The course in Budapest ran from September 19-October 14 and it was not the only one during the final months of 2016 when opportunity knocked for other fencing hopefuls from across Europe and Asia. An epee course for participants from Azerbaijan, Croatia, FYR Macedonia, Greece, Slovakia, Turkey took place in Tauber, Germany from October 10-November 7.

The town of Modica in Sicily, meanwhile, offered a month-long intensive training programme for six foilists from Armenia, Finland, Georgia, Ireland, Serbia and the Netherlands. At the long-established Conad Scherma Modica club, they benefitted from the accumulated knowledge and experience of course director Eugenio Migliore and his fellow coaches Giancarlo Puglisi and Leandro Giurdanella, together with instructor Stefano Pedriglieri and athletic director Emanuele Cappello.

This was the second CMI course staged at Scherma Modica and over the course of four weeks, the young fencers took part in two daily sessions covering physical preparation, fencing footwork and attacks, and also got to spend time with club members as well as other young fencers from nearby clubs in Catania, Syracuse and Ragusa.

It is not only the youngsters who benefit according to Domokos Ferjancsik, president of the Vasas fencing team, who says this engagement with the FIE holds significance for the clubs involved also. “The request from FIE was a great privilege,” said Ferjancsik, whose club produced two gold medallists at Rio 2016.

“They wanted to cooperate with Vasas as a club, which is important feedback for the work we’ve been doing. It seems that the international fencing community recognises us and trusts us with the training of talented young athletes.” In Budapest, two Vasas coaches, Etele Ravasz and Sebestyén Puy, spent their mornings addressing professional theory and practice with their young charges, before focusing on sparring in the afternoons.