Patrick Collings
@fencingcoach.bsky.social
Blues fencers’ competition stretching and warm-up sessions went up several levels when internationally renowned fitness instructor Gökçen Arikan led the sessions at the past weekend’s national ranking competition.
February 2, 2026 at 4:32 PM
Blues fencers’ competition stretching and warm-up sessions went up several levels when internationally renowned fitness instructor Gökçen Arikan led the sessions at the past weekend’s national ranking competition.
Blues added 3 silver and 1 bronze medal to bring their weekend tally at the Gauteng national ranking competition to 3 gold, 5 silver, and 5 bronze medals. Shout out to Gemma Bellini, who picked up silver in U20 and U17 women’s epee after flying in from a World Cup in Egypt a day earlier.
February 1, 2026 at 8:22 PM
Blues added 3 silver and 1 bronze medal to bring their weekend tally at the Gauteng national ranking competition to 3 gold, 5 silver, and 5 bronze medals. Shout out to Gemma Bellini, who picked up silver in U20 and U17 women’s epee after flying in from a World Cup in Egypt a day earlier.
Excellent first day for the Blues at the national ranking competition in Gauteng, picking up three gold, two silver, and four bronze medals. Golds in veteran women’s epee, U17 men’s epee, and U20 men’s epee.
January 31, 2026 at 8:46 PM
Excellent first day for the Blues at the national ranking competition in Gauteng, picking up three gold, two silver, and four bronze medals. Golds in veteran women’s epee, U17 men’s epee, and U20 men’s epee.
Blues epeeist Gemma Bellini has spent the last week in Cairo attending an FIE training camp. 15-year-old Gemma went straight from the camp into the U17 individual event at the Cadet & Junior Epee World Cup in Cairo, where she finished 33rd in a tough competition.
January 29, 2026 at 8:40 PM
Blues epeeist Gemma Bellini has spent the last week in Cairo attending an FIE training camp. 15-year-old Gemma went straight from the camp into the U17 individual event at the Cadet & Junior Epee World Cup in Cairo, where she finished 33rd in a tough competition.
Footwork training at Blues Fencing
January 24, 2026 at 3:35 PM
Footwork training at Blues Fencing
After the bout that didn’t go according to plan.
January 23, 2026 at 4:35 PM
After the bout that didn’t go according to plan.
Sorting through the latest order of equipment, ahead of a national ranking competition and the Junior African Championships.
January 23, 2026 at 2:34 PM
Sorting through the latest order of equipment, ahead of a national ranking competition and the Junior African Championships.
Three of Blues’s fencers - Lexiy Lancaster, Gemma Bellini, and Ruqaya Ismail - appeared as guests on Sports Federation TV today to speak about what 2026 holds in store for them. Pictured with them is JP Naude, host of the sports show and president of the Western Cape Provincial Sports Confederation.
January 16, 2026 at 12:54 PM
Three of Blues’s fencers - Lexiy Lancaster, Gemma Bellini, and Ruqaya Ismail - appeared as guests on Sports Federation TV today to speak about what 2026 holds in store for them. Pictured with them is JP Naude, host of the sports show and president of the Western Cape Provincial Sports Confederation.
And we’re back. First training session of 2026.
January 3, 2026 at 4:25 PM
And we’re back. First training session of 2026.
And that is a training wrap for 2025. After a very successful year, we are going to take a couple of weeks off and will be back on the piste on 3 January 2026.
December 20, 2025 at 4:13 PM
And that is a training wrap for 2025. After a very successful year, we are going to take a couple of weeks off and will be back on the piste on 3 January 2026.
Congratulations to Blues pentathlon athletes Tatiana Thomatos and Daniel Grove, who were crowned Laser Run World Champions today at the UIPM 2025 Laser Run World Championships in Mossel Bay, South Africa. Tatiana won the U17 event, and Daniel the U19 event.
December 13, 2025 at 6:53 PM
Congratulations to Blues pentathlon athletes Tatiana Thomatos and Daniel Grove, who were crowned Laser Run World Champions today at the UIPM 2025 Laser Run World Championships in Mossel Bay, South Africa. Tatiana won the U17 event, and Daniel the U19 event.
Massive congratulations to Blues pentathlon athlete Daniel Grove, who has just become the U17 Triathle World Champion at the UIPM 2025 Biathle/Triathle World Championships in Mossel Bay, South Africa.
December 12, 2025 at 9:22 AM
Massive congratulations to Blues pentathlon athlete Daniel Grove, who has just become the U17 Triathle World Champion at the UIPM 2025 Biathle/Triathle World Championships in Mossel Bay, South Africa.
