CADET

POTENTIAL PROGRAMME

Programme Manager: Neil Brown

a 41 Sally Hill, Portishead, BS20 7BH t 07590 046892

e neil.brown@britishfencing.com w www.fencingcoach.net

Strength & Conditioning Coach: Phil Marshall

a 3 Swanland Road, Hessle, East Yorkshire, HU13 0LS

m 07525 042748 e philmarshallsportsconditioning@hotmail.com

03/07/2008 12:46

5-6 July 08 - Chepstow

Firstly congratulations on the results & commitment you have shown by being selected & accepting the invitation to take part in this scheme. We hope this will be the one of the first steps on a long & successful fencing career for you all.

This weekend is also open to the Welsh team fencers who are competing in the UK School Games in August. These fencers should download & fill a form which Neale Thomas has.

The weekend will start at 10am on Saturday morning so fencers should arrive at 9:30 (the day will finish at 5:30). Sunday we’ll start at 9:30 & finish at 4pm.

The timetable for the 2 days can be seen here.

This document contains information about this training scheme, guidelines as to the expectations of the 37 squad fencers, & some details of the testing & training weekend on the 5-6 July at: Chepstow Leisure Centre, Welsh Street, Chepstow, NP16 5LR. http://www.monmouthshire.gov.uk/Monmouth/English/Leisure_and_Visitors/Leisure_Centres/Chepstow/

As you will know British Fencing is financially supporting this scheme (with over £10,000) with the aim of making a difference to your fitness, footwork & ultimately your results at cadet, junior & beyond. In order for this to happen we need your (& your coach’s & parents’) full support. We also obviously need the support of your school if applicable.

The aims of the scheme are: to produce fencers who are fit enough to be capable of doing the training needed for success at the highest level at junior & beyond, to improve the level of footwork of these fencers & to guide ambitious coaches to produce fencers capable of winning medals in major championships.

Clearly there will have to be some guidelines as to what we expect from the fencers on the scheme. We expect these fencers to do the following:-

• Attend the training & testing weekends. Competing in world cup events, international competitions or travelling to international training camps are reasonable excuses; competing in non-selection domestic events or “too much work” are not reasonable excuses.
• Keep in regular contact with the management team (Neil Brown, Phil Marshall & weapon footwork coach(es)).
• Fencers will need to carry out their prescribed training programmes, maintain training diaries & report their progress, results & any problems or injuries. Full details of the records the fencers must keep will be explained at the training weekends.
• Show commitment to making the scheme a success.

Fencers not complying with the above criteria may be removed from the squad & their place offered to other fencers. Fencers will not be removed from the squad because of poor results or falling down the rankings. This scheme is about creating long-term plans for the invited fencers & we recognise that improvements may take some time.

We (Neil & Phil), together with the technical footwork coaches, will do our best to provide a professional service to the squad fencers & to give clear instructions about what we expect. All fencers, coaches & parents will be able to contact us with specific questions or concerns about the scheme or with other questions.

Before each weekend you will need to fill in a pre-assessment form that can be downloaded here or as a .pdf here. Fill this in & bring it to Chepstow.

Funding

Obviously the funding for this scheme is limited & we want to do our best to spend it most usefully & where it can make the biggest difference to our International results. This will mean that the fencers concerned will incur some costs in taking part in the training & testing weekends. It also means that unfortunately there will be no funding available to the fencers’ personal coaches or parents.

The scheme is being funded by British Fencing to allow us to offer a professional service to the squad fencers. Part of the funding will go towards expenses for travel to the training weekends & overnight accommodation for the fencers.

