Funding Opportunities

NI Fencing Ltd is pleased to announce that we are able to offer a travel fund for the next tier of fencers in N.I.

For full details of the criteria for this years Travel Funding download the Travel Fund Guidelines 2014-15 V1

The purpose of the funding is to expose a number of the young elite fencers with international potential to European Cadet and Junior World Cup competitions. The selection of the fencers must rely to a great extent upon the experience of the coaches. It should be remembered that top international competitions require the fencer to have specialised training and follow a specific competition plan.

To rely simply upon any ranking lists alone is not practicable as a number of fencers following international competitions miss domestic, Irish and British competitions. The various ranking lists will be used as a guideline for some of the selected fencers and NIF should have the right to recommend fencers for funding based upon their training and potential however this will all be at the Performance Manager’s discretion.

In this second year we will be looking at supporting up to a maximum of 12 fencers covering all three weapons at Cadet and Junior competitions. That is a maximum of 4 individuals per weapon and funded to support a maximum of 2 foreign competitions (in a special case a fencer can request to attend a 3rd competition).

Eligibility
To be eligible fencers MUST:

1. Born 1995 to 2000
2. Have European Cadet points or Junior World Cup points OR in the opinion of the Performance Manager will achieve European Cadet or Junior World Cup points within one or two seasons.
3. Be members of NI Fencing Ltd.
4. Hold a valid British or Irish Passport.
5. Attend at least one domestic competition each year.
6. Be a member of the NI Academy Training Squad and adhere to full attendance at all NI Academy Training sessions (if unable to attend, permission must be granted by the NIF Performance Director)
7. Be training a minimum of 6hrs per week. (A training diary must be kept and signed off each week by your coach. This must be available for inspection)
8. Begin the coming 2014-15 season physically fit for International competition to the BF standard given at the following link: http://www.britishfencing.com/news/latest-news/?n=1092 You will be tested at the first Academy Training session of the season (date to be confirmed for end of August/beg September)

Application Process
Any fencer wishing to be considered for funding must email the Performance Manager: Maitre Mike Westgate ([email protected]) by 8th August 2014. The application must include:

1. A training plan for the year (agreed with your coach); 
2. A provisional competition plan which includes, as a minimum, all competitions required by your chosen weapon/age group(s)/Nation as selection events;
3. A brief long-term plan of your goals set for the next 3 years.

Selection and Notification
Each applicant will be considered and scored against a set of benchmarks including but not limited to;

• Attitude to Fencing
• Training
• Fitness
• Dedication

In addition the work done in the previous year will also be taken into consideration. Each application will be discussed with the applicants coach, strength and conditioning instructors and academy staff. A score will be awarded to each candidate and funding will be awarded to the 12 top scoring fencers. Fencers will be notified of the result of their application by the end of September 2014.
The decisions of the Performance Manager and his assistants; Johnny Davis, Katie Arup and Alastair Davidson after ratification by the Board are final.

Fencers will be under review at the end of every year and based on results may continue on with the funding programme with an opportunity to access more funds in consecutive years.

As Performance Manager, I am only interested in the development of the fencers with potential, irrespective of their club or coach. We are fortunate to have 3 coaches in Northern Ireland with World Championships and Olympic experience.
Maitre Mike Westgate
Performance Manager
Johnny Davis
Assistant Performance Manager