Club Goals - Further Information
The Future of OUFC – A Five Year Plan
The club has committed to four key areas of improvement over the next five years.
Sustainable, long-term, funding for the club
As of 2023, the University has offered OU Sports Clubs the opportunity to join the Sports Endowment Fund which would provide the club with a long-term income stream after an initial set-up investment. The club aims to carefully save and/or raise the initial required amount to set this up, which would then activate an annual income for the club, so long as the club exists. This would be in addition to membership subscriptions; securing our club against rising costs, and enabling us to continue to run one of the largest fencing clubs in the UK, without restricting our offering or growth. It will also support the club in continuing to host the Varsity Fencing Match at the Examination Schools, an OUFC tradition, but one with its own unique expense. While we have no plans to change venue, additional income will enable us to keep the club well provisioned and growing while continuing to host this unique fixture at such a special place in Oxford.
International Success
Oxford already attracts some of the best fencing talent, however, we want to foster that talent while they are in Oxford through elite coaching on a more regular basis, and through use of more competition level equipment. In particular, we want to increase the number of hours we are able to hire coaches for, enabling us to attract some of the country’s top coaches, whether from London or further afield, to spend more of their days coaching in Oxford. Better competition equipment is also a part of this and Oxford would like to purchase its first conductive piste, as staple at other university clubs, to provide our teams a better surface to compete on (especially our epeeists!). While our day-to-day training facilities in the Iffley Road Cricket Schools are a far cry from Examination Schools pictured, it is making the best use of these limited facilities which we desire and this equipment is one way to achieve this in the absence of a formal salle.
Club growth
While the club has strong numbers of advanced and beginners’ fencers, providing a pathway for those beginners to improve and become more experienced after their first fencing course, has always been a challenge. The step up in ability is large, and the kit provision is limited. To bridge the ability gap, more coaching hours would support this transition and provide structured training sessions to all experienced fencers. The club would also like to improve its provision of basic (Non-FIE) electric club equipment, often the main barrier to those moving from beginner to experienced fencing. This electric kit such as lames and weapons, can be shared by all club members during sessions, but especially those who may not have acquired all their electric fencing items just yet. By supporting the retention of these beginners, we also improve the depth of club knowledge year on year, which over time will help build strong committees and support the efficient running of the club.
Outreach
We want to use our unique platform to share our sport with those who may not normally encounter fencing. We would like to work with British Fencing and their ‘We Are Forging Futures’ initiative to bring fencing to schools around Oxfordshire, and to those who may never normally encounter our sport. Working with British Fencing will also improve our national visibility as well introducing coaching to a number of our current members who can then continue to share their love for the sport within OUFC and beyond.
