Kate chats to Georgina Usher about her life and career. Georgina Usher is probably one of the best epeeists Scotland has ever produced but it wasn’t easy for her. We hope you enjoy this amazing insight into what it takes to succeed in our difficult sport.

Note: There were some issues recording over the internet. These have been minimised were possible.

Gav sits down with current Scottish Fencing president George Liston. George was one of Britain’s top epeeists for many years. George talks about his experiences of the sport, being in the armed forces and that time he didn’t know the guy he beat.

Keira Papadopoulos (Edinburgh FF), Rory McLellan (Salle Ossian) and Jaimie Cook (Salle Holyrood) all represented Great Britain at the 2020 European Cadet Championships in Porec, Croatia. In this episode Kate talks to the bright young things of Scottish Fencing and finds out how they’re handling lockdown, who they’d like to fence and why elephant polo may be the sport for them.

Note: the sound quality’s a bit patchy

Elephant polo: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R4YmzL6reKk

Karen & Maggie are stalwarts of the Scottish Veterans women’s epee team and have travelled the world together over the last half a dozen years. Here they talk to Sean about how they got started in the sport, how they met, friendship, competition, the joys of travel, motorway service stations and the importance of a good playlist. And there’s a lot of laughing. A lot…

Phil Carson is the head coach at Salle Ossian in Perth. In this episode he talks to Kate about his background in the sport, being a fencing parent, going full-time, where he gets his inspiration and the culture of a successful learning environment.

Salle Ossian https://salleossian.com/

Keith Cook has been the leading male foilist in Scotland for many years. An inspirational figure in the sport, coming from a tough background to succeed at the highest level. Founder of plastic fencing company Fencing Fun in 2010, which has introduced thousands of children to fencing, and lead coach at Salle Holyrood in Edinburgh, Keith has become an innovative and successful coach. Listen in as he describes his journey through life, the fantastic positive influence that fencing has been and how he hopes he can help others to achieve their ambitions.

Kate, Gav and Sean introduce themselves in the first episode of The Big Hit, a new interview-based podcast about the great, good and interesting characters in the Scottish Fencing scene.

Get to know your hosts as they give a bit of their background in the sport and reveal their favourite fencers and their hopes for the podcast.

The collaborators: www.scottish-fencing.com www.thefencingpodcast.com

Kate’s favourites: Mariel Zagunis (USA) (highlights of her winning 2 nd Olympic title in 2008: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iD_e4vf-mhg

Olga Kharlan (UKR) (winning the Montreal Grand Prix in 2020): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wOMfiLWn6yc

Gav’s favourites:

Pavel Kolobkov (RUS) (winning his fourth individual World title in 2005): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SsXCGHFQITE

Park Sangyoung (KOR) (THAT comeback in the final of the Rio Olympics 2016!): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vsnN8Ifd5n4

Sean’s favourites:

Mauro Numa (ITA) (winning the Italian championships in 1989 against 1988 Olympic champion): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K-FTpWc43fM

Richard Kruse (GBR) (winning the Bonn World Cup 2018 with Sean commentating with Malte Morch): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YVzpF8oPvJs&list=PL_pQQho0KExymzYEtGJgs9N36qfd8N4rI&in