The cut and thrust of competition

Volume 9 Number 5 May 13 - June 9 2013

Photo: Tobias Titz
Photo: Tobias Titz

Fencing may be seen as a ‘minority’ sport still, but the University of Melbourne is home to several of Australia’s next generation of world-class fencers. By David Scott.

Alasdair Dunham sounds tired and it’s little wonder, because the third year Commerce student has just returned from a whirlwind trip to Croatia to compete in the under 20 world fencing championships.  Now he’s turning his attention to the classes and assignments put on the back burner while he’s been away.

Such is life for Australia’s leading junior fencers, juggling training with study and the jobs that pay their passage to various national and international competitions.  Not that they’d have it any other way.

“It’s my passion and I desperately want to perform in the sport, so I’ll do anything I can to keep competing,” says Mr Dunham.  “It’s obviously still a minority sport here in Australia, and we’re one of the weaker countries internationally, but that just drives me more.”

The journey for Mr Dunham started as a 10-year-old just wanting to play with swords.  “I remember they did a session at my primary school for kids in the year above me and I was devastated! I nagged my parents to let me start classes.

“By the time I was 15, and competing internationally, I realised I was getting quite good, and things just took off.”

One of the top three under 20 fencers in Australia for the foil – a mixed blade combining the speed of sabre bouts and the mental game of the epee – Mr Dunham revelled in the opportunity to test himself against global competition in Europe this past southern summer.

Across four junior world cup events in Italy, Austria, Spain and France ahead of the world championships, he finished in the top 64 each time. It was a performance he repeated in the main world championships earlier in April.

“I lived and trained in Italy, which is the best place to be for the sport as it’s the powerhouse of international competition.  It was amazing to be right there training with former world champions and coaches who had won Olympic gold.”

The University of Melbourne has become quite a hub for Australia’s up-and-coming fencing elite, with no fewer than 12 state or national level fencers, many of whom also compete overseas.  In Croatia alone, fellow students Emily Marotta, Amy Reynolds, Lucas Webber and Leah Tausan joined Mr Dunham in representing the Green and Gold.

Although Ms Tausan says she didn’t perform as well as expected, it was also a great first experience competing in the world championships.

“It’s been a busy few months as I was at the Asian Junior Championships in March where our 3v3 team won gold, and before that in France to train and get European world cup experience,” Ms Tausan says.

“The world cup circuit in Europe is a different scene. Every event had hundreds of competitors and anyone competing at that level can participate in elite competition pretty much every fortnight.  It raises the bar.”

Unlike many team sports, fencing has a year-round season, requiring plenty of diary juggling by competitors.

“Training is five days a week, consisting of an individual lesson, practice bouts, drills and mock competition on weekends,” Ms Tausan says.  “On top of that I coach school kids twice weekly at North Melbourne (Recreation Centre) which is rewarding, particularly when they want to start playing pirates!”

For Mr Dunham the support from MU Sport – and the University’s Elite Athlete Friendly status – has been invaluable, and he sees it as a key reason there are so many elite fencers at Melbourne. 

“Given fencing is such a small sport in Australia, it’s quite a close-knit cohort, which we certainly notice at overseas competitions.

“It’s not easy to juggle study when you’re training up to five hours a day, but the University has been very flexible. And I know I’ve told some of the other Australian junior fencers how useful that’s been, when considering life after school.

“You can’t do a sport that’s not well financed forever as a career, without subsidising it somehow. That’s where getting a degree comes in. There are some great examples of Australian fencers who work and continue competing internationally, and I want to follow them.

“However I’ve also seen people who have gunned for an Olympic spot who for whatever reason haven’t made it, and suffered without an education to fall back on.  I want to make sure I can balance the rest of my life as well.”

www.sport.unimelb.edu.au