Mike joined Cavaliers in 2003
and it wasn’t long before he found himself fully involved in the running of the
club with his particular interest focusing on Coaching. He gained his Level 1 Foil Coaching
qualification in 2007 and has subsequently specialised in teaching the
Beginners’ groups – one of the most important roles in the Club.
Mike was Head Coach for 2010 and
2011 during which time he was responsible for coordinating all coaching groups
and maintaining the qualifications of the coaches. During 2012, he took on the role of club
representative to the WA Fencing Association where he put in a huge effort to
address the issue of the lack of training courses in WA for potential
coaches. In addition he has been a
willing volunteer in all aspects of club administrative and social
activity. For this reason he received a
nomination for the City of Stirling award of Valued Volunteer for 2011.
Despite injuries which prevent
Mike from fencing at the moment, he is in training for a Level 1 Epee Coaching
qualification and continues to support the Coaching team in the Beginners’
group.
D’ARTAGNAN,
SEYMOUR WOLFINGER
In seventeen years of
membership, D’artagnan has never lost the true spirit of clubmanship and
respect for fencing tradition. He joined
Cavaliers in 1998 and instantly set about reviving
and maintaining the age-old standards of chivalry and romance properly
attributed to the sport, much to the delight of the enthralled members. He is chiefly known as the originator of the
Defenders of the Realm – a mysterious order which bestows upon its members the
responsibility of loyalty, honour and protection of the Cavalier fencing
fraternity.
In real life, D’artagnan has
consistently supported Cavaliers in a very practical way through an
administrative and social commitment – notably as Cavs Librarian where he
upgraded the collection with a supply of old fencing movies! Despite a varying range of injuries which now
prevent him from fencing competitively, he continues to hold Committee
responsibilities and is currently the club representative at WA Fencing
Association.
PETER HARBIN
At the age of 82, Peter may well be the oldest competing
Veteran fencer in Australia. As a member
of Cavaliers for the last 13 years, Peter has enjoyed a jammed-packed
competitive fencing career participating at all levels from Club and State
Competition, to National and International events – and it doesn’t look as
though he is about to retire yet.
It falls naturally that Peter’s main interest lies in
fencing opportunities for Veterans. To this
end he served three years as Vice President of the WA Fencing Association
working for increased promotion of Veteran fencing, particularly through the
media. He has been foremost in
encouraging Veteran exchange between South-East Asia and Western Australia and
was a team member of the first Australians to compete at the Japanese Veteran
Championships in 2010.
Peter has fenced since his school days in England and his
dedication to the sport is testament to the value of long term commitment and
to Club spirit through which Cavaliers now benefits. Peter continues to focus on promotion of
Fencing through his participation at public demonstrations both in the city and
at York and through frequent access to media exposure on the radio and in the
press.
NEIL HERZOG
When Neil joined Cavaliers 19
years ago, he became a keen competitor in ALL THREE weapons – he couldn’t
decide which one he loved the best and didn’t want to miss a minute of
fencing! Such was his love of the sport
that within one year he had qualified as a Level 1 Coach, was working on both
Cavaliers and WAFA Committees and was off to the Eastern States to try his luck
against the rest of the world.
From that point on, this
headlong courage was to lead Neil into more than a decade of leadership roles
which were to propel into the future the standards of fencing both at Club
level and that of Western Australia.
Neil was involved at all levels
of Club activity but primarily undertook the huge job of updating the old
equipment from half-bib vests and steam foils to a modern collection of shiny
new electrical equipment. Neil would pick the boxes up from Customs
and he would open them at the club with everyone crowded around in great
excitement.
At the same
time, Neil’s concern was to upgrade the system of tournaments at State
level. He established a system for WAFA
tournaments which would bring WA up to national standard with the use of a
computerised ranking system. For the first time since WAFA was
re-established in 1995, all WAFA members had access to their ranking details at
any given time. All rankings were published
and an Annual Awards Ceremony with the presentation of medals and trophies was
reinstated.
In 2000, as President of WAFA,
Neil was responsible for huge achievements in the promotion and
recognition of the sport with government authorities and brought about the
first serious program for government funding of WA Fencing.
Neil went on to
serve as a Director with the Board of the Australian Fencing Federation. His
responsibilities included the drawing up of policies for national fencing,
which ultimately affect all fencers in each State.
This driving force
did not prevent Neil from having a lot of fun, however, and we have great
memories of the amazing Fencing Under The Stars in Neil’s back yard with the
old heavy wooden pistes.
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