2012 Olympic Sponsorship
With the London 2012 Olympics only a few years away, it is arguably the time to develop new talent to boost our chances of doing even better than we did in Beijing. To do this, the Government and the Lottery are funding British Sport in a very positive manner. To get to a point where sports persons are eligible for such sponsorship, means a massive personal commitment and inherent talent. Although sports facilities abound within the UK, often the only way to improve beyond a certain level is to compete at international level, train with the world’s best and have the services of an international coach. This costs time and money.
GETECH considers it an honour to Sponsor Miss Helen Fairhead to help her become eligible for such Government/Lottery funding. Women’s fencing is now a very popular minor sport. Over the next few years we will be able, via this website, to monitor Helen’s performance. GETECH wishes to congratulate her on achieving to date a GB ranking of 4th in Women’s Sabre (September 2008) and to encourage her future success.
About Helen Fairhead as a 2012 Olympic prospect
Helen invited GETECH to sponsor her since she has family and summer-work links with the company. As we lead into the 2012 Olympic Games in London, Helen is currently one of the top female fencers in Great Britain. After starting the sport of sabre fencing only 3 ½ years ago, she now has a GB ranking of 4th – the fastest ascent of any female fencer in the recent history of the sport. In order to progress further she needs financial backing to cover her equipment, training and competition costs. Prior to GETECH sponsorship, Helen was self-funded and was looking for 2-3 sponsors to share her annual costs. Thus the GETECH sponsorship, matched by her family will go a considerable way to covering the sponsorship she needs. In the next 2 years, her aims are to become a regular member of the GB team and be selected to fence for Great Britain at the European and World Championships. Ultimately her goal is to represent Great Britain at the 2012 Olympics. The GETECH sponsorship is allowing her dream to be realised.
Sabre Fencing
Fencing is one of only four sports that has been included in every modern Olympic Games since the first event in 1896. Fencing provides the perfect combination of physical and mental discipline: you need to be able to out-think your opponent and out-run them as well. The modern Olympic sport requires fencers to be of the fittest of athletes and to have levels of skills which require many hours of dedicated training. Sabre fencing (www.nlsc.co.uk/sabre) differs from other forms of fencing (epee and foil) in that the sabre is both a cutting weapon and a point weapon. The target area reflects the available target area of an opponent on horseback - all body parts from the waist up. It is the fastest and most aggressive of the three fencing weapons and it only became an Olympic Sport for women in 2000. The governing body responsible for fencing in Great Britain is the British Fencing Association (the BFA) whose website can be found at www.britishfencing.com. The body which organises international fencing is called the FIE and their website can be found at www.fie.ch
Helen’s Background
Helen was born and grew up in Leeds and attended Woodhouse Grove School at Apperley Bridge with (at that time) little interest in sport! From there she went on to study English Literature at Manchester University where she achieved the highest first in her year. Sport started to play a part of her life first women’s rowing followed by coxing the men’s team. After having completed 2 years of legal training and working as a county court advocate in Leeds, she moved to London where she currently works as a solicitor for a major law firm.
Helen’s fencing background
Helen started fencing at Leeds Fencing Club in September 2004 and started competing at a National Level in early 2005. Her National Ranking has improved as follows:
|
Date |
British Ranking |
|
September 2005 September 2006 September 2007 January 2008 March 2008 May 2008 June 2008 September 2008 |
132 44 28 22 15 6 5 4 |
Helen currently trains at the City of London Fencing Club and in 2007 represented Yorkshire at the inter-counties fencing tournament, the Winton Cup, where she won the most fights of any fencer on the Yorkshire team. In May 2008, Helen was selected to fence for Great Britain at the FIE International A-Grade Tournaments in London, Gent and Koblenz. These tournaments are at the highest level which it is possible to compete. She fought against full-time athletes and won bouts. In Koblenz, she then had three victories in the poules which meant that she finished in the points and this moved up the world ranking up to 170.
Helen said: “I now feel that I am in a position to challenge for a place on the British team. The British team is comprised of the top 3 fencers on British ranking and a 4th person at the discretion of the selectors. To ensure my selection I therefore need to increase my ranking from 5th to 3rd. The only way I can do this is to consistently finish in the finals at domestic competitions, thus ensuring a top 10 domestic ranking. This will then entitle me to compete in FIE World Cup and Grand Prix events where a good performance will earn me enough points to challenge for a top 3 ranking.”
As Helen has indicated she has been self-funded and has used savings and her salary (she currently works full-time) to fund her travel, subsistence, equipment, coaching and training expenses. This financial burden has resulted in her not being able to compete in tournaments due to a lack of funding and holiday entitlement. In June, 2008, she had to turn down the chance to represent Great Britain at the FIE Grand Prix event in Las Vegas This meant she had to turn down the chance to compete at the highest level against athletes who, were competing in Beijing. It is for this reason that she has been looking for sponsorship for the next four years leading into the London Olympics.
Helen’s Aims and Objectives
Helen has set herself goals which include
- Season 2008-09 Top 100 World ranking,
- 5 Nations English selection
- Season 2009-10 Commonwealth Games English selection
- Season 2010-11 Top 3 British ranking,
- European Championship - British selection,
- World Championship - British selection
- Season 2011-12 Top 50 World ranking and Olympic selection