Fencing at Queen Victoria School

Te Ao Hou, 1973, Page 54

Fencing at Queen Victoria School Let us continue from where we left off in our last issue. We won the Open Championship in June 1972, Hinemoa Hakaraia taking first place, with two other finalists. The Qualifying Tournament was won also, this year's Club Captain. Karen Pikimaui, taking first place, with Ngawahine Apanui third. The Provincial Championships in July were even more successful. With seven girls in the final of eight, we took all places except the third, last year's Provincial Cham-pion. Jefferine Poka, retaining her title. All seven girls were selected for the Provincial Team for the Schools' Nationals in Wellington in September, including the Captains of the “A” and “B” teams. Pare Rata and head girl Judy Brown. The most interesting of these selections was Yvonne Petera, a second-year fencer who has been the pupil of Harata Hutana throughout, Harata having returned for a further year of coaching. Her work has continued to be magnificent, and for her ser

Harata Hutana demonstrates the positions of feet, hand and arm to her group of teachers at Lopdell House. To her right is Mr L. Brunett, Course Director, and Miss Jean Silver, Senior Physical Education Adviser, Department of Education, Auckland. Gledene Photography vices Harata has been elected an Honorary Life Member of the Club, the first occasion on which this distinction has been conferred on a girl while still at the school. The Nationals themselves resulted in virtually a clean sweep for us. The Auckland “A” team, with three girls from Queen Victoria, took the teams' title, while the “B” team with all four girls from our school took second place ahead of the “A” teams from the other provinces. In the individual event we filled four of the six positions in the final pool, taking first, second and third places: Hinemoa Hakaraia, Evelyn Te Uira and Harata Hutana respectively. We had only one finalist in the Auckland Junior Tournament, but we swept back in the Novices' Tournament for first-year fencers, when the four pupils of our other sixth-form coach, Pare Rata, each reached the final. Jenny Wells giving us our fifth successive win (each coached by sixth-formers) in this event, and Myra Hataraka taking second place. Despite the value to our school of these successes, the most significant event of our year was the club's selection by the Department of Education to conduct the fencing session at a Lopdell House in-service course for physical education teachers in August. We were given an hour and a half to do a day's work, so some sort of planning was necessary! Donald Watson, Harata and Pare put their heads together, and a fairly comprehensive brochure was prepared which covered the whole subject thoroughly. Yvonne Petera and Ngawiki Hutana went with us as demonstrators. At the end of the afternoon we felt we had told the very appreciative audience of twenty-eight of the leading Physical Education teachers and advisers from all over the country just about everything. shown them nearly everything, and, what is more, each teacher had received a short individual lesson from one of the instructors. We wonder if they were as stiff the next morning as we were after our first lesson! The point, of course, was not to teach them to fence, but to demonstrate the teaching techniques, and the suitability of the sport for use in schools. We gather from remarks which have reached us that our efforts were received with pleasure, and we have heard of one or two nibbles about starting fencing in some more schools. This is what we would like to see.