Team GB had no fencers competing in the Paris Olympics but the expertise of a sports coaching lecturer from the University of Winchester is helping the sport to up its game before the 2028 games in LA.
Richard Cheetham MBE, a Senior Fellow in Sports Coaching at the University, has been recruited by British Fencing’s High-Performance programme to sharpen up their skills.
He has been working with fencers and their coaches, using a new video analysis tool which he has developed over the last year.
“We are looking at ways we can improve their performance and bring in new ideas from other sports,” says Richard.
He has plenty of experience and ideas to draw upon having worked with top-level athletes and coaches from GB Wheelchair Rugby and British Slalom canoe in the last Olympic cycle for Tokyo as well as working at the UCI World Cycling Elite Coach Education Programme in Switzerland.
Richard Cheetham working with Jon Salfield, the High Performance coach in Sabre at the Leon Paul Centre in London.
Richard has been studying videos of training sessions and the coaches are in the spotlight just as much, if not more than, the fencers.
He’s been analysing the coaches’ techniques, including the language they use in technical instruction and feedback.
“All athletes are learners and if you can understand the way that people learn you can change the way you coach,” said Richard.
Videos made during this project will form a learning asset for young coaches starting out and for more experienced coaches to review and reflect upon their methods.
Fencing has never been one of this country’s best sports - Team GB have won just nine fencing medals since the modern Olympics began in 1896, including a solitary gold achieved by Gillian Sheen in the foil at Melbourne in 1956.
“The sport has a limited profile in this country,” said Richard. “Fencers in France and Hungary are household names.
“And coaches in these countries have the experience and know what works. We are looking for the edges that they have found as well as discover new ones”
Richard always tries to involve Winchester students in his outside projects and in this case, he has enlisted the help of first year Sports Coaching undergraduate, Megan Weeks who is involved in the data analysis.
“Studying any degree is about not just the taught modules but also making the most of opportunities which are made available,” said Richard.
In the past Richard has taken students on visits to England Rugby, Saracens, Birmingham City, Southampton FC and Craig Morris, the High-Performance coach at Slalom canoe.
“These trips give the students invaluable experience and insight into top level sport and enhance their employability skills,” said Richard.
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