Aspiring referees, coaches discover more about wheelchair fencing

The International Wheelchair and Amputee Sport Federation (IWAS) Wheelchair Fencing will host the first of a series of online discovery sessions for aspiring referees and coaches from Friday (20 November).

The Introduction to Refereeing sessions will run over three days and aim to expand the reach of wheelchair fencing around the world, particularly in areas where the sport is beginning to grow. They will be led by IWAS Wheelchair Fencing Referee Commission Chair, Jon Moss, and Alberto Cruz Garcia, the sport’s Development Officer.

The first set of meetings is targeted at countries in the Americas and will be held in Spanish. So far 50 participants from nine countries have registered to join, including Paraguay, Peru, Nicaragua, Ecuador and Venezuela.

The recording will be published after the meeting on the IWAS YouTube channel.

Cruz said: “We are very pleased to be hosting these online sessions for people all over the world to get to know wheelchair fencing better. They will go a long way towards raising awareness of the sport and encouraging more countries to start their own programmes.

“Recently we have seen lots of interest from people who want to understand more about the rules, even though they might not be ready to start recruiting athletes and holding competitions locally. Introduction to Refereeing should help bridge that gap before people take part in more formal referee training or begin their national programmes.

“We will also be holding the sessions in English next to allow more countries to access the information.”

An explanation of the general rules and those for epee will begin proceedings on Friday, followed by dedicated sessions for foil and sabre on Saturday and Sunday.

Introduction to Refereeing is the latest in a series of activities to develop wheelchair fencing. These include training videos on how to make a do-it-yourself wheelchair fencing frame and how to coach wheelchair fencing, as well as taking part in online training sessions for Asian countries.

In the last two years countries such as Mexico, Jamaica and Costa Rica have started their own national wheelchair fencing programmes.