Article

1. In the fields of academics, speech, music and sports , DBS has always been unique amongst the competitors.   Never would a  DBS  boy not strive their best  in  a competition to glorify his school name, and in most of the times, they are rewarded accordingly. In the year 1999, the DBS Fencing Team once again demonstrated their perseverance to accomplish victory.

The Fencing Team started the 1998 - 99 academic year with a successful membership recruitment. Unlike the traditional  image of  fencing as an uncommon sport,  present DBS boys are much more curious in this kind of  stimulating  physical  activity.     Over  60  boys signed  up wishing to be our members,    but we could only accept 20 applications due  to  the inadequate   equipment and tight training schedule.

Following  the  new  members'  recruitment   came  the  Joint  School  Fencing  Championships  in mid-September  (The  Hong  Kong  Polytechnic  University  traditionally  organizes  this event; the competition was opened to all secondary and tertiary institutes and colleges.).     This year over 30 schools,     universities  and  institutes  participated  in  this  thrilling  contest.  In preparation for the Inter-school Fencing Tournament in October,    we sent  most  of  our  potential  young  fencers to compete in this championship, and they gained much experience from this event.

2. The 1997 - 98 year was definitely the best year since the formation of the team. Our committee board  was  formed  in early September, and  trainings started in July. for more than ten years,  we 

have been trained so hard for the most important competitions,  which are the Join School Fencing Competition  in the  September and the  Inter-School  Fencing competition in the October.      We concentrated on promoting  the team  to the  lower  form  boys in the  first two weeks and over 70

boys singed up surprisingly. After a series of interviews and tests, we finally accepted 20 boys.   

Training sessions was  held thrice a week,    so we can  participate  in the competition  in our  best conditions.      Our members were strongly  encouraged  to  participate actively  in the competition organized by the Urban  Council and the Hong Kong  Amateur Fencing Competition,   and lots of award and experience were gained.

In the Inter-School Fencing Championship,   we again  strived for our best to win. However,  with 

the departure of a few skilful fencers from our school,  we could not defend our foil champion  title and only managed to be the 2nd runners-up. In epee' ,  it was our first time in Inter-School, but we luckly came 2nd. Three of our fencers in the C grade went to the top four in the individual events.

 (Adapted from "The speech day of 1998 - 1999" by our Teacher in Charge : Mr. C. Woo )    

3. This is undoubtedly another fruitful year for  the DBS fencing team,  With all our fencers striving 

for their best in all competitions and trainings, we again demonstrated the tradition of our team ----

the persistence to win.

Right after the final  examination in the June 1999,  when  everyone  was ready to enjoy in the long summer vacation,   our training had already started.    These systematic training sessions were held every week and most of our fencers attended them frequently. This resulted in the improvement of the skills and physical conditions of our fencers, especially in the lower form boys. Before the start 

of the new academic year in September  1999,   our fencers were ready to face any  competitions

and obstacles. 

New fencers are very important in order to keep up the fencing team,  so we  started  our  recruit-

ment on the first school day.    Surprisingly, over 60 form 1 and 2 boys signed up to be new mem-

bers of our team.       This is encouraging as more and more DBS boys willing to participate in the 

grate sport of fencing. Senior form fencers were appointed to be student coaches to give our new blood a glimpse of fencing  beginners  starting  from the  third week of September,  and it  can be expected that these potential fencers will be leaders of our team very soon.

Thanks to the school welfare committee , the  funding to  the fencing team was adequate  to equip 

our team with new foil and epee' , masks ,  lame' and even a new electric box-set. All of them are essential to our team as fencing  is a sport requiring  a wide range of equipment, and our team can now allow more boys to participate.

By the end of September, the annual Join School Fencing Competition organized by the Polytech-

nic University took  place  in the Hong Kong Sports institute and most of our fencers participated

 in this event.      One of our foil team consisting of  Peter Chiu  ,  Anthony Leung and  Andy Lam managed to fight our way into the top 4.   Unfortunately, we lost to the opponent team comprising 

of  two Hong Kong team members in the semi-final.     However, many of our junior fencers took 

this opportunity to gain experience and as a preparation for the coming Inter-School Competition. 

The most important competition of the year -- the Inter-School Fencing Competition started in the beginning of November, and we trained almost everyday in the last two weeks before this event is ensure every fencers can reach their top form.  The individual events for foil and epee' were on the 6th and 7th of November.   These two days were certainly the most glorious moment for our team since the reestablishment 8 years ago, as the number of our fencers being able to get into the top 4 has reached a new record.  Most of our fencers are form 4 or below, so our dominance in fencing 

in the coming year can be predicted.    This also showed the importance of continuous recruitment 

of new fencers.  It is undeniable that the captains of fencing team has downed a lot in this aspect in the pass few years which results in today's success.

On the 13th and 14th of November  ,   defending our championship  became our main concern, as 

the team events in foil and epee' took place on these two days.     After a series of fierce and close matches, we finally went into the foil final.      Our opponent in the final, New Method College, did 

very well in the last moments of the final and we lost to them by narrow margin of 4 points.      We couldn't our foil championship and  this  is certainly the worst ordeal of our year. Nevertheless, the endless effort of our excellent fencers and supporters should be greatly appreciated.  Furthermore, our epee' team came third on the second day.

Due to the new calculation system of the overall positioning, we came second in the overall.   Not being able to be the champion means failure to any DBS boys. We will never be satisfied with our result and we are determined to capture the championship next year!

Internal  Competitions were  held in  February  and March  and  our  fencers  took  this chance to 

improve their skills.  A lot of our fencers were encouraged to take part in the fencing competitions organized by the  Amateur  Fencing  Association  throughout   the year and invaluable experiences 

were gained.

Finally, I would like to thank to our headmaster, Mr. Lai, for his endless support  and guidance to our  team  since  the  reestablishment.          I  would  also  like  to  express  our  gratitude  to  our Master-in-charge, Mr. C Woo, for his fine organization and expertise in fencing equipments.  Our school coach,   Mr. To and  student coaches including Chow Ling Hin  , Tam Lai Hon ,  Tsang Ji Sheung, etc, have done very well in the organizing training and in helping me to manage this squad with over 40 fencers.   Without their continuous effort and support, the fencing team will never be 

so successful.    

A bright future is laid in front of us , may the DBS fencing team thrive and dominate in the field of  fencing forever !

(Adapted from "Steps 2000  Page 198 -199  'A bright future is laid in front of us'"

  by 1999 - 2000  Captain Peter Chiu.)