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Australian Academy of Fencing | Swashbucklers' | En-Garde! Fencing |
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Professor of Fencing - British Academy of Fencing |
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Master of Armes / Maitre d'Armes - Australian Academy of Fencing |
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Michael O'Brien |
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Mike O'Brien - Diploma awarded in 1954 |
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Mike O'Brien's Salle d'Armes on Queensland's Gold Coast |
| PUBLISHED ARTICLES: THE CONTRIBUTION OF THE TEAM COACH |
RESUME OF EXPERIENCE:
| 1927 | Born Nambour Queensland Australia. Educated At St. Columbans College, Albion, Brisbane. |
| 1943 | Joined the U.S. Merchant Marines |
| 1948 | Returned to Australia, Commenced competitive fencing |
| 1951 | Queensland
Champion - Epee, 2nd Foil Australian Finalist - Foil, Epee |
| 1952 | Selected for Helsinki Olympics. Omitted from team in London and officials queried amateur status. Reinstated after Olympics and pursued Fencing Master's Diploma. |
| 1954 | Winner "Challenge Bruner" Paris and semi-finalist World Summer Games in Buda-Peste. Obtained the Brevet of Maitre d'Armes from the British Academy of Fencing. |
| 1955 | Competed for "Cercle Hoche" Paris in the "Spinosi Bourbon". A 5 man team event: 2 foilists - Claude Bancilhon, Adrian Rommel, 2 Epeeists - Claude Neter, Roger Crosnier, 1 Sabreur - Michael A. O'Brien. |
| 1955 | Won the Australian Sabre Title, 2nd in Foil. Turned professional, won Queensland Open Foil and Sabre titles. Winner of the inaugural & last amateur professional championships in both foil and sabre. The epee event was not held. |
| 1956 | Coach of
the Australian Olympic Foil team, Melbourne. Australia took Hungary (the current World Champions Team) to an 8 all draw. Australia lost on indicators - the match results were: Michael Sitchel 3 wins, Brian Mc Cowage 3 wins, Tom Cross 2 wins, David Mc Kenzie 0 wins. Introduced Fencing into Melbourne schools - standardized instruction throughout all Australian States excepting New South Wales. Was appointed Coach to the Melbourne University Fencing Club. |
| 1962 | Coached the English Fencing Team at the Commonwealth Games in Perth. |
| 1964 | Introduced
Fencing into Monash University, Melbourne. Left both Monash and Melbourne Universities in 1968 to coach overseas. |
| 1966 | Prepared Australian Fencing Team members for the Commonwealth Games - Jamaica |
| 1968 | Coached in the Tampa Bay area, Florida, after attending the Olympic Games, Mexico City (at own expense). |
| 1970 | Coach of the Australian Commonwealth Games team in Edinburgh. |
| 1972 | Coached & prepared Australian Fencing Team members for the Olympic Games - Munich Germany |
| 1974 | Regional Coach for the four Western Provinces of Canada (British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba) stationed in Edmonton, Alberta. Appointed Coach to the University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada. |
| 1975 | Coach to Australian Junior team members at Mexico City for World Junior Championships. |
| 1976 | Coach to
Canadian team, World Junior Championships, Poznan Poland. Montreal Olympics Coach to pupil Greg Benko - 1st Australian Olympic Finalist. Greg came 6th. Returned to Melbourne as State Director of Coaching for the Victorian Amateur Fencing Association. |
| 1978 | Coach to Australian Commonwealth team - Glasgow and subsequent World Championships - Hamburg, Germany. |
| 1979 | Coach Australian Team (Foil) World Championships - Melbourne. |
| 1981 | Australian
Team World Championships - Clement Ferrand, France. Graduate Diploma in Sports Coaching Sciences from Rusden College, Melbourne National Development Director for the Australian Amateur Fencing Federation. |
| 1985 | Representing the Professionals (Australian Academy of Fencing) was contracted by Andy Szakall, representing the Amateurs (Australian Amateur Fencing Federation) to write the National Coaching Accreditation Scheme's Fencing syllabus - Levels 1 & 2 (foil, epee, sabre). |
| 1988 | Returned to Queensland to "semi-retirement". |
| 1991 | Coach to the Qld Pentathlon team. |
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1993 |
Coach to Australian National Pentathlon Team to Santiago Chile. |
| 1999 | Award from the British Olympic Association in recognition of services rendered at the Gold Coast preparation for their Olympic quest. |
| 2000 | Made Life Member of the Australian Fencing Federation in recognition of a life time contribution to the sport. Made Life Member of the Qld Amateur Fencing Association for contributions to fencing. Volunteer Official at the Sydney Olympic Games fencing events. Appointed Fencing Master at Bond University, Gold Coast. |
| 2001 | Participated in the restoration of the Australian Academy of Fencing; the governing body, guild and union of Australian Professional Coaches and Masters. |
| 2005 | Official observer - World Championships - Leipzig |
| 2006 | Official observer - World Championships - Turin |
| 2007 | Currently co-authoring the Australian Academy of Fencing's Prevost & Maitre d'Armes Coaching Course Manual. |
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Mike O'Brien & John Fethers before they were fencing masters. Guess the year? |
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Mike O'Brien & a young Bill Hobbs, a budding young junior up from Sydney for the inaugural amateur-professional competition held in Brisbane in 1955. The results were: 1st Michael O'Brien, 2nd Michael Sitchel, in 3rd place was Ivan Lund and Laurie Smith was 4th. |
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Last modified: 22 Feb 2008