing tournaments, including our Christmas competition, Alumni competition and a Mixed Team tournament and Combat Biathlon weekend which we held for the first time last year.
The fencing club's high level of sporting performance and its fantastic identity are probably the twin foundation stones that make the club what it is today. It is a club of which its members are immensely proud.
Click here to see further details about the club on the Athletic Union's website.
ABOUT
Our Committee
Stan Stoodley
Stan Stoodley BA, Monitor fleuret, Academies d' Armes International, former Scottish Champion, Commonwealth Team member and Director of Coaching for Scottish Fencing.
I have been coaching the St. Andrews university fencing club since 2009 helping students to achieve BUCS team and individual finals.
Phil Carson
I am one of the national coaches in Scotland and am the National Coach Development Manager. I am head coach at one of the most successful clubs in the UK and coach a number of fencers on junior and senior GB teams.
As the head coach at St Andrews University I have two roles. Firstly to create a pathway for students to take up fencing for the first time and to develop them in the sport, including getting them on to the university team and to compete nationally. My main role though is to work with established fencers to make sure they are able to perform at their best for the university at BUCS and SSS events.
Together with the Director of Fencing and the sports staff at St Andrews my ambition is to make St Andrews the number one university of choice for fencers.
Details of previous committee members can be found here.
I'm in my third year studying mathematics and fence sabre. As women's captain I help ensure training runs smoothly and organise the womens' teams matches.
As men's team captain, I make sure practice runs smoothly and plan out men's team matches. I've been fencing since I was ten and I'm looking forward to a great season for the team.
As secretary I'm responsible for recording minutes for committee meetings, as well as communicating with the captains and team members about new ideas and issues facing the club. Epee fencer on the Women's A-team, began fencing three years ago.
As the treasurer this year I'm in charge of the club's accounts and finances. I'm from the South-East of England, where I started fencing around three years ago. I fenced sabre for the first time last year.
As armourer I'm in charge of ensuring the functionality and safety of all equipment and weapons and when something gets broken it is my job to (attempt to) fix it.
As assistant armourer and safety officer I help the armourer maintain the functionality of all equipment and weapons while ensuring the safety of all at training.
I am a second year humanities student and started fencing sabre six years ago in Munich. As social representative I organise and run all the club's social events, including arranging tickets for the AU's infamous Sinners night.
As publicity officer I run the fencing facebook page and website, while being in charge of promoting the club and it's various social events. I fence foil and only started when I first came to St Andrew two years ago.
I am a fifth year studying German and International Relations and I started fencing epee when I was 14 as part of the modern pentathlon. As alumni officer I am entrusted with preserving the links to graduated former club members and organising alumni events.
Hi, I am a Canadian Sabeur who is currently studying statistics. As the Competitions Officer, I am in charge of running tournaments such as the annual Christmas competition and the Saints Sabre Open.
I started fencing at the beginning of this year and as Beginners Representative my role is to provide a voice for the beginners on the committee.
HOW TO JOIN
Whether you are completely new to fencing, or you have lots of experience, you are more than welcome to join us.
If you missed the sports fayre and our give it a go session, no worries. Just check our training information and come along to one of our training sessions. We run a rolling intake, so you can start at any point.
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MEMBERSHIP
The membership fee is currently £32 for one semester and £59 for whole academic year. This price covers: all training, both group and individual coaching with highly qualified, top coaches, and all the equipment you will need. You will have to purchase a membership for the Athletic Union and a membership for the fencing club. Click here to buy the AU membership. The membership for the fencing club can be bought in the university's online store.
The club has a good stock of equipment which is available for beginners and club members to use, however we recommend that participants should wear training shoes and comfortable trousers such as leggings or tracksuit bottoms.
Joining
Our Facilities
