Following on the tradition of the National Champions questionairre, the 6 2013 Champions kindly contributed some answer following their Championship win.

“The Sword Fighter Dozen”

Australian 2013 National Champion: Martino Minuto – Mens Foil Champion.

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

A:  I started fencing when I was 5 years old, so 20 years ago now…I started because I loved cartoons like zorro and d’artagnan, and my parents couldnt handle any longer to have me around destroying their house with swords and foils 🙂 so I tried fencing, and I kept doing it…

how long to feel competent ?  I still dont feel competent nowadays 😉

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

A:  I started competing at national levels at around 8-9 years old…when I was 10-11 i made my first intarnational events for youth categories, and at 13 I started with my official FIE carreer, first in junior and around 17 in seniors

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

A:  In Italy everyone “so” young starts with foil…we call it the Queen Weapon…it was good  for me so I kept it, happy about my choice….I tried for fun the other weapons….but actually I won a youth national in epee, and last year I took silver in senior team national championships in sabre, almost beating the Olympic silver medallist in my bout…

If you are a good foilist, you can dare to fence the other weapons, for fun…the oppoisite is much harder…thats why everybody starts with foil…

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

A: Now, after I tried it, my favourite place to train is definately in Australia, in Melbourne, at VRI 🙂

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

A: Extremely important…my coach is the same since when i was 5…in fencing the coach is a “maestro”, a feature that is hard to find as important in other sports I guess…and of course, good training partners are necessary to test the preparation level, and put theory into practice.

6: What are your future ambitions for 2014 and beyond? work / training / competition?

A:  For 2014 my major focus is World Championships in august, and I will prepare my best for those…outside of Fencing I just graduated “my masters”…I will start a 3rd degree and study the German language….but my main goal is getting the only medal that between the different categories I am still missing, the Olympic gold one….that’s my main ambition for the future..

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

A:  I didnt model my Fencing on anyone…I worked very hard to develop my own Fencing “style”…but at the same time I learned and got inspiration from most of the fencers, basically from everyone…learn from everyone, but keep being yourself….

I have 4 great fencers I look up to…in order of age : Alexander Romankov, Mauro Numa, Alessandro Puccini, Sergei Golubitsky…

8: What if any other sports do you play/train?

A:  I competed many years in Alpine Skiing..and nowadays i have a diploma as a Skiing Coach…and my summer passion has always been windsurfing.

Apart from that, I love almost every sport, since I am an athlete… 😉

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

A: Not many differences actually….the venue in canberra was amazing, wonderful..never seen something like this at nationals, and sometimes even at worlds….the level is different in any country,  but as long as all the competitiors go for the title, it is never easy 🙂

Oh  the organization with my friend Mrs Denise was very strict and extremely well done, I appreciated it a lot…we don’t have this overseas..

10: What is your weekly training Regime?

 A: Unfortunately i don’t have a weekly training regime, but a daily training regime 😉   I most likely train for 5-6 hours every day…having 1 or 2 sessions, depending on the days…

11:  What advice would you give future Australian champions?

A:   I cant give too much advice to future Australian champions, as long as I still want to compete internationally for some years 😉  joking….

Well, as I said many times, I see great potentials in Australian Fencing…true….my advice is to keep working hard, keep playing fair, keep having passion’s, and the results will for sure come…

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

A: long question 🙂 ….

I like many many things with Australian Fencing, thats why I came 2 times to support it in Melbourne…

I like the way everybody works hard…the passion every athlete and coach put in the game….I like the fair play you have in this country, this is one of the thing I like the most…it is beautiful….I can see no other countries where competitions would be refereed from fencers themselves, it would come out a big mess, and many fightings….I like the sport spirit and mood that Australia has everwhere, and of course put in fencing too….

I am a big fan of Australian fencing…I’m now very proud and honored to be part of its champions list 🙂

Just couple of bad things with this sport in Australia…

Not enough support from the government and Olympic committe makes it extremely hard for the fencers and thier family  to travel, go to competitions and make the experience necessary to challenge at world levels…

In my personal opinion, without judging the work of anyone, I find it really hard that fencers who join tha national team have to pay for it, and a big fee!…National team in sport is up to merits,  not to money….it is already expensive enough for them to keep training and travelling…no need to make them pay also to be in the national team….

and last thing, I heard that lately there were some unclear issues about the ranking for Australian foilists, which messed up the real situation, in a not proper merit way…..

My personal opinion, since I love Australia and its fair play, is that they would keep this fair play….if Australia decides for a ranking system, and not a coach’s decisions one, then the ranking should show the real results, merits and strength of the athletes….it is very easy to do it….jut need to put people work together, and play fair…everybody is basically a  volunteer in our sport….let’s keep the fair play.

Good luck Australian Fencing 🙂

Marti

Thanks so much Marti……”You are a credit to your Country and a pleasure to have as a guest in ours, Best of luck in all your future ambitions ”  Ed.