Hello everyone!

I hope we are all doing well. It has been a hectic few weeks for me here at the SU, but I would like to go over one of the main highlights for me, the introduction of the SwordSeat here at our university, and how our fencing club are now the first club to own a SwordSeat

I would very much recommend googling the SwordSeat if you have not heard of it, but to give some context and background, it is a set of wooden seats designed for a cheaper, more accessible and beginner friendly approach to wheelchair fencing.

And that is all it is- each seat consists of 6 easy-to-put-together slabs of wood and a cushion. Simple, really? Yet, it is completely genius. The best bit about it is that it was designed right here at the University of Bath and by Dr Ed Elias and his students. But what makes this seat so special?

I went to the launch of the Swordseat back in January. I had already confirmed that I would be obtaining a set for our fencing club, to continue and promote inclusivity. It was a very fascinating event- with talks from British Fencing and Ed, and some amazing demonstrations of the seat in action. For something so simple, it allowed a perfect in to wheelchair fencing, and its affordability means that people of any age all across the country can pick up the sport.

Wheelchair fencing is an expensive sport. To buy all the necessary equipment and set up, you would be setting yourself back around £10,000. In comparison, the SwordSeat Is roughly 95% cheaper, so the hope is that fencing clubs will pick up this initiative and wheelchair fencing can grow and grow and grow.

Being at the University of Bath was very handy in acquiring a set. Ed was very friendly and had me one made not long after the launch, and as mentioned, it is the first of its kind to be used by a club. After BUCS Nationals, the fencing club will launch sessions with the seat, and hopefully they will be able to get many more sets over the next few years as wheelchair fencing grows here. Bath is the home of wheelchair fencing after all- it seems only fair that this includes the students!

My favourite thing about the seat is that it illustrates that accessible sport does not need to be so expensive and difficult to enter. That anyone can get involved, and that the limits of physicality do not limit the amount of sport. I would like to applaud Ed and his students for the incredible design, and thank them for giving us here at the SU an opportunity to extend our ever growing inclusive offer to our students.