City’s fencing hub is a Scottish first
Perth’s new Olympic training facility to open in 2015
Perth is to welcome Scotland’s first National Centre of Excellence for Fencing.
Scottish Fencing, the national governing body, has secured five Olympic training and competition pistes for the new centre which will be unveiled in January at the Riverview Business Park in Friarton Road.
The news follows hard on the heels of a success-strewn 2014 for young Big County fencers.
Perth’s Salle Ossian Fencing Club’s head coach Phil Carson said: “We’ve had a lot of success this year, with our kids winning both the Scottish Schools Team and Individual titles and every major youth event in Scotland.
“With the help of Scottish Fencing and on the back of the Commonwealth Games we’ve decided to open the firstly and only dedicated training centre in Scotland. “
Mr Carson, who is fencing coach at St Andrews University and director of fencing with Strathallan School, added: “This will put Perth and Perthshire on par with some of the best clubs in England and create the right environment where our athletes can train to the level they want to reach.”
“Fencers from across Perthshire will be meeting at the new centre seven days a week, with a full programme of classes for the very young, teenagers and adults.”
In November, the National Sports Centre at Largs was the venue for the 2014 Championships, with over 300 athletes from 16 countries competing in foil, epee and sabre in an event held once every four years.
The two youngest members of the Scotland Fencing Team were selected from Salle Ossian Fencing Club.
Kate Daykin (18) is the Scottish Open Champion and British Under 18 Champion, while Jess Corby (16) is the Scotland U17 Champion.
They earned their places after showing good form throughout the year, not least when they won the UK School Games Team event in September and went on to take gold and silver in the individual event, the first time the double has ever been achieved by Scotland.
Kate and Jess fenced well in the individual, but they came into their own in the team event beating India and Wales before facing the favourites, Singapore.
The Singapore team have been investing heavily in recent years and hired a top eastern European coach to transform their programme.
However, the Scotland team maintained a tight match and urged on by a huge crowd, it was in Kate’s final fight that the lead opened up, giving Scotland the chance they needed to win gold with a nailbiting 45/43 victory.
Jess said: “It was amazing. I was delighted to be selected. I really didn’t expect it, but had a good result in London.
She is also delighted with her senior Commonwealth gold medal.
For more information about taking up the fastest and safest contact sport, contact coach@ salleossian.com