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).
‘Athlete Health: Performing at Major Events, with Ellie Griffin’ – 12-2pm
Guest Speaker: Ellie Griffin (UKSI)
Ellie is the Mental Health Officer at the UK Sports Institute, working across all Olympic and Paralympic World Class Programmes to arrange and deliver a variety of mental health education workshops and training. She previously did a similar role for Sporting Chance, working with professional sports including football, rugby and cricket.
Athlete health is a contributing factor to the success of athletes at Major Championships. Being self-aware and understanding their mental as well as physical fitness is important in the development of elite athletes. This workshop will explore:
This course is invitation-only to selected athletes. If you have a question or would like to join this session, please complete the GBR Pathways Queries form.
‘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.
‘Meaningful Talent Development’, with Laurence Halstead, – 12-1.30pm
The increasing professionalism of elite sport has meant that sport has slowly lost track of its deeper value and meaning. The win-at-all-costs approach that has dominated for the past few decades has led to the creation of toxic performance environments as well as high levels of burnout, dropout and mental health problems among athletes. We need to rediscover a more meaningful approach to sport, where athletes are inspired to stay longer in their chosen sport because of everything they can see it giving them in the long term. This talk will begin with the bigger picture of sport culture and lead on to practical ideas for how we can create more meaningful experiences for young athletes in our sporting systems.
Laurence Halstead is a two-time British Olympic fencer and multiple European medallist, who competed in the London 2012 and Rio 2016 Games. After hanging up his swords, he took on a role as the Performance Director of The Danish Fencing Federation alongside becoming the Director of Mentoring at UK charity, The True Athlete Project. Through these two roles Laurence has developed his own approach to achieving high performance while still thriving as a person and feeling fulfilled in life. In 2021 Laurence published a book, Becoming a True Athlete, which introduces and describes a practical philosophy for flourishing in sport, one that goes far beyond the results and medals to rediscover the true value of being an athlete.
‘Managing Your Membership’ (Pre-Recorded Session), – 12.30-1pm
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.
‘Learning Through Performance Analysis’, with Richard Cheetham MBE, – 4-5.15pm
An introduction to the importance of performance analysis of a coach or fencer, as well as the opportunities provided through reflective practice, optimising feedback and learning.
This session will identify the benefits of performance analysis as opportunities for learning for coach and athlete, and provide ideas on how to implement this in coaching practice. The key areas in which it has been identified as been impactful are as follows:
Richard Cheetham MBE is a nationally and internationally recognised, award-winning coach educator with considerable experience in developing coaches and players alike. With his experience as a community rugby coach for a number of years, coach educator for England Rugby, and his time spent coaching in New Zealand, he brings a wealth of practical ideas and approaches to the workshop. His specific areas of expertise are developing an effective learning environment, embedding fundamental movement skills in session design and practice, and advocating the use of play in coaching for all ages and all levels of performance.
‘Choice points and how to stay focused under pressure, with Dr Jon Rhodes’ – 12-1pm
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.
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.
‘Club Welfare Officers: Updating Information on Sport:80’ – 2.30-3pm or 6-6.30pm
In this session, we’ll talk about how to update your Club Welfare Officer information on Sport:80. Uploading this information to Sport:80 is essential to becoming a fully compliant club.
‘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?
‘Exploring the BF Achievement Awards’ – 11am-12pm
In this session, Anna Ronzino will be joined by James Craig and Neil Bromley to discuss the Achievement Awards from different perspectives.
Anna will cover practical information about the Awards, while James will talk about their development and growth over the past years at BF, as well as his vision for their future and the We Are Forging Futures brand. Finally, Neil Bromley will share his experience with the Achievement Awards and how he has supported and endorsed them in his clubs.
‘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, consultant for Sporting Equals, to look at simple ways to ensure fencing clubs and competitions are open and accessible to ethnically diverse communities.
‘Learn about We Are Forging Futures’ – 12-12.15pm (Pre-Recorded Session)
Join us for a bite-sized introduction to We Are Forging Futures, in association with British Fencing. Harry Brown will give a holistic overview of the programme.
‘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.
‘Tech & Sport: Working With Telescopic’ – 3-3.30pm
Get to know Telescopic, the partner who is helping BF create digital solutions and innovate in the sports sector. Learn more about the process of developing and maintaining an app, and how it can determine the success of a business.
‘What is a Team Manager and how do I become one?’ – 4-5pm
Want to know more about being a Team Manager? In this session, Lorraine Rose talks with Pat Aiyenuro and Richard Bernstein about what is required to become a Team Manager, and also about what to expect in this role.
‘GBR Major Events: Athlete & Personal Coaches Session’ – 5.30-6.30pm
The experience of attending a Major Event (Europeans and World Championships) is very different to attending U17 EFC circuit and BF National Championships events.
This session is for athletes looking to meet qualification standards to compete at Major Events during the 2024-25 season, and their personal coaches.
‘One Year in Wheelchair Fencing: What I’ve Learnt and What You Can Learn’ – 1.30-2pm
In this session, BF Project Officer Nathaniel Lewis answers some of the frequently-asked questions when it comes to being a wheelchair fencing coach, such as the following:
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