John Coaches at August GBR Pathway Camp – Nottingham

On 29th-30th August, our Head Coach, John Routledge, was invited by British Fencing to join the coaching team at the GBR Pathway Camp, held at the David Ross Sports Village in Nottingham.

John worked alongside fellow GBR foil coaches Dan Robinson and Marco Zaffino, with excellent athlete mentoring provided by Will Lonsdale.

The camp covered a wide range of important topics designed to support the development of young fencers, including warming up, reflection and preparation, nutrition, identifying fencing ‘super strengths’, performing under pressure, and team events.

It was a fantastic opportunity for John to contribute to the development of the next generation of British fencing talent.

A big thank you to British Fencing for organising such an excellent three-weapon camp, and to everyone involved in making the weekend a success.

ZFW Summer Camp

Thank you to Ziemek Wojciechowski for inviting our head coach John to come and give lessons at the ZWF Summer Camp. The camp was four days of training (25th-28th August) at the Leon Paul Centre in Hendon.

The camp consisted of warm ups, footwork, sparring with conditions and 1-2-1 lessons with top coaches. Well done to Sarum Swords fencers Lathyn and Charlie for working so hard at the camp.

Lathyn finishes third place overall in the Leon Paul Junior Series – U14 Boys foil

Lathyn- Third overall in the Leon Paul Junior Series

Lathyn (near) in action at the International LPJS

Well done to Lathyn, who placed 3rd overall, in the under 14 boys foil, Leon Paul Junior Series. Amongst Lathyn’s achievements this season, he won gold at Cardiff, bronze at Dragon LPJS and another bronze medal at the Polwhele event. Congratulations on a massively successful season!

Charlie – 7th place overall in the series

Great fencing also from Charlie, who ended the season in 7th place overall, in the under 14 rankings. Charlie’s medal haul consisted of three bronze podium finishes (gained at the Dragon, Cardiff and Bristol events). Charlie also unexpectedly won a gold in the under 17 category at Bristol.

Medal winning performances from Harvey who won a bronze medal at the Dragon LPJS and Nico, who won bronze at the Polwhele event. Amazing!

Harvey – Dragon bronze medallist

Our under 14 fencers won an impressive nine LPJS medals this season. What a fantastic effort!

Nico (left) En garde and ready at the International LPJS

Polwhele Leon Paul Junior Series Medallists

Nico (centre right) & Lathyn (far right) boys U14 bronze medallists

Well done to Lathyn and Nico for both winning under 14 bronze medals at the Polwhele Leon Paul Junior Series event in Cornwall.

Lathyn (left) in action in the semi final

Lathyn and Nico both performed exceptionally well in the poules, winning six and five poule victories respectively. Great fencing and congratulations!

England Youth Championships

Lathyn (left)

Well done to Lathyn who finished 33rd and to Charlie who finished 35th in the U15 boys foil at the England Youth Championships held at the Hertfordshire Sports Village in Hatfield.

Lathyn (right)

Both boys won three of their poule matches. As both Lathyn and Charlie have another two years in this age category, this is a very promising result. Well fenced!

Charlie (left)

Full results: click here

John coaches at GBR Pathway Camp

On the 18th & 19th July, Sarum Swords head coach John Routledge was honoured to be selected by British Fencing to coach at the GBR foil pathway camp which was held at the Leon Paul Fencing Centre. These camps are for athletes who are moving through a defined development pathway to success at the highest level of fencing.

The theme of this camp was: Pre-Season – Creativity and Exploration

The athletes spent the weekend exploring creative problem-solving, tactical awareness, and momentum-building within a structured pre-season environment.

The sessions included:

Preparations
Attacking actions
Creativity and exploration
Momentum and initiative

John coaching the foilists at the Leon Paul Centre in Hendon

Well done to all the hard working pathway athletes for making the camp such a success.

Pathway Camp 18th -19th July

British Senior & Under 14 Open

Brilliant performance this weekend from Matthew in the Senior British Open and also from Lathyn and Charlie in the British under 14 open. The results from these competitions will have moved all the boys closer to their fencing goals and towards more International fencing. Exciting times ahead. Well done!

Beautiful, classical lunge from Lathyn to secure the win

Matthew’s first elimination win was a highlight of the weekend

Matthew (left) using point in line

Great lunge from Lathyn

Charlie showed a big improvement fencing left handers

Infighting from Charlie (right)

Hatherop Fencing Challenge Champion

Frank (far left) silver medal, Federico (centre left) gold medal and Harry (centre right) bronze medal

Well done to Federico for winning gold at the Hatherop fencing challenge. Brilliant fencing also from Frank (silver), Harry (bronze) and Harry (6th).

Frank and Harry at the Hatherop challenge

Frank (left) and Federico (right) in the final

Thank you to Lathyn, Harvey and Charlie for providing excellent refereeing and to Neil Bromley for putting on another great competition.

Lathyn refereeing

Harvey and Charlie refereeing

Bristol Leon Paul Junior Series Gold Medallist

Charlie (centre right) U17 boys foil champion

Charlie (right) in the U17 semi final

Well done to Charlie for winning gold in the U17 boys foil and bronze in the U14 foil event at the Bristol Leon Paul Junior Series. Winning two Leon Paul medals in one day is a really big achievement, although Charlie was pretty exhausted by the end of it.

Charlie (far right) u14 boys bronze medal

Charlie (right) in the u14 event

Great fencing also from Lathyn, who was absolutely brilliant in his first poule and despite an unfortunate draw in the elimination, earned 5th place which moves him near the top of the overall series leaderboard.

Lathyn (left) en garde in the direct elimination

Lathyn (left) using point in line

British Youth Championships 2026

Well done to the eight Sarum Swords fencers who represented our club so brilliantly at this year’s British Youth Championships in Sheffield.
Great attitudes and great fencing. This trip was an excellent learning experience that will help our fencers in the future. It was a pleasure to support you!

Under 12 boys foil
Sacha – 45th

Under 14 boys foil
Harvey – 25th
Lathyn – 42nd
Charlie – 51st
Edward – 95th

Under 12 girls foil
Sofia – 39th

Under 14 boys epee
Harvey – 22nd

Under 18 boys foil
Matthew – 13th
Federico – 25th