Alex Lister - Fencing Commonwealth 2024

I'm Alex Lister, from Triangle, Halifax, and I am going to represent England this year in the Men's Under 20 Sabre team at the 2024 Cadet & Junior Commonwealth Fencing Championships in New Zealand.

I was introduced to fencing at Heathfield primary school when I was aged 6. Only two years earlier, I was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes.

Sabre fencing fitted in with me being diabetic. The sport is a series of short bouts that require physical strength, fast reactions, strategy and mental resilience, but with rests in between when I could do finger prick blood tests. I now use an insulin pump that can be worn during fencing and the dose can be adjusted to compensate for the intensive exercise.

Heathfield continued to support fencing lessons at school and I also joined one of the few fencing clubs in the North of England, The Manchester Fencing Centre, where I train for 8 hours per week. I started entering competitions around the UK where I soon won gold medals and went on to win the national series for Under 9s, Under 11s. Under 13s and also became: British Youth Champion (three times), England Youth Champion (twice), Yorkshire Champion and U17s National Cadet Champion in 2022.

My competitive journey progressed whilst at Heathfield with selection to represent England at competitions in Poland (Challenge Wratislavia) and Spain.

Since 2022, I have represented Great Britain on the world circuit. I have competed at tournaments in Germany, Hungary, Romania, and Bulgaria that qualified me in 2023, to go onto represent GB in U17s at both the European Championships (Estonia) and then the World Championships (Bulgaria again). At the same time, I also qualified as a Level 2 Sabre referee and sat my GCSEs.

I am now 17 years old and in the 6th form at Rishworth School, marking 11 years of competitive experience in the sport. I visit Heathfield primary school every week Wednesday helping to coaching younger pupils and give them the opportunity to experience fencing too.

In March 2024, I learned that I have been selected to represent England in the U20s 2024 Cadet & Junior Commonwealth, which will be held in Christchurch, New Zealand in July 2024. It is a remarkable opportunity for any athlete to be selected to represent their country at Commonwealth level, and this marks a new high in my sporting career.

During no time in my fencing career have I had the benefit of sponsorship. However, I have now reached the level in the sport where this is commonly needed. This is where I am asking the community for your kind support.

There is no competition that is further to travel to than the Commonwealth championships in NZ, and it only happens every 3 years. Making a 24,000 mile round trip to attend a major international competition does have significant costs: flights (£2,500), medical and travel insurance, accommodation (£700), pre-competition training camps, coaches, two sets of competition compliant kit (swords, lame, jacket, plastron, breeches, mask, shoes and wires) (£1,250-£2,000). I am therefore appealing for sponsorship to meet a £4,250 target.

I would like to take the opportunity here to publicly thank:

Rishworth School - Dr Wilkins and Chris Brass

Calderdale Royal Infirmary - Children's Diabetic Team

The Manchester Fencing Centre - Coach Mike Swiffin

England Fencing

and everyone who has donated so far - THANK YOU.

Please support me in helping crowdfund my participation in the 2024 Fencing Commonwealth - with sincere thanks.

Alex