British Fencing is delighted to announce a new three-year license partnership with LudoSport UK, commencing in December 2019.
The partnership welcomes LudoSport UK as the second organisation to become an ‘Official Training Partner’ with British Fencing. They join Crown Hills Community College and five other partner organisations that operate at different licensing levels within the British Fencing License Partner Programme (LPP), a family of training and delivery partners first established in 2016.
LudoSport UK will operate in the City of Bristol and the Gloucestershire area. The license provides LudoSport UK with full training and support to deliver the new ‘British Fencing Primary School Resource Pack’ (PSRP). The partnership also enables them to deliver the ‘British Fencing Core Coach’ programme to teachers in the area, introducing fencing to schools with an emphasis on fun, accessible experiences.
James Craig, Commercial Manager with British Fencing, says, “Over a number of years, we have kept in touch with multiple organisations where we felt that if the timing were right, a deeper working relationship would be more than welcome. In 2019 we launched a new phase of our License Partner Programme and LudoSport UK were interested in our Core Coach programme. They saw it as a complementary offer to their delivery in local primary schools where they operate already, providing LudoSport experiences. This partnership provides a process that allows them to deliver British Fencing led experiences alongside their current offer, as an effective way to engage schools.
“I feel passionately that this will benefit each school and more importantly each participant. We can offer young people more variations of fencing and offer them choices. Then, through close partnership, we can mutually respond to those needs as organisations. It’s an exciting phase in our development of the Core Coach qualification too as we will benefit from developing games and content that can be delivered with a Lightsabre. I would like to thank the LudoSport central team in Milan, Italy, for multiple visits and conversations with us over the years and CEO Nicola Heaney and her team in the UK for their passion in wanting to deliver the best swordplay experience possible.”
LudoSport UK’s CEO Nicola Heaney says, “We are proud to start this partnership with British Fencing, with the goal of promoting the principles and values that LudoSport shares with traditional fencing. We’re excited about this opportunity to help in promoting the sport among our younger generations.”
LudoSport UK is a franchisee of LudoSport International, a light saber organisation that operates in 10 countries internationally. LudoSport hosts the World Championships for light saber, considered to be the largest competition of its kind.
British Fencing is the National Governing Body for the sport of fencing in the UK. The License Partner Programme offers designations including ‘Official Training Partner’ and ‘Official Delivery Partner’.
Official Training Partners are equipped with the knowledge, support and training to deliver the British Fencing Primary School Resource Pack, a researched and field-tested bank of 36 lesson plans, aligned with the British Fencing philosophy around a participant’s journey in the sport of fencing. The lessons also align with the British Fencing Achievement Awards of ‘MiniSwords’ (foam delivery aimed at 5-7 year olds) and ‘Go/Fence’ (plastic delivery aimed at 8+).
Partners with access to the Primary School Resource Pack attend a rigorous 3 day training process that provides underpinning insight and knowledge into how to use games and swordplay fun to introduce the sport of fencing to primary school children. The training also explores how to use the resources effectively to develop the young participant’s resilience and self-efficacy.
The resource pack has been developed and road-tested for 2 academic years and provides schools with a route to engage young people even if they don’t identify as ‘sporty’. James Craig says, “We know fencing is a great tool to combat the notion of ‘sporty’ versus ‘non-sporty’ and we look forward to working with all our delivery partners to evidence this more widely.”
For teachers and schools interested in fencing, please complete the Expression of Interest form:
Alternatively, for teachers and schools in the City of Bristol and Gloucestershire area please contact LudoSport UK
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