Sport England Funding

[Baldric]

It might be the Sport England requirement, that does not necessarily mean it must be the B.F. target.

Nope, it doesn't mean that it must be BF's ONLY target. BF spends money other than Sport England funding, and it can direct that other money wherever it chooses, subject to any criteria imposed by the source of the money.

However, if Sport England give BF money to be targetted at a certain group, they expect their money to be spent on that group. They are most particular about that, so a proposal to fund (say) Welsh Veterans with money granted for England youth programs is likely to meet with a brusque refusal.

[QUOTE=Barry Paul;276514]
What would happen if I had an irrefutable case that getting kids fencing from 10 to 13 would eventually lead to long term greater numbers?

Since those 10-13 year olds will become 14+ during the funding cycle (ie by 2017) then I suspect that you would get a fairly positive hearing.

Rare birds those lesser spotted irrefutable cases. Its been a long time since I spotted one.

I have seen plenty of *pet theories*, some *sacred cows* and one or two *complete dogs breakfasts*

[Mini Musketeer]

Could be targetting 14-24 year olds to counter high drop out rates in all sports especially amongst girls and encourage them to continue sports into adulthood

[TomA]

Could be targetting 14-24 year olds to counter high drop out rates in all sports especially amongst girls and encourage them to continue sports into adulthood

I suspect that the most likely reason is that it's a directive from government to target the 'youth crime' and 'gang culture' which were supposed to be at the root of the summer 2011 riots.

It might be the Sport England requirement, that does not necessarily mean it must be the B.F. target.

Hence the 'if'. I vaguely recall having a discussion with Baldric last year over whether the C4L money was worth taking with the strings that came attached.

[Barry Paul]

Baldric while out bird watching have you seen any Omnishambles any why I always thought it was a dogs dinner?

So as nobody seems willing to explain the mind of Sport England I had to go to the Sport England web site and find out myself. I am now am enlightened

See

http://www.sportengland.org/research..._evidence.aspx
http://www.sportengland.org/research..._of_sport.aspx
http://www.sportengland.org/about_us/what_we_do.aspx

[plenty]

Dear Barry,

Regards below.
Those 350 sets of change for life soft fencing kits are about as much use as a chocolate tea pot unless deployed correctly. I believe the general tenor of these posts bear that out, even from f.is fun Scotland who uses them to great effect, the emphasis is on correct tie in alongside metal.
Correspondingly, I believe that the general consensus is that calibre of coaching has a very direct relationship to both recruitment &, crucially, retention. I know it is an unpopular idea, but some method needs to be found to tighten up quality of coaching delivery - hence there needs to be elements of compliance that can only issue from the association itself.
If the coach education provision is, regional, regular and excellent& provided at a subsidised cost - why not up skill the asset we have in the large corps of beginner coaches.

Still a little confused. I never realized the B.F. reason for existence was to follow any plan as outlined by the sports council. The B.F. following a sports council plan encouraging devolution and wrongly (in my view) devolved into four country associations in order to access home country money which was never forthcoming.

So I have to ask what is the purpose of B.F. I really don't think that the majority of B.F. members want the B.F. to concentrate only on getting 13 to 24 years olds to fence for an hour so that a relatively few have a pathway and can access cheap foreign comps.

Lots of good ideas in the posting, but what we need to do is get as many people trying fencing having fun and in the process provide a way for people of any age Cadets to Veterans to improve. There are 350 20 set of change for life kits (Midi-fence /Go fence kit) out in English schools so let get these\all being used. Lets stop all this nonsense of withdrawing level 1 licenses. (My coach never had a coaching certificate but created many top fencers including myself and Graham) Any fencing is better than no fencing.

Although Graham Paul is asking for opinions as an expert on winning (4 Olympic Games(7th in team with me in Montreal (medal zone?))) 2 times winner A grades, approx 15 times British Champion individual/Team foil and epee, several times Veteran World Championships) perhaps we should be asking him what we should do to becoming a winning fencing Nation?

So, no, I can't agree that "any fencing is better than no fencing at all". Because it is this sentiment that has allowed such a poor general environment to persist for so many decades.
However I could be completely wrong. It might be an idea to seek some sort of consensus by corresponding with the more successful and well established coaches -
Kind regards

Mark

[plenty]

P.s
Again I would advocate that the best way to get retention for the 14 yr old up age category is to put in place a sound cadet pathway ( not controlled by regions but perhaps administered , and of a mandatory element for selections ). And over time involve the 13/14 yr olds too - this will then create a positive feedback to the clubs, by osmosis of skills, and the aspiration amongst those club fencers.
If the brand of fencing is strong, and the development pathways are there both in terms of club level and region to national level, then I feel recruitment and retention will improve as a natural function. You cannot really separate grow & gold as they are symbiotic.