LITTLE MUSKETEERS PARTNERSHIP

Little Musketeers and Curtanna® delighted to announce partnership extension with British Fencing. (Update – partnership ended December 2020).

British Fencing and Little Musketeers are excited to announce a 12-month renewal of their initial partnership started in 2018.  However, with a slight change to designation title as Little Musketeers with their growth ambitions and British Fencing’s belief in them achieving these ambitions have agreed to move to an “Official Delivery Partner” status in recognition of the work both parties will be doing together. This joint work will involve Little Musketeers in the areas that they operate currently, being able to provide those introductions to fencing but also offer a quality programme of activity inspired by fencing.

British Fencing will be able to handle enquiries in the first instance through working with Little Musketeers network and help them develop their current delivery in schools. Away from being an Official Delivery Partner in the last 12 months they have also gone through a rigorous process with British Fencing to be licensed to train up their own staff up to British Fencing’s Introduction to Coaching Fencing (ITCF or equivalent of a Level 1) standard, so schools are safe in knowledge that Little Musketeers will have a depth of knowledge in fencing beyond what is required to ensure quality coaches are delivering at all time.

Little Musketeers® was founded by Olympic fencer and 4 times British champion James Beevers in 2009.  Run through a network of franchises Little Musketeers is a fun, safe, educational primary school programme.  Courses designed by James allow children to develop core cognitive skills for enhanced learning including focus, problem solving and organisation.  The programme also increases a child’s overall fitness so is a brilliant addition to a school’s extra-curricular calendar or as part of the teaching day to help with the UK’s current battle against child obesity.

Over the past 2 years the Little Musketeers programme has been transposed into the Curtanna® digital platform.  Curtanna® will increase the consistency of the Little Musketeers programme being offered by coaches across the world and will allow progression to be tracked and reported back to parents.  No other fencing programme globally has this technology which is endorsed by child educationalists, psychologists and neuroscientists as well as fencers.   Leading developmental cognitive neuroscientist, Doctor Adele Diamond, PhD, FRSC, endorses the developmental benefits of Curtanna® for children, by saying ‘Curtanna® challenges all the critical executive functions — including self-control, focused attention, working memory, and creative problem-solving — in a way that’s fun for kids. Kids clearly derive great joy from Curtanna; they help and encourage one another, and a supportive community develops; those emotional and social benefits of Curtanna work to support the executive function benefits of the program.” (Watch the full video about the programme and cognitive development benefits below).

Little Musketeers and British Fencing will be able to offer access to fencing through “The only endorsed technology platform for delivery of fencing in to the Primary Education sector”  through the innovative Curtanna® platform.

“I’m delighted to be working with British Fencing as an ‘Official Delivery Partner’ and having our digital platform exclusively endorsed” said James Beevers, Director and Founder of Little Musketeers.  James went on to say “…being a 3^rd generation fencer I see both the physical & cognitive benefits of the sport. I developed this programme with these in mind.  Our network of franchises actively teaches 1000’s of children a week and it is our hope that we can inspire the next generation to take up the sport through links with existing fencing clubs across the country.  If anyone is interested in becoming involved with our programme I would love to hear from you.”

Georgina Usher, CEO of British Fencing said “We have been extremely impressed by the programme that Little Musketeers have put together.  The innovative use of technology combined with their specialist fencing skills and knowledge creates a fantastic and unique offering which ensures a high quality and consistent experience for every participant.  We believe that the Curtanna platform presents an exciting opportunity and we are looking forward to working with James and the team to explore other areas where this technology could benefit the sport.”

DISCLAIMER/UPDATE: BF ceased working with Little Musketeers in December 2020.

Contact us on [email protected] for more information on introducing fencing to your school.