Alex Agrenich

Alex Agrenich began fencing at the age of ten in his home town of Moscow. He immediately loved the sport and his youthful hard work, determination and commitment soon paid off. When, three years later, he moved to Israel he quickly became its top-ranked Cadet. In 1994, he returned (briefly) to his home town where he ranked 5^th in the Moscow Junior Olympics. From 1995, he continued to fence in numerous international events. During this time, Alex also began his training as a coach. In 1996 he gained a ranking of 11^th in the Junior World Championships.

When Alex emigrated to Britain he quickly discovered Haverstock Fencing Club and began training there. He continued both fencing and his own training as a coach. In 1999 he began coaching full-time at Haverstock!

Through his coaching, Alex aims to provide fencers with an opportunity to achieve consistency and better results – especially internationally. He encourages fencers to gain skills through systematic, structured training and is active in trying to build a network of support for fencers who wish to work towards an elite status. Alex works with Cadet, Junior and Senior fencers in a quiet, forceful manner that brings their individual strengths to the fore.

Andy Pavaday

Andy Pavaday has been fencing for nearly 20 years. As with many fencers, he began fencing foil and saber before moving on to epee, which is now his weapon of choice. Andy not only has the coolest hairdo in the fencing world, he is also a world champion: taking the gold in the World Police and Fire Games Championship in Stockholm (1999).

Andy has been fencing at Haverstock for eight years and is the founder of the Haverstock Pommelers, a small group of club members who use the French grip. He occasionally enters them for team competitions and is hoping one day they will win! He finds HFC a very friendly club with high standards, a great selection of challengers and an atmosphere that encourages continuing improvement.

Andy sees fencing as a package of technique, fitness and psychology where progress is made by ardent training and an eagerness to continue one’s own education in these areas. He believes this creates a process whereby confidence and skill are accomplished without undo pressure – and good results naturally follow.

Following a coaching course in Poland in 2001, Andy began his training to qualify as a coach. He is due to receive his Hungarian Diploma in all three weapons in summer 2007. At Haverstock, Andy coaches all ages and levels and clearly enjoys communicating fencing ideas and techniques. He is a natural coach: calm, detailed and very patient with beginners, both adults and children. ‘True coaching is about individualization’ he says. One of his goals at HFC is to help train junior fencers through to senior level.

John Ince (Chairman)

When Haverstock’s Chairman and Founder Member, John Ince, began fencing he was fifteen years old and fenced foil. The trouble was, he beat everyone; and where is the fun in that? So he packed it in and moved on to other sports. He learnt judo and although he couldn’t afford the license fee needed for a belt, he was well known in his club for sending many blue and brown belts flying. He tried mountaineering. He tried hill-walking. At eighteen, whilst an apprentice electrician, he joined the Territorial paratroopers and learned that jumping out of an aeroplane at 1000 feet is a formative experience. He excelled on the soccer field, playing Camden local league in the premier and first divisions. Overall, John proved himself to be an all-round sportsman.

After nine or ten years away from fencing, he felt something was terribly wrong. So, when he was twenty five, John returned to fencing and felt much better.

He trained first at Fox School, Notting Hill Gate and moved on to Salle Allen in Hampstead. His first year back, he came second in the ILEA foil competition, achieving the most hits of the tournament and losing only one bout – the final. He won the ILEA foil contest the following year and eventually joined the Polytechnic Fencing Club, in Regent’s Street. At the Poly he trained for two years under Zsolt Vadaszffy, who gave him a corrective bash with his foil whenever he made a mistake. At one stage, John ranked in the top 24 foilists in the UK. But his next coach was Bela Iregy, who took one look at John’s foil and threw it across the room. Iregy walked over to another fencer, grabbed his epee and thrust it at John, saying ‘You big strong boy; you learn epee!’. So at about age thirty, John finally began to fence epee.

John’s fencing career continued through his thirties even while he played squash and splashed around in deep water as Chairman of the London Wide Divers, a scuba diving club he enjoyed for a decade or so.

One evening, while John was in discussion with some fencing mates, an idea was born: ‘Wouldn’t it be great to have a fencing club that you could come to straight from work, three nights a week, get some proper training, enjoy a bit of fencing without pressure, where you could feel at ease and feel supported in your goals, but also feel that the club was not political and exclusive.’

‘Yeah, great!’ everyone agreed. And so it happened!

With a bit of effort on the part of John, Greg Allen, Steve Paul, Chris Norden (who discovered the premises and became the first head coach), as well as other founding members, Haverstock Fencing Club was founded in 1996 using the pre-renovated facilities of Haverstock School.

John began training hard and his efforts paid off. He took two 3rds at Aldershot and Bedford and qualified to do his first A-grade in Glasgow. He was fifty years old and the eldest to qualify.

John became Chairman of Haverstock Fencing Club and promptly announced that ‘A Club is only as good as its members’, a sentiment that certainly comes across in his effervescent entrance to the fencing hall every evening. He tries to take on board what any member has to say and insists that the Club is an ‘all comers’ sort of place. ‘Whether you are elite or mediocre, you come along here and you fence. It’s for professional and recreational fencers alike.’

John can be heard barking complaints - quite rightly - at fencers who do not take proper care of the equipment. His other exclamatory remarks are variations on the theme of ‘You’re cr*p unless I say you ain’t!’, which he uses to inform those fencers who queue to take lessons with him. However, usually John is busy setting the tone of HFC by having a laugh with Club members. He claims that that is the extent of his input and that credit for the on-going success of the Club should be given to the members, the team of coaches and, most of all, to Jacqui Lockwood, Club Secretary.

John has recently completed his two year training to become a Fencing Master (British Fencing, International Fencing Masters Diploma in three weapons from Profs. Bognar Gabor and Peter Frolich). John would like to see the UK field more world-class participants at international level and sees this being accomplished via our younger fencers. Regarding Haverstock Fencing Club, he is keen to maintain the strength of the Club and encourages fencers from other clubs to come along as guest fencers, which will enhance the level and variety of fencing for HFC fencers. He also says, ‘I’d like to see more youngsters come up through the junior levels, into the senior level.’ His other ambition for the Club is to keep it a happy and friendly place, one that provides fencing role models for adults and children alike.

David Buist

At twenty-two, David Buist is Haverstock’s youngest coach, but his achievements so far are star-studded. He began fencing (foil) while he was still in single digits and changed to fencing epee in his early ‘teens. His youthful successes include two Cadet World Championships (2000; 2001), last 8 at the Luxembourg Junior A-grade (2003) and the Junior Worlds (2004). In addition, David won the British Youth Championships (U18) and took Silver in the French Junior Nationals (Team, 2nd division). He came second in the Hereford & Worcester Open (2003) and has twice won the Senior Team Nationals.

His coaching career began in 2004 and he has recently attained the British Fencing Association Level One certificate (Epee and Foil). David intends to continue gaining coaching qualifications both here in the UK and in France. His hope is to bring together the two distinct approaches to coaching in a style that will teach ‘simple technique… doing moves at the right time, from the right distance. That is modern epee.’

David is currently completing his university degree in Sports Science at Brunel University and coaches at Westminster School and schools in the Hillingdon area. Although he no longer competes, he loves to train young competitors. He is patient and pushes his students to get thinking, mostly by questioning their every move! His insistence that the whole of fencing can be greatly simplified is popular and successful with young fencers. David is a popular, friendly and approachable addition to the Haverstock Fencing Club coaching team.