Katy Hawthorne, a fencer from Scarisbrick Swords fencing club, has just rounded off a very successful year with the receipt of a selection letter for the 2022 England Fencing under fourteen international squad.
Katy has worked exceptionally hard for this, getting back into training with her coach, David Stobbs, as soon as the pandemic regulations permitted a return to face-to-face coaching. She has also grasped every opportunity to spar and compete and this work ethic has paid off with a string of accomplishments; including four podium finishes at national ranking events, series winner in the national youth series and selection for the Northwest ladies cadet team. She has even participated in her first adult tournament at the Lancaster Winter Open.
For most of the season, she held the number one position in the England Fencing U14 rankings, only dropping to number two after a nail-biting 14-15 match with her closest rival in their last tournament.
Katy’s final fencing event of 2021 will be to join her older club mates, Grace Michell and Sophia Neophytou in the Northwest ladies team for the Cadet Winton Cup, the annual inter-regional tournament down in Somerset just before Christmas. After this she can then have a well earned rest before gearing up for the 2022 international season!
Scarisbrick Swords is a not-for-profit community sports club. They meet on Thursday evenings at the Southport YMCA. If you would like to try fencing for yourself, a taster session can be arranged by email at info@scarisbrickswords.co.uk, Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/ScarisbrickSwords, or Twitter @ScaSwords.
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