County Captains’ report 2019

It was another successful year for Devon at Excalibur as we finished in a close second place, just behind Kent. This was an impressive result and a truly combined effort, with every fight of every team member counting towards the overall placing.

As always, team selection presented some challenges, with epee teams in particular proving difficult to put together due to the scheduling of a key pentathlon event on the same weekend (which was particularly frustrating as this also took place at Bath University!). This meant that a number of the men who had previously agreed to fence became unavailable, and a couple of the ladies were only able to fence on the Saturday. Despite this, Devon managed to field a full team, and we are grateful to those who fenced through injury, travelled hundreds of miles for just one day, or picked up a different weapon to make this happen! Thank you also to Tina Black, Andy Lines and all those who advised us throughout the process.

We had new Devon t-shirts printed this year, with the county kindly covering the costs for all team members. We went with the same company as previously, as they already had the print set up and we were able to collect the order in person, making it by far the most cost-effective option. In the future though, we would advise starting the process earlier in the year – especially if the county were to consider a different design – as the company was quite difficult to communicate with and things ended up being slightly last minute. Thank you to Greg Beacock for his help in making Devon the best dressed team at Excalibur 2019!

It’s noticeable that Devon always has a great team spirit, and it’s good to see this both inside and outside of the sports hall. We carried on the tradition of having a team meal on the Saturday night – for the third year in a row the team, parents and supporters met at the Joya restaurant and had a wonderful meal together.

2019 also seemed to be the year of the girls, as Devon picked up the following trophies:

Best cadet: Abagael Black
Best women’s epee individual: Tia Simms-Lymn
Best women’s epee team
Best women’s sabre individual: Iza Sosnowska
Best women’s sabre team
Best women’s foil individual: Grace Williams

Well done ladies!

Just a final thanks to all those who advised us, and to the fencers and supporters on the weekend for making it another fantastic Excalibur – here’s to more success for Devon in 2020!

Iza and Grace