A few months ago I reached out to Scott Rawlins, the Head Coach at The University of Western Australia Fencing Club (UWA Fencing Club) about his unique perspective on coaching fencing, he is also the National Assistant Coach and WA State Coach. Scott has consistently shown up to fencing comps taken place across Australia for various WA fencers for as long as I have photographed fencing since 2023. Other than the brief catchups at AFC and Nationals, he is usually busy coaching and strip side coaching fencers.
This insightful conversation about coaching came at the perfect time when I started to teach Katsuki my assistant photographer on fencing photography and the fundamental of photographic techniques. In the last 20 years I have mostly trained specialist photographers, and to quote Scott in our conversation “A good coach should understand that students have different learning styles and be able to present teachings in a variety of different ways – some students learn by watching, some listening, some by writing/reading, some by doing.”. He got me thinking about my approach of teaching photography to a new beginner. Like fencing, photography can get expensive very fast if you don’t have a good foundation and achieving results. You can keep upgrading your camera body to the latest model or buying expensive gear but that does not take you very far with the investment.
This conversation gave me a deeper understanding on how fencing is coached and the fencing culture from a learning perspective. I can speak for many fencers, especially beginners coming into the sport without any knowledge about the development of coaching, having the knowledge can change the way on how you invest in the sport as a fencer.
The conversation with Scott is broken down into 3 parts.
In Part 1, Scott shares his fencing journey to the road of becoming an established fencing coach. He also breaks down the different components of what makes up a great fencing coach.
In Part 2, Scott reveals the years of studying with mentors and coaching not just based on local resources, but his own pursuit to unlock the knowledge by furthering education by studying at FIE Academy in Hungary.
In the final part, we will discuss the number of fencers that he coaches and how he adapts his style of coaching to each fencer.
Scott coaching Dimitry Zatselyapin before the National at 2024 DH McKenzie Nationals.
Contributor: Scott Rawlins (Australian Epee coach from University of Western Australia Fencing Club)
Producer / Photographer: Ed Chiu
Date: Jan 2025
Ed: Hello Scott, this conversation allows readers to gain an in-depth insight on coaching fencing. Please tell me about your background in fencing. when you started and the time you first stepped into coaching. What made you decide to coach.
Scott: Hi Ed, thanks for asking me about my coaching and fencing journey. I started fencing at 11 years old in Perth, Western Australia. Fencing wasn’t very well developed in Perth at that time but I was very keen, and after attending my first national competitions the sport really took hold of me, and all I wanted to do was fence!
Even when I finished school I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do, but to me it didn’t matter as long as it involved fencing somehow. Sometime after finishing school and looking for a job a mentor suggested giving coaching a go because fencing was something I was good at, passionate about and there weren’t many professional coaches around at that time – it could be a niche market, so to speak. So I started coaching quite young, around 18 years old. That’s not to say I stopped fencing competitively though, I kept going, and I was able to marry fencing coaching and competitive fencing over the next 18 years
Scott strip side coaching Flynn Warner-Stanton vs Matthew Baker (NZ) at 2024/25 AFC 3 DE.
Ed: Interesting. Is there a structure as to how fencers become a fencing coach based on skill level, number of years in the sport?
Scott: Typically in Australia you have the older more experienced fencers that wish to share their knowledge with younger fencers as their competitive careers slow down. Also younger fencers with more time and perhaps looking for a bit of money working as assistant coaches, but there is no formal structure and the transfer of skills from being an athlete to being a coach is somewhat related but it’s not a direct transfer.
Being a good fencer in my opinion is definitely a prerequisite to becoming a good coach though as you do need to have a ‘feel’ for the sport, but there is so much more to it than that. Consider that a coach needs to be able to give private and group lessons and the pedagogy that goes with these, organise their club, mentor students, be a good strip side coach, help to grow and mentor other assistant coaches and negotiate politics. There is a big skillset there, and by the way most coaches, even masters won’t be good at all these things.
Scott strip side coaching Flynn Warner-Stanton during his DE 2024/25 AFC 1 at Fencing Victoria
Ed: Do you think younger fencers tend to lean towards getting coached by experienced fencers who have done many national and international comps? This is in terms of consistent private lessons. Also as you said there is more to coaching the technical skills on how to fence with other aspects with mentoring, ability to communicate, organisation and planning, also assessing the progression of the student.
Scott: There is a bit of a myth in fencing culture that the best coaches take the high performance athletes and the beginner coaches should take the children. That’s only half true. The younger fencers are where you produce champions, so in fact in a well working fencing club the best coaches need to be working with the younger fencers as well as the high performance athletes. Obviously in a fencing club everyone wants to get taught by the best coaches, it just depends on the resources available and that’s something the coaches need to consider.
Scott strip-side coaching Flynn Warner-Stanton at 2024/25 AFC 1 DE
Scott continues.. In terms of educating ‘the whole coach’, that’s what you need a coaching course for – anyone can stand in the corner of a club giving private lessons but a master runs the whole club. Another thing to consider is that the only way you can learn to become a master is to learn from another master.
Besides a fencing course you need an apprenticeship where you can learn the subtleties of teaching, from teaching beginners at a club to giving advice at a competition.
Scott strip side coaching Kylie Weatherald at 2024 DH McKenzie Nationals.
Ed: Speaking of side strip coaching, being on the piste as the fencer and the coach on the side strip obviously have a different vibe in terms of energy and mental state. How do you think a coach should approach this given they only have one minute to address quickie solution. I often hear and I think coming from my own experience as well, sometimes a side strip coach can tell you all the solutions from last few points and what if the opponent changes tactics, there is just a lot to take in, mentally and physically. One time after I lost a DE, this coach who has never coached me just screamed at telling me everything I have done wrong. At that moment it was too much to handle – the yelling in particular.
Scott: That’s another important part of being a coach – strip side coaching. The coach as well can be the difference between the athlete, who works very hard, getting a medal or not. As to how you work with the athlete depends on who they are as a person and a fencer, and it’s pretty important to find those things out. Some fencers you can just act as a mirror, and they can figure out themselves what to do by bouncing ideas off you whilst others need more direct intervention. One thing for sure though is that you can’t afford to lose your self control when talking to a fencer – the last thing they need is a nervous or angry coach. You need to present as confident and professional.
Ed: And certainly everyone learns differently, some people come into fencing because they have an inability to do well in team sports such as field sports or with sports dyslexia.. I for one don’t often follow instructions well. When I’m asked to step back .I step forward or a coach would teach me something while I may not apply it well during private lessons but he recognises I actually apply it during comps. Surely I must have remembered at the back of my mind from the private lessons.
Scott: A good coach should understand that students have different learning styles and be able to present teachings in a variety of different ways – some students learn by watching, some listening, some by writing/reading, some by doing. One problem with coaches who don’t have a formal coaching education will instinctively revert back to the ‘way they were taught’ when learning. They may also try and teach a student to fence the way they used to fence. The problem is that firstly no two fencers are the same and secondly being in a remote fencing country, the ‘way you were taught’ may now be outdated or wasn’t pedagogically sound to begin with. My fencers don’t fence like I did and I have made a concerted effort to teach through a sound, proven pedagogical system rather than the hodgepodge of learning that I had growing up. It’s a pretty cool feeling to be teaching the same system that a world champion would have gone through growing up. Even if I’m not always confident in my own coaching ability, I feel confident in the system I teach. That’s a huge asset as a coach.
Flynn Warner-Stanton, one of Scott’s fencers that he coaches since 6 years old.
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