Louisa Miller,
New Fencing Master

My first experience of fencing was on a school trip to an outward bound centre in Cornwall where I took part in a 1 hour taster session. I loved it so much that on returning home from the trip I nagged my parents to get in touch with the local fencing group. In 1988 I joined Redditch Youth Fencing (RYF), run by Hilary Hammond and I haven't looked back since. I fenced at RYF every Saturday morning and also trained at various other local clubs in Droitwich, Worcester, Warwick and Evesham, as well as being a member of the West Midlands Squad. In my teens I competed at local, regional and national level and qualified to represent England in the Junior Quad after gaining bronze in the U18 Girls Foil at the BAGC (now the BYCs).

I continued to fence at University as a member of the team and this is where I got my first taste of coaching. At the time Bradford University didn't have a coach so I was asked to take on the job and soon realised that I quite liked it!

After graduating in 1999, I continued to fence and compete in and around the West Midlands and joined Kenilworth Sword Fencing Club with coach, Peter Cormack. I made the top 20 of the Women's Foil Senior circuit and was a regular member of the Winton Cup and Excalibur Teams.
In 2004 I decided to have a look at the Academy's coach education scheme and with encouragement from Peter, I attended a Sunday Coaches day at Ackworth School. I got the coaching bug pretty soon and attended my first residential course at Denstone in Easter 2005 and successfully achieved my Level 3 Foil. It wasn't until I started doing the courses and taking the Academy's examinations that I began to realise that I could go all the way with this and become a full Master. There has been a lot of blood, sweat and tears along the way, but it has certainly been worth it. It is true what they say; becoming a 3 weapon Diploma Master is only the beginning, the real hard work starts now.