For the weekend at Chepstow we (the Management group) have decided the following:-

• Fencers who live less than 50 miles from Chepstow will not be able to claim any travel or accommodation expenses.
• Fencers who live more than 50 miles away will be able to claim some travel expenses, we will pay petrol costs up to a maximum of 15p a mile for those travelling by car & will pay reasonable flight costs (should be in the region of £100) for those who need to fly. Fencers who plan to claim these should contact me (Neil) in advance & be able to produce receipts.
• We will not arrange or be responsible for any accommodation on the Friday night. For the Saturday night we have booked rooms at the Bristol Severn View Travelodge, Moto Service Area, M48 Motorway, Severn Bridge, Bristol, BS35 4BH. If you want to use these reservations you must tell me as early as possible & then check the spreadsheet to check I have the correct information.
• Please contact me if you want to use these, there’ll be some transport available from Chepstow to the hotel after the meal (which may be with other fencer’s parents). Fencers will be able to claim up to £25 a night for hotel expenses (again with receipts) but we would encourage those who live nearby to offer bed space to fencers travelling from further away.
• We will arrange (& pay for) an evening meal for the fencers on the Saturday evening in the centre of Chepstow. This will be at Mamma Mia, 29 High Street, Chepstow, NP16 5LJ at 7:15pm. There will be no cost to the fencers for this, personal coaches & parents are welcome to join the group but will need to pay £15 each. This will need to be paid to me (Neil) in advance. Please check the spreadsheet & let me know if you will be eating with the squad.

To claim expenses fencers (parents) will need to fill in an expense claim form (online & available at the testing & training days).

To facilitate the sharing of accommodation where possible & to help in communication within the squad of 36 the group email shows each fencer’s email address. I will also produce a contact list showing address, email & mobile phone for each fencer. If you do not want to share this information with the other squad members you will need to tell me otherwise I will include your details.

For hotels in Chepstow you can look here or more usefully you can search http://www.laterooms.com for hotels in Newport & Bristol.

Personal coaches

The real success of the whole scheme depends on the cooperation of the personal coaches of the 36 fencers. As such there is an open invitation to the coach of every fencer to attend all the training weekends. Part of the long-term plan will be the training of the coaches who have the drive & the energy to produce the top British fencers. As a fencer on this scheme it may be up to you to communicate with your coach about the training you will be doing. Of course we (Phil Marshall & I) will always be available to answer queries or help with problems.

Coaches who attend the training & testing weekends should, by Sunday, be competent to administer all the fitness & footwork tests we will be doing.

Fencers should also encourage their coach to travel to international events with them if they don’t already do so.

Parents

Clearly this is a scheme aimed at fencers who are U17 therefore the fencers all rely on their parents for financial & logistical support. At the first weekend of 08-09 in Stratford I held a meeting for the parents of all the invited fencers to explain what extra commitments we would like to see, what we can offer in support, & to answer any questions. Please feel free to contact me with any questions but the best opportunity for this during the weekend is probably lunch time or over the evening meal.

Communication

As far as possible communication will be online. Fencers will need to email me with training details & I will publish details for fencers on my web site www.fencingcoach.net or on the British Fencing web site. You can call or text my mobile any time between 7am & 11pm. I have now created a CPP group on Facebook, if you’re on please can you join. There is a CPP web page on a link from www.fencingcoach.net & from the British Fencing web site.

For email notification of each change to the information about this scheme you should subscribe to the Cadet Potential Programme thread at www.fencingforum.com, make sure you have “Instant Email Notification” selected as the Default Thread Subscription Mode on the Edit Options tab in the User CP. If you don’t know what all this means ASK.

Shopping List

Here is a suggested list of the things you should have to help your training:-

• Nutrition & sports nutrition books. Recommended are:-

Fuelling Fitness for Sport Performance – Samantha Stear (don’t buy a copy, we will give you one)

Sports Nutrition – Anita Bean

• A swiss ball
• A heart rate monitor
• Dyna-band for resistance training
• A reaction ball
• Instant ice packs for injury in training & ice packs in your freezer at home
• Suitable shoes for all your sports activities. You may need: indoor running or cross-training shoes, outdoor running shoes, fencing shoes. This can be very important for injury prevention.

Forms

The forms you need can be downloaded from the CPP page at www.fencingcoach.net

Best of success with your fencing.

Neil Brown

CPP Management group:-

Clare Halsted, Keith Smith, Neale Thomas, James Williams, Peter Wright,