Fencing in the Upper Highway area is alive and well!
story carole johnstone
After opening its doors just more than a year ago, the Hillcrest Fencing Club is building a solid reputation with both its young stars and its senior fencers bringing home a collection of medals from national events.
The club enjoyed phenomenal results at the South African Junior Nationals with Aaron Smith (Highbury) bringing home the gold medal in U13 Boys Epee, and representing the girls, Alexandra Gibson (Hillcrest High School) taking third place in the Cadet Epee (U17). In addition, at the recent KZN Open, a national competition held in Durban during February, Zekhita Hughes (Waldorff) came third in Junior Ladies Foil.
At a national level, Alexandra Gibson is putting in lots of training as she has a good chance of being selected for the Junior Commonwealth Games in Cape Town in July. Alexandra is currently ranked sixth in South Africa for Ladies Cadet Epee and if she has a good day on the piste at the 2015 Junior Nationals in May, she will book her seat for national representation.
Unfortunately for Aaron, only the Cadet and Junior categories are internationally competitive age groups. While he is performing well in the U13 age group, his 16th position on the national ranking for Cadet Epee (U17) means he doesn’t qualify for national selection – but the fact that he is doing so well against boys much older than him and with so much more experience, shows the depth of Aaron’s talent and promises great things for his future in fencing!
According to Louise Lombard, Chairman of KZN Fencing, the talent among the province’s young fencers is extremely encouraging for the sport. “Our young fencers have been working incredibly hard and it is wonderful to see their results. The Hillcrest Fencing Club is attracting younger fencers and it is proving to be very successful as a talent incubator. This not only adds to our strength as a province, it also means that we will be a force well into the future too,” Louise explains.
The Hillcrest Fencing Club operates out of Highbury.