Competing

Competitions through the year

Competing can be an exhilarating and rewarding experience and is a great way to accelerate your skills development. Several times a year MFC makes this experience available to in the form of our Club competitions. These competitions provide a unique opportunity for the whole club to come together and support each other in fencing excellence and enjoyment. Insieme in cima – together to the top!

Richard Emmerick Shield

In addition to being important events in themselves, our Club competitions each form one round of the Richard Emmerick Shield. The Richard Emmerick Shield – named for our Club founder – rewards consistent excellence in fencing across the entire year.

The RE shield follows a season structure, with multiple rounds within each season contributing to the final result. After all rounds are complete there will be a winner for each event (U14 men’s foil, masters women’s sabre, etc), where the winner will be that fencer with the most points in total for each event.* The same number of points are available in each round throughout the year. Points for each event in each round are determined by where a fencer places in that event — see below.

1st = 25 points, 2nd = 18 points, 3rd = 15 points**, 4th = 12 points, 5th = 10 points, 6th = 8 points, 7th = 6 points, 8th = 4 points, 9th = 2 points, 10th = 1 point

*In the case of a tie in an event, the shield for that event will be awarded jointly.
**Sometimes two fencers will be equal third. In that case both fencers will receive 15 points.

The pic shows Richard Emmerick (the man himself, left) and Jo Williams (fencer, coach, scholar, guitar maker, right) who made the shield, at the inaugural Richard Emmerick Shield competition on 14 December 2019.

External competitions

If you'd like information on competing outside of MFC events, talk to one of our coaches or senior fencers at training.

Check NSW Fencing Association (NSWFA) for NSW competitions, including Schools competitions.

Check Newcastle Fencing Club's facebook page for regional comps in the Newcastle area.

Check ACT Fencing Association (ACTFA) for ACT competitions.

Check Australian Fencing Federation (AFF) for national competitions.

NB that for state and higher levels of competition FIE gear is required. Please see our gear guide for more info and check the equipment requirements for the comps you intend to enter.

Athlete pathways to university

Competing at a state or national level, especially during your school years, can be a way to help you gain entry to university. Info for several unis below as a starting point:

USYD, UNSW, UTS, Macquarie, WSU