Having the chance to compete for your country should come with great pride but also with the responsibility to be as well prepared as you can in order to perform to the best of your ability.

The IYC and the World Class Performance Team are responsible for selecting athletes to represent their country at international competitions for cadets and juniors.  To assist fencers to be optimally prepared for these competitions, we have agreed a set of sport-specific fitness and skill-based tests for all those wishing to be selected.

Table 1 identifies the minimum values that should be achieved by a fencer as a pre-requisite for selection. These scores come from an analysis of Talent Assessment Day results, taking into account a variety of factors such as age.

The tests identified can be conducted without the use of sophisticated equipment so can be held at club level; the set-up for these tests is provided (see end of document).

To give all fencers the best chance of achieving and ultimately surpassing these scores, some exercises have been suggested for each test (Table 2).

It is worth noting that these tests are simplified versions of some of the tests that talent athletes went through at the Talent Assessment Days; adding the exercise suggestions into your daily training will assist your fencing fitness level.

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