Fencing

The return to an uninterrupted Fencing season gave the Junior and Senior squads an excellent opportunity to develop their skills and to show Camberwell Grammar as a highly competitive presence in the Winter Schools League Competition. The season began promisingly with Daniel Renzi, Gino Yao, and Goldman Xu receiving a Silver Medal in the first Junior Men’s Teams competition. This was soon complemented by the win of a Gold Medal by Julian Lim, Steven Lu, Luke Nguyen, and Sean Xu in the opening Senior Men’s Teams competition. These wins helped to give enormous confidence to our Fencers that was sustained throughout the season. Further top eight finishes by Riley Austin, Marcus Lu, and Chauncey Yu in the Junior Men’s Individual competitions added to the depth of the skills development that continued across the season, thanks to the training of both squads by our longstanding coach, Mr Pieter Leeuwenburgh, whose guidance has been fundamental to the development of the success the students have enjoyed. These achievements were reflected again at the end of the season in the Silver Medal awarded to Ethan Chen, Marcus Lu, Chauncey Yu, and Goldman Xu in the Junior Men’s Teams Championship in a very closely contested bout against St Leonard’s College. Two notable awards received by our Fencers were the award of the Senior Champion Fencer shield to Sean Xu, and the Junior Champion Fencer shield to Marcus Lu. These are both notable achievements because these awards are based on the individual competition rankings calculated by Fencing Victoria across the season. Further to this, Sean Xu concluded the season with the award of Full Colours in Fencing on the basis of his achievements and sustained contribution to the sport. In the Senior squad, Julian Lim continued to develop his competition experience in Foil, competing in the Under 20s National Championships in May before then competing in the Senior Asian Championships in Seoul, the Senior World Championships in Cairo, and in the Commonwealth Championships in London. The skill and experience this enabled him to contribute as a member of the squad are very much appreciated and we wish him every continued success as he pursues his sporting career in Fencing. Thanks also go to Luke Nguyen, this year’s Captain, for his leadership and support and to Ms Cairistiona Tait, who joined the squad this year and who has already begun to make a significant contribution to the leadership of the students and to the development of the sport within the School. With such a strong foundation, we look forward to the continued success of both squads next year and we would like to thank all the parents for their consistent support of the students throughout the season. Without their dedication, so much of what has been achieved would not be possible.

Mr Matthew Wood

Teacher in Charge