The Senior categories of fencing (ages 15 to 99) held the Ontario Provincial Championships at the Queen Elizabeth Building, Canadian National Exhibition grounds over the past weekend after two years almost to the day of suspension of fencing in Ontario.

Our athletes did remarkably well with two provincial champions, two silvers and three bronze medals.  Leading the way was Ellie Davies, still a Y14 athletes, winning women's Junior (ages 17-20), second in cadet (15 -17) and second in senior women's foil (20 and up).  Blake Degroot is the cadet men's champion and second in junior men's foil.  Spencer Orr was defeated by clubmate Degroot in both events in taking bronze in cadet and junior.  Scott Bell added to the podium finishes with his bronze in veterans foil (age 40 and up).

Clubmates shook off two years of tournament rust and had great tournaments with personal bests and in some cases, the first real tournament ever.  Congratulations to Nathan McMillan, Dylan Shi, Calvin Klages, Ewan Peterson and Anna Houston for their results.  Each fenced well.

Cadet men: 1st Degroot, 3rd Orr, Klages 20th, Shi 21st, McMillan 25th.
Cadet women: 2nd Davies, 17th Houston
Junior men: 2nd Degroot, 3rd Orr, 17th Peterson
Junior women: 1st Davies
Senior men: 9th Degroot, 12th Orr, 37th Peterson.
Senior Women: 2nd Davies, 8th Houston
Veteran's Foil: 3rd Bell.

Full story in the Beacon Herald by Corey Smith:

Blake DeGroot remembers early in his fencing career when Darren Marks told him he had a potential future as a member of the national team.

Turns out the Stratford Fencing Club head coach was right.

“I always thought, ‘Yeah, it’ll happen,’ but when it happened, I realized I’m better than I actually thought I was,” DeGroot said.

The 16-year-old from Stratford recently qualified for Team Canada’s contingent that will travel to Lima, Peru, next month for the Pan-American Championships.

DeGroot was one of four teenagers selected for Cadet men’s foil.

“I always want to get better at everything I do,” he said, “so I just got better and it happened.”

Marks said it was DeGroot’s psychological development that allowed him to grow into a national-calibre fencer. The technical and tactical elements were already in place, but being able to perform on a particular day requires mental resiliency, he added.

“Blake is a pretty gifted athlete and naturally athletic, but because fencing is an individual sport, you stand by yourself,” Marks continued. “There are no teammates to hide behind –  there’s nobody to rely on – so his psychological development and dealing with stress has been remarkable.”

The last two years have been difficult for the St. Mike’s student, who missed out on multiple high-level events because of the pandemic. Ontario had some of the strictest COVID-19 measures in the country, while American fencers, by comparison, missed two months, Marks said.

“His training was substantially compromised,” Marks added. “The simple fact is being competition-ready is a process.”

Instead of six to eight qualification tournaments, DeGroot had to perform at his best in three while also dealing with daily COVID-19 tests at events that could have derailed his dream at any time.
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One of those competitions was a North America Cup in which DeGroot had three weeks of in-salle training after a lockdown. He also placed third at nationals, losing to the event’s most dominant competitor.

“It’s quite remarkable,” Marks said.

DeGroot has dedicated himself to the sport, which he took up in September 2016 when he was in Grade 6.

“It’s different,” he said. “It’s intelligent. You have to have a plan. It’s like physical chess.”

He’ll have to make the right moves next month in order to achieve his goal of a top-16 finish and perhaps advance to the worlds in Dubai in April.

“Just be really disciplined and don’t think about it too hard,” he said. “Let it happen. The more I think, the more I make mistakes.”


cosmith@postmedia.com