Fencing

Colours were re-awarded to C. J. Brown, P. N. Nash, J. S. D. Pearson, A. G. Sherriff, D. C. Spencer and M. R. McMahon.

New Colours were K. R. Burns and I. T. Walton. 1973 has brought with it the growth of water polo as a serious sport.

The inter-house competition was keenly contested and Queen's, surprising everyone but themselves, beat Grove in a close final. In the first round School House lost a 2-0 lead in the space of less than two minutes, and went down 3-2 to Queen's. Grove qualified for the final by beating a Staff team in the semi-finals.

The School team have been involved in several inter-school and interclub matches during the Spring term and the standard of play is rising considerably. Although the Summer term is predominantly swimming, we are entering in the Yorkshire County Knockout Competition and are looking forward to some good results in those matches. 1973 Spring Term Results:

AMPLEFORTH INTER-SCHOOL COMPETITION WINNERS Spenboro' (Home) Won 5-4 Bootham Won 11-4 Halifax (Club) Lost 7-4 Spenboro' (Away) Won 3-2 Doncaster G.S. Won 5-3

This year's Swimming Standards Competition was won by Manor with an average standard of 13.76 out of 20.0 per boy. This was an increase of 1.5 per boy over the 1972 average of School House. Second were Dronfield with 12.13 and third were Rise with 12.10. 1973 Inter-House Swimming Competition looked like causing an upset to the general pattern, with both Manor and Dronfield very strong in the junior sections. However, it seems that everyone neglected to inform a certain House who consider the Kazarooni Cup their own. Thus, despite the narrow points margin between the Houses after the individual events, School House, who had representatives in each of the six team events, romped home winners with 96 points to Manor's 76. Queen's were third with a total of 71 points.

The only record of the day fell appropriately to School House, in the U.14 Freestyle team race. Their time of 57.7 beat Manor's 1970 time of 58.4.

T.T.

Although very few School matches were arranged this Christmas term, School fencing provided the backbone of York Fencing on many occasions.

The first such occasion was a match between the Y.F.A. and Hudders- field F.C. The School provided one fencer for the first team foil, Simon Atkinson, who, by winning all his bouts, enabled the Y.F.A. to clinch victory by 6 bouts to 3 ; and two fencers, Martin Black and Richard Hazell, for the second team, who managed to overwhelm Huddersfield completely. In the Sabre match, the School offered the services of two sabreurs, Simon Atkinson and David Taylor, who helped the Y.F.A. team to win the clash 7 bouts to 2. 46

Early in October, the School were hosts to Newcastle University.

Without a strong team—due to illness—our junior teams did well in both

Foil and Sabre, losing narrowly to experienced sides, and Richard Hazell, by another excellent personal performance, managed to lead the Epée team to victory.

The match against the Army, at the end of October, was extremely

close. An Army fencing team is renowned for its toughness and this one was no exception. Tempers were aroused by some suspect presiding but

finally the scores were evened out and we lost by a close margin. (Foil:

5-4, Sabre: 5-4).

The month of November brought the Yorkshire Under Twenties, held

this year at Bradford. The Y.F.A.'s first foil team contained two School

fencers, Simon Atkinson and John Woodcock. Achieving three easy victories in preliminary rounds, the team won the final against Huddersfield, six bouts to three. Due to a misunderstanding of the entrance rules,

Y.F.A.'s first team Sabre (which was entirely made up of School fencers)

was disqualified, after we had beaten the eventual winners, Sheffield, 8 bouts to 1, in the first round! Martin Fox and Martin Black also took part, fighting for the North Riding. However, because of difficult draws, they met with no luck or success.

Finally, to end up the term, the Y.F.A. Christmas Competition was

held at Bootham School. School fencers did well individually in all age groups. Notably Michael Dixon who won his section's Sabre and was runner-up in the Foil, and Simon Atkinson and David Taylor who came first and second respectively in the Senior Sabre. However, perhaps the best performance was that of the first team foil in the Electric Foil

Competition. Fencing against a strong and skilful veteran Y.F.A. side, in the final, Martin Black and Alan Tait fenced well above their expecta- itions and, when Simon Atkinson claimed the last bout, the School won the competition by 5 bouts to 4. TEAMS : Foil: Atkinon, Woodcock, Black, Tait, Langton, Dixon. Sabre: Atkinson, Woodcock, Taylor, Black. Epee: Hazell, Black, Fox, Spencer. EASTER TERM The Easter term is the time when the individual fencer must prepare himself for the Public Schools Championships in London. Consequently, good performances this term are evident in individual competitions rather than team matches.

The term began well with our overwhelming success in the Yorkshire

Schoolboys' Foil Championships held at Huddersfield. In the Senior event, Atkinson, after winning a barrage, was placed third overall. In the Junior Foil, Johnson from St. Olave's reached the semi-finals and

Gordon Tait was placed fourth in the final to his brother Alan, who, displaying calm assurance, won the competition outright.

In February, there was held in Sheffield an international Sabre match between England and Poland. A trip to this industrial City proved both interesting and rewarding. The School's Sabre improved beyond measure due to our watching of the world champion at this weapon in action.. 47