**** Please note that Nominations Close on Wednesday 26th April at 7pm **** **** UNIFORM orders close Wednesday 26th April at 12 midnight ****

Update for the Team:

Athlete Commission Refresh – A call to aspiring athlete advocates!

With two of our current members standing down (Anna Chalton & Grant Tweddle), we are looking for suitable candidates to join the Athletes Commission.

Nominations are now open for Australian U15 and Cadet Championships, to take place in Sydney from 7^th to 11^th of July.

POTENTIAL DATE CHANGE - the North Island Championships and Veteran Foil is scheduled for the weekend of 15-16 July. A last minute change to the use of the Venue means that the date of this competition may change to 8- 9 July.

The Fencing New Zealand Board and Commission heads have been working hard on our 2019 / 20 Strategic Priorities. An external facilitator was engaged and the process included seeking input from the wider fencing community, a full day planning session in Auckland and creation of the final document. The process has redefined Fencing New Zealand’s Purpose, Vision and Values and identified four key focus areas, Leadership and Governance, Operational Capability and Capacity, Sporting Capability and Capacity and Communications & Marketing. A copy of the full document can be found on the website and attached to this article.

Great results from fencers representing NZ at the Australian 2019 National Juniors:

Women's Foil Lena Jacob - Gold Medal, Naomi Holland - 13th, Nyah Holland - 16th;

Women's Epee: Sophia Tweddle - 15th;

Men's Epee: Matt Valkenburg - 12th;

Men's Foil: Freddy Hopkins - 15th

Some great results for our fencers at the Australian AFC#1 and U23 Epee Nationals: U23 Women's Epee: Claire Cooper - Silver Medal, Tamsyn Campbell - 6th place  Men's Open Epee: William Bishop - 6th place Men's Open Sabre: Hamish Bulmer - 6th place Veteran Women's Epee: Mary Black - 6th place Veteran Men's Epee: Quin Downs - 12th place (1st 60+)