BF is delighted to welcome our members and wider community to a week packed with learning opportunities. BF Learning Week 2024 will explore many aspects of our exciting sport with experts in coaching, sports psychology and performance joining guest speakers and the BF team to give insight into our fencing world and its future.
Dates: 30th August – 6th September 2024
The current timetable is below and will be updated regularly as new sessions are announced. Please continue to check back on this page for sign-up links and information about new sessions.
‘GBR Selection’ – 6-7pm
Knowing and understanding the selection policy will help guide the identification of the athletes’ milestone event and the competition plan to work to achieving the milestone event.
This event is for athletes currently not competing on the international circuit, their parents and coaches.
‘Understanding Athlete Performance Data’ – 7-8pm
Objective information allows for more evidence-based decisions and reduces those based on speculation. Using evidence to feedback to athletes helps them to understand exactly what they have done to be successful or unsuccessful. This knowledge helps athletes and coaches make the right decisions at the right time and deliver consistent performances.
This event is for athletes currently not competing on the international circuit, their parents and coaches.
‘Individual Athlete Development Plans’ – 12.30-1.30pm
Athlete development relates to the process of mastering skills, becoming more efficient in tactical actions and enhancing athletes’ technical understanding to become more competitive. To effectively develop athletes, coaches should follow some progressive steps in their training plans: define the sport’s demands, categorise those demands into coachable components for the athlete, and model training and competition plans to target athlete mastery of fencing.
This event is for fencers and their personal coaches on the GBR Pathway Programme (ADP).
‘Building Your Insight On Your Performance’ – 12.30-1.30pm
Building insights allows you to recognise what it takes to gain success, to take ownership of your mistakes and weaknesses, explain what happened, what you’ve learned from them, and how you’ll use them to improve and develop in the future.
This event is for fencers and their personal coaches on the GBR Pathway Programme (ADP).
‘Considerate Coaching: Neurodiversity, with The Change Foundation’ – 2-3pm
Guest Speakers: Navjeet Sira & Daniel Mynott, The Change Foundation
An introduction to neurodiversity, how to support participants with autism and ADHD, and how participation in fencing supports neurodiverse individuals.
‘GBR Major Events: Parent Session’ – 5-6.30pm
The experience of attending a Major Event (Europeans and World Championships) is very different to attending U17 EFC circuit and BF National Championships events. By understanding more about these events parents can better understand the role that they play in supporting performance both before and during the event.
This event is for parents whose children are looking to meet qualification standards to compete at Major Events during the 2024-25 season.
‘Managing Your Membership’ (Pre-Recorded Session), – 12-12.30pm
This session will cover how to manage your BF Membership. Part 1 will cover how to manage your individual membership profile. Part 2 will cover how to manage a club account.
‘Choice points and how to stay focused under pressure, with Dr Jon Rhodes’ – 12-1pm
Dr. Jon Rhodes is an applied psychologist and author (The Choice Point) based out of the University of Plymouth, with extensive experience working with Olympic athletes (e.g., Fencing, Basketball, Pentathlon, and Judo), business executives, military personnel, educators, and healthcare professionals. Jon has been instrumental in a series of projects aimed at controlling intrusive thoughts, leading to the development of Functional Imagery Training (FIT), which is 5 times more effective than traditional mental skills approaches.
In this session, we will discuss Functional Imagery Training (FIT) with a focus on enhancing performance and wellbeing. You will explore the role of empathetic communication, then assess your imagery ability and analyse the important differences between visualization and imagery. Through a series of practical exercises, you will learn how to effectively train your imagination. By the end of the session, you will have acquired practical skills that can be immediately applied both on and off the piste, or coached to teammates.
‘Event Licencing for Event Organisers’ (Pre-Recorded Session) – 5-5.30pm
Find out more about the BF event licencing scheme, including competitive and recreational event types. What license type do I need? How do I apply?
‘Completing Club & Competition Risk Assessments’ – 12-1pm
In order to have valid insurance, coaches, club administrators and competition organisers need to have risk assessments in place.
This session will cover the basics of creating a risk assessment – how to identify, record and control risks, with the help of a simple template. We will also update you on the risks that we would expect to see recorded and discuss the options to control and minimise these risks.
‘The GB League: An Introduction’ – 12-1pm
In this session, we will talk about who the GB League is for and who can take part. You can be a complete beginner or have been fencing for years.
The GB League is linked to a national ranking table, which is a great opportunity to get involved in competitive fixtures without the need to travel further than your local club!
We will show you as a club how to set up a fixture, how to add results and finish a fixture, and how to link your results to the ranking tables.
As a member, we will show you how to add yourself to the GB League, how to search fixtures and check your scores/position on the ranking tables.
‘Making your clubs and competitions accessible for ethnically diverse communities, with Dr Siraz Natha’ – 11am-12pm
In this session, Virginia Bailey will be joined by Dr Siraz Natha from Sporting Equals to look at simple ways to ensure fencing clubs and competitions are open and accessible to ethnically diverse communities.
‘How can fencing clubs and scout groups benefit from working together?’ – 12.30-1.30pm
Hear from scout leaders and fencing clubs on how coming together on a local level can increase the numbers of young people fencing, as well as provide scout groups with the opportunity to introduce fencing to scouts.
‘Seated Fencing: Widening Our Reach’ – 2-3pm
A discussion on what BF has been doing to increase participation in seated fencing, and how coaches and clubs can get involved to increase opportunities in this area.
‘GBR Major Events: Athlete & Personal Coaches Session’ – 2-3pm
The experience of attending a Major Event (Europeans and World Championships) is very different to attending U17 EFC circuit and BF National Championships events.
This session is for athletes looking to meet qualification standards to compete at Major Events during the 2024-25 season, and their personal coaches.
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