Patrick Collings
@fencingcoach.bsky.social
Between bouts during yesterday’s training competition.
November 30, 2025 at 4:26 PM
Between bouts during yesterday’s training competition.
It is a Blues training tradition to wrap up main preparation for a national competition with a practice competition at the club. We ran two T16 DE to all places competitions today for our epeeists competing in the upcoming Cape Open national ranking competition.
November 29, 2025 at 5:45 PM
It is a Blues training tradition to wrap up main preparation for a national competition with a practice competition at the club. We ran two T16 DE to all places competitions today for our epeeists competing in the upcoming Cape Open national ranking competition.
Saturday training: hurdles, sharing experiences, exhaustion (as well as cognitive fitness, footwork, and bouting drills).
November 22, 2025 at 2:41 PM
Saturday training: hurdles, sharing experiences, exhaustion (as well as cognitive fitness, footwork, and bouting drills).
Blues Fencing has just launched its new website. We have pared back the content to focus on the essentials, with a design favouring smartphones where most people tend to find our website.
November 22, 2025 at 7:09 AM
Blues Fencing has just launched its new website. We have pared back the content to focus on the essentials, with a design favouring smartphones where most people tend to find our website.
All the best to Nanette Spencer, who is in Bahrain for the Veteran World Championships. 2025 has been a triple world championship year for Blues, with our fencers representing SA in the Cadet and Junior World Championships, the Senior World Championships, and now the Veteran World Championships.
November 13, 2025 at 3:54 PM
All the best to Nanette Spencer, who is in Bahrain for the Veteran World Championships. 2025 has been a triple world championship year for Blues, with our fencers representing SA in the Cadet and Junior World Championships, the Senior World Championships, and now the Veteran World Championships.
Flèche training at Blues.
November 8, 2025 at 3:56 PM
Flèche training at Blues.
When it is a little too hot to train, you invent Blade Balloon Volley. It took us several iterations to come up with a game format that kind of worked.
November 7, 2025 at 7:51 PM
When it is a little too hot to train, you invent Blade Balloon Volley. It took us several iterations to come up with a game format that kind of worked.
Blues added another two national championships to its trophy cabinet, with Pavlo Swanepoel winning the senior and U20 men’s epee championships in Botswana. Brilliant performance.
November 1, 2025 at 5:25 PM
Blues added another two national championships to its trophy cabinet, with Pavlo Swanepoel winning the senior and U20 men’s epee championships in Botswana. Brilliant performance.
Saturday afternoon training drills at Blues.
November 1, 2025 at 4:06 PM
Saturday afternoon training drills at Blues.
Blues was honoured to host Xolelwa Veli from the government’s Department of Sports, Arts and Culture. Xolelwa spent a couple of hours with our coaches and epeeists, discussing a range of topics including our athlete training and development programmes as well as our community outreach initiatives.
October 31, 2025 at 5:39 AM
Blues was honoured to host Xolelwa Veli from the government’s Department of Sports, Arts and Culture. Xolelwa spent a couple of hours with our coaches and epeeists, discussing a range of topics including our athlete training and development programmes as well as our community outreach initiatives.
Clean sweep of women’s epee on the first day of the FWC III provincial competition in the Western Cape province of South Africa. Blues won gold in women’s veteran, and took all podium positions in senior, U20, and U17 women’s epee (including the fencers who Blues shares with UCT Fencing).
October 18, 2025 at 3:58 PM
Clean sweep of women’s epee on the first day of the FWC III provincial competition in the Western Cape province of South Africa. Blues won gold in women’s veteran, and took all podium positions in senior, U20, and U17 women’s epee (including the fencers who Blues shares with UCT Fencing).
Faces from Monday night training,
October 7, 2025 at 6:09 AM
Faces from Monday night training,
Saturday footwork training with Blues coach Albert Milani.
September 28, 2025 at 6:44 AM
Saturday footwork training with Blues coach Albert Milani.
Massive shout out to Blues pentathletes Tatiana Thomatos and Daniel Grove for their top 10 world rankings in the latest UIPM rankings. Tatiana is 5th in the world in the Youth U17 ranking for women, and Daniel is 10th in the world for Youth U17 ranking for men.
