Manchester Cadet

The Manchester Cadet Tournament grew out of a desire to allow British under­-17 fencers to compete against their compatriots, rather than having to fence senior fencers in order to gain ranking points.

It was first envisaged in 2002 and the organisation was put in place to allow the first tournament to take place in October 2003. This attracted some 190 competitors. This has grown each year, and the 2008 had 350 entries.

The tournament is jointly organised by two clubs based in the north of the Greater Manchester area. The original conception was by Steve Glaister, a Commonwealth foil champion and FIE referee, of the Manchester Fencing Club. This club has produced fencers who have qualified for English, Irish, Scottish, Welsh and British teams at both foil and sabre.

The second club is Salle Kiss run by Robert Kiss, an Hungarian Olympic foilist, and his wife Natalia Gyuriska. This club is at the forefront of fencing provision to schools in the area. It is also produced international fencers including Husayn Roswosky who took Bronze at the 2008 World Cadet Championships.

While there are other Cadet tournaments in the UK the Manchester Cadet is the only one that covers more than one weapon.

The tournament has gone from success to success and the foil competitions now form part of the European Cadet Circuit.