Overview
Once a young fencer reaches a standard where local events can no longer provide the standard of competition needed to progress, the costs start to rise. Travel, hotel bills, coaching, camps and courses, kit etc can run into £thousands. If a young fencer reaches international level, the costs can vary between £5,000 and £10,000 per year, depending on where you live, and which international competitions are attended.
Most families find these costs hard to meet, and many seek to raise sponsorship or find funding from other sources. This document is intended as a resource to help young fencers and their parents maximise their chances of success.
Reality Check!
It is very difficult to find a single source of funding which will cover all your costs. We don't know of any young fencer who has been lucky enough to find a single sponsor prepared to pay for everything. Even Olympic fencers struggle to achieve that! However, by piecing together packages of support from a variety of sources, some fencers manage to achieve significant help each season. It does require hard work, persistence, and a fairly high tolerance for rejection!
Sources and types of funding
There are many different potential sources of help. They break down into the following categories. Click on the links to find out more about each type.
Funding from National Governing Bodies
Funding from other national sources
Funding from Local Authorities
Commercial Sponsorship in cash or in kind
Publicity
Whatever type of support you are looking for, it never hurts to build up your public profile, even if this is just some column inches in your local paper. Some fencers also run personal websites or blogs, or use social networking sites to publicise their achievements.
See this page for some ideas on writing press releases.
These links are good examples of how personal websites and blogs can be used to increase your profile, and act as a vehicle for seeking sponsorship.