September 18, 2025 at 11:44 AM
Massive shout out to Blues pentathletes Tatiana Thomatos and Daniel Grove for their top 10 world rankings in the latest UIPM rankings. Tatiana is 5th in the world in the Youth U17 ranking for women, and Daniel is 10th in the world for Youth U17 ranking for men.
When you are at fencing, but the revisions to your doctoral thesis really need to be in.
September 16, 2025 at 8:06 PM
When you are at fencing, but the revisions to your doctoral thesis really need to be in.
Congratulations to UCT / Blues fencer Tiago Do O Filipe for winning silver in U20 men’s epee at the SA Junior National Championships. Mia Cruywagen took bronze in U17 women’s foil to bring the weekend medal toll for Blues to two gold, one silver and two bronze
September 14, 2025 at 2:12 PM
Congratulations to UCT / Blues fencer Tiago Do O Filipe for winning silver in U20 men’s epee at the SA Junior National Championships. Mia Cruywagen took bronze in U17 women’s foil to bring the weekend medal toll for Blues to two gold, one silver and two bronze
Excellent first day at SA Junior National Championships for Blues Fencing with Gemma Bellini winning the U17 women’s epee championship and Daniel Grove winning the U17 men’s championship. Isi Nonkunzi won bronze in U15 men’s epee.
September 13, 2025 at 5:36 PM
Excellent first day at SA Junior National Championships for Blues Fencing with Gemma Bellini winning the U17 women’s epee championship and Daniel Grove winning the U17 men’s championship. Isi Nonkunzi won bronze in U15 men’s epee.
Blues and Future Champions Academy are excited to announce a partnership to take the international competitiveness of Blues fencers to new levels, especially in FIE world cups, grand prix, and world championships. The long-term objective is to produce competitive Olympic fencers.
September 10, 2025 at 8:06 AM
Blues and Future Champions Academy are excited to announce a partnership to take the international competitiveness of Blues fencers to new levels, especially in FIE world cups, grand prix, and world championships. The long-term objective is to produce competitive Olympic fencers.
Blues training competition ahead of the Junior National Championships in a week’s time. Good combination of junior, senior, and veterans fencers to help prepare our U20 and U17 fencers going to the championships.
September 6, 2025 at 4:37 PM
Blues training competition ahead of the Junior National Championships in a week’s time. Good combination of junior, senior, and veterans fencers to help prepare our U20 and U17 fencers going to the championships.
Congratulations to the Blues men’s epee team of Liam Els and Aragón Afonso, who won the U15 En Garde Open two-man team competition and came third in the U18 team event at the weekend.
September 1, 2025 at 6:20 AM
Congratulations to the Blues men’s epee team of Liam Els and Aragón Afonso, who won the U15 En Garde Open two-man team competition and came third in the U18 team event at the weekend.
How many junior epeeists does it take to change a contact spring?
August 29, 2025 at 9:07 PM
How many junior epeeists does it take to change a contact spring?
Well done to Blues pentathletes Tatiana Thomatos, 15, and Daniel Grove, 16, who made it to the final round of the U19 Pentathlon World Championships in Lithuania. A great achievement.
August 21, 2025 at 4:56 PM
Well done to Blues pentathletes Tatiana Thomatos, 15, and Daniel Grove, 16, who made it to the final round of the U19 Pentathlon World Championships in Lithuania. A great achievement.
All the best to Blues pentathletes Tatiana Thomatos and Daniel Grove, who are on their way to Lithuania to compete in the UIPM 2025 Pentathlon U19 World Championships.
August 16, 2025 at 8:54 PM
All the best to Blues pentathletes Tatiana Thomatos and Daniel Grove, who are on their way to Lithuania to compete in the UIPM 2025 Pentathlon U19 World Championships.
The in-between bout discussions that probably have nothing to do with the bouts.
August 14, 2025 at 8:55 PM
The in-between bout discussions that probably have nothing to do with the bouts.
Blues coaching assistant Ruqaya Ismail keeping track of fencing bouts during Blues U15 foil training sessions.
August 8, 2025 at 2:42 PM
Blues coaching assistant Ruqaya Ismail keeping track of fencing bouts during Blues U15 foil training sessions.