On 2 August 2014 the Newington Fencing Team ‘lunged’ and ‘parried’ to a second place at the National Schools Fencing championships at Yeronga State High School in Brisbane.

Captain Alex Mei (12/ME), Jayce Carrano (12/MA), Adam Chew (11/MO) and Felix Shannon (11/PR) were placed second overall after suffering their only loss to Sydney Grammar in a fiercely contested first round, and then went on to defeat Brisbane State High School B, Brisbane State High School A and Brisbane Grammar School respectively in the later rounds.

Coach Simon Jin was pleased with not only the results but also the attitude, conduct and spirit of our men in black and white. A big congratulations to all the boys on these great achievements!

Below is an email sent by Mr Edward Summers, Sports Administrator of the PDHPE Department. Ed accompanied the Fencing boys and their coach to Queensland for the championships and gave a rave review of the Fencing boys’ performance on every level during the tournament.

Subject: Australian Fencing Schools Championships

Hello all,

Currently sitting on the plane back from Brisbane with the Newington Fencing Team. While my experience with Fencing is limited to posting on SPACES– it was a pleasure spending the weekend supporting coach Simon Jin and the boys through the Championships. The boys finished second overall which is an incredible result in a National Competition.

Coach Simon Jin is a hard task master – but the boys are competing at a very high level and deal with the pressure of the situation well. Captain Alex Mei is a standout in the team with his leadership and high skill level. He is supported by Adam Chew and Jayce Carrano – who also Fence at a very high level and are not phased by competing on the national stage. A special mention should be made of the fourth member of the team Felix Shannon who is responsible for the equipment of the team. He was only given a very small role in the actual fencing part of the competition, but said “whatever works for the team, I am happy with” – an admirable attitude.

The boys were complimented by staff at their accommodation for how well they represented the school, as well as tournament organisers and referees for how well they conducted themselves over the weekend.

Apologies for the hastily thrown together email – I will provide a more detailed report when I get back into the office.

Regards,
Edward Summers