Strategy Overview

A strong, successful and sustainable fencing community

To inspire and enable people to start, stay and succeed in fencing

1. A pathway to international success
2. A stronger, empowered, diverse and inclusive community of 30,000 fencers, volunteers, coaches and supporters
3. Accessible inclusive swordplay opportunities delivered via partnership programmes
4. A sustainable future supported by high quality governance and infrastructure that is financially resilient
5. Maximise the wider benefits of fencing and the positive impact it can have on people’s lives

1. Leadership, Culture & Governance
2. Resource Management & Sustainability
3. GBR Athlete Support & Development
4. Coaching & Workforce Development
5. Insight Led Participant Programmes
6. Events, Competition & Calendar
7. Club and Membership Support

1. Leadership, Culture & Governance – Establish, communicate and reinforce the leadership, culture and governance required to underpin the British Fencing vision, mission and objectives. This includes delivery of our Sport Integrity (e.g. Safeguarding, Anti-Doping) and Equality plans which underpin our commitment to ensure that fencing is safe, welcoming to all (inclusive) and fun.
2. Resource Management & Sustainability  – Ensuring that BF is financially resilient and sustainable through efficient resource management systems, a margin generating commercial portfolio, embracing and enabling volunteer support and diversifying funding sources.
3. GBR Athlete Support & Development – Create the structure and capability for GBR athletes to be successful at international level. This includes Sport England funded Talent activities and DiSE which form part of the GBR Athlete Development Programme.
4. Coaching and Workforce Development – Ensuring a fit for purpose workforce and workforce development systems are in place which meet community needs from performance to participation, underpinned by BFs leading edge coaching framework. This includes Sport England funded development activities and UK Sport International Relations funded activities.
5. Insight Led, Participation Centred Programmes – Ensure BF can attract & retain new participants. These include Sport England funded projects (in identified specific areas agreed with Sport England) and externally funded partnership projects such as Muslim Girls Fence.
6. Events, Competitions & Calendar – Ensure a high quality, fit for purpose and sustainable portfolio of BF run events including the National Championships. Deliver a calendar to support GBR squad selection and athlete development. Enable members and clubs to deliver sustainable participant centric competitions.
7. Club & Membership Support – Ensure that we deliver the products and services to meet the needs of our community. Working with the Home Nations and Regions to support grass roots. This includes the England Fencing funded development work to support clubs and regions in England.

These are the values that underpin everything that we do – how we come together as a community and work together – whether as staff, volunteers or members of a GBR squad.

Respect

We aim to:

• Treat each other and all members of our community with respect.
• Leads all our interactions with the value of respect.
• Build and demonstrate mutual respect as this is the platform to bring our other values to life, and create the foundation for a truly inclusive community.

Honesty

We aim to:

• Be honest with ourselves and others. About our goals, our abilities and what we can commit to.
• Seek to raise concerns and issues early in a respectful manner especially if something isn’t working or there are issues.
• Seek clarity early to increase likelihood of success.

Excellence

We aim to:

• Challenge each other internally in a supportive fashion to achieve excellence.
• Recognise that the definition of excellence will continually shift and that we must adapt and change accordingly.
• Engage in continual (lifelong) learning.
• Accept and embrace failure as opportunities to learn and improve.

• System – Create a sustainable world leading athlete development system which develops robust and resilient athletes capable of achieving Senior World Championships and Olympic GBR success.
• Pathway – Deliver an inclusive & progressive pathway allowing for a collaborative delivery of GBR Athlete Development between Performance Clubs, APD Centres, National Camps and GBR Squads across all six weapons and four age groups, underpinned by the What it takes to win model and research
• People – Through our holistic approach to athlete development, create a growing community of athletes with the mental and physical fitness to maximise their potential, supported by a wider workforce focussed on providing the best athlete experience.

Develop a portfolio of Fencing For Social Change projects that uses
fencings niche appeal to make a positive impact on peoples lives by:

1. Delivering the existing projects that we are funded to do, ensuring
   that these are successful in meeting the needs of current stakeholders
2. Explore growth opportunities for existing projects and partnerships
3. Identify new partnerships and projects based on our insight led
   priority areas
4. Diversify sources and increase external funding to support this work

We will deliver this by

1. Partnering with credible organisations who have experience
   and a proven track record with the communities we will work
   with, to deliver fencing for social change projects
2. Assessing all new projects using our Theory of Change (to
   maximise the impact of the work that we do)
3. Building a robust monitoring, evaluation and learning
   framework, including tools and techniques to robustly
   evaluate our work and support future funding bids