Following the tradition of the National Open Champion questionnaire,

the 6 2014 Open Champions kindly contributed some answers following their Championship win. 

Australian 2014 National Champion: 

Ned Fitzgerald – Mens Foil.

1: How long have you been Fencing? What made you start? How long did it take for you to feel competitive?

A: I’ve been fencing for about 8 and a half years. I started because I’d seen sword fighting in a couple of my favourite movies and wanted to see how it was done. I also gained interest because I saw it advertised somewhere for the 2006 Commonwealth Games in Melbourne. I started out quite slowly, certainly taking my time to gain results at state competitions. My first good result was at U/15 national championships in 2010, so it took me about 4 years to establish myself.

2: How long have you been Competing at National / International level?

A:  I’ve been competing at national level since 2008 and at an international level since 2011.

3: What made you choose your weapon? Have you fenced the other 2?

A:  The club at which I began fencing is a foil-only club, so I didn’t have much of a choice! However I have fenced epee and sabre as well, strongly disliking the sabre but managing to get some surprising results in epee.

4: Where is your favourite place to fence or to train?

A:  It depends what kind of training. I really like doing physical training (running, sprints etc) at my club because of the lovely parks surrounding it, but I prefer fencing at venues which have pistes laid out already, such as North Melbourne.

5: How important have a coach and training partners been to you?

A:  Your coach and training partners are absolutely essential, no matter what weapon you fence or what kind of athlete you are. Always respect them and listen to what they have to say, because their feedback and advice could prove to be a vital ingredient to your future success.

6: What are your future ambitions for 2015 and beyond? work / training / competition?

A: I will be undertaking year 12 during 2015, so I won’t be fencing as much at training because I need to focus on my studies. As a side note, it’s very important that you maintain a balance between fencing and other commitments such as work and school. It’s amazing how tedious fencing can become without these things in your life as well, and vice-versa. After school, I hope to travel to Europe to train and compete with the friends I’ve made through my experiences, after which I would like to attend college in the US where they have a brilliant college fencing program. My main fencing goal, however, is to make the 2020 Olympics.

7: Who if anyone have you modeled your fencing on? Or do you have a favourite Fencer (Internationally)?

A:  I haven’t really modelled myself on any particular fencer. I watch quite a lot of fencing on YouTube and have thus seen some of the things the world’s best fencers do, and I kind of take bits and pieces out of their strategies and try to use them in training to see if it works. A lot of my fencing is based off these observations and experiments.

8: What if any other cross training activities do you play/train?

A: I try to go to the gym as often as possible. For fencers 16 and over, the gym is a great way to get faster and stronger and hence allow you to fence more effectively.

9: What difference if any did this national event have to others?

A:  For this event I felt like I needed to fence my absolute best to get a good result, so I simply fenced as hard as I possibly could and believed that I could potentially beat anyone I would come up against. This mindset allowed me to concentrate completely on my fencing without worrying about whether I would win the bout or not.

10: What is your weekly training Regime?

A:  Lessons: Monday and Saturday

Physical training (e.g. running and sprinting, body weight exercises): Thursday, Saturday/Monday, Friday

Fencing: Monday, Tuesday, Friday, Saturday

Gym: Wednesday, Saturday

11:  What advice would you give future Australian champions?

A:  Focus on fencing technique rather than speed, especially in lessons and drills. Speed will come with practicing using correct technique, but technique will not come from simply attempting to fence as quickly as possible. The importance of this can’t be emphasised enough.

12: What is the best / worst thing about Fencing in Australia?

A:  It kind of sucks how barely anyone really knows or cares about fencing. But for those who do know and care about it, there’s a very close-knit community in Australian fencing which is nice to be a part of.  

Thanks very much Ned!