The South African national rankings have been updated with Blues fencers dominating several of the epee categories, notably women’s epee where we hold the first, second, and third places. In U20 and U17 men’s epee, we hold both the top and second place rankings
December 12, 2025 at 8:15 AM
The South African national rankings have been updated with Blues fencers dominating several of the epee categories, notably women’s epee where we hold the first, second, and third places. In U20 and U17 men’s epee, we hold both the top and second place rankings
Blues had an excellent Cape Open national ranking competition, winning three gold, six silver, and 11 bronze medals. Notable was the performance in senior women’s epee, with Blues fencers winning gold, silver, and bronze.
December 12, 2025 at 8:13 AM
Blues had an excellent Cape Open national ranking competition, winning three gold, six silver, and 11 bronze medals. Notable was the performance in senior women’s epee, with Blues fencers winning gold, silver, and bronze.
Between bouts during yesterday’s training competition.
November 30, 2025 at 4:26 PM
Between bouts during yesterday’s training competition.
It is a Blues training tradition to wrap up main preparation for a national competition with a practice competition at the club. We ran two T16 DE to all places competitions today for our epeeists competing in the upcoming Cape Open national ranking competition.
November 29, 2025 at 5:45 PM
It is a Blues training tradition to wrap up main preparation for a national competition with a practice competition at the club. We ran two T16 DE to all places competitions today for our epeeists competing in the upcoming Cape Open national ranking competition.
Saturday training: hurdles, sharing experiences, exhaustion (as well as cognitive fitness, footwork, and bouting drills).
November 22, 2025 at 2:41 PM
Saturday training: hurdles, sharing experiences, exhaustion (as well as cognitive fitness, footwork, and bouting drills).
Blues Fencing has just launched its new website. We have pared back the content to focus on the essentials, with a design favouring smartphones where most people tend to find our website.
November 22, 2025 at 7:09 AM
Blues Fencing has just launched its new website. We have pared back the content to focus on the essentials, with a design favouring smartphones where most people tend to find our website.
All the best to Nanette Spencer, who is in Bahrain for the Veteran World Championships. 2025 has been a triple world championship year for Blues, with our fencers representing SA in the Cadet and Junior World Championships, the Senior World Championships, and now the Veteran World Championships.
November 13, 2025 at 3:54 PM
All the best to Nanette Spencer, who is in Bahrain for the Veteran World Championships. 2025 has been a triple world championship year for Blues, with our fencers representing SA in the Cadet and Junior World Championships, the Senior World Championships, and now the Veteran World Championships.
Flèche training at Blues.
November 8, 2025 at 3:56 PM
Flèche training at Blues.
When it is a little too hot to train, you invent Blade Balloon Volley. It took us several iterations to come up with a game format that kind of worked.
November 7, 2025 at 7:51 PM
When it is a little too hot to train, you invent Blade Balloon Volley. It took us several iterations to come up with a game format that kind of worked.
Blues added another two national championships to its trophy cabinet, with Pavlo Swanepoel winning the senior and U20 men’s epee championships in Botswana. Brilliant performance.
November 1, 2025 at 5:25 PM
Blues added another two national championships to its trophy cabinet, with Pavlo Swanepoel winning the senior and U20 men’s epee championships in Botswana. Brilliant performance.
Saturday afternoon training drills at Blues.
November 1, 2025 at 4:06 PM
Saturday afternoon training drills at Blues.
Blues was honoured to host Xolelwa Veli from the government’s Department of Sports, Arts and Culture. Xolelwa spent a couple of hours with our coaches and epeeists, discussing a range of topics including our athlete training and development programmes as well as our community outreach initiatives.
October 31, 2025 at 5:39 AM
Blues was honoured to host Xolelwa Veli from the government’s Department of Sports, Arts and Culture. Xolelwa spent a couple of hours with our coaches and epeeists, discussing a range of topics including our athlete training and development programmes as well as our community outreach initiatives.
Clean sweep of women’s epee on the first day of the FWC III provincial competition in the Western Cape province of South Africa. Blues won gold in women’s veteran, and took all podium positions in senior, U20, and U17 women’s epee (including the fencers who Blues shares with UCT Fencing).
October 18, 2025 at 3:58 PM
Clean sweep of women’s epee on the first day of the FWC III provincial competition in the Western Cape province of South Africa. Blues won gold in women’s veteran, and took all podium positions in senior, U20, and U17 women’s epee (including the fencers who Blues shares with UCT Fencing).