Welcome to the
Now that you or
your child is moving into the competitive phase of fencing, you may find you
have a lot of questions. Do I need to be a USFA member? What is involved in
competing? What tournaments should I focus on? What are ratings and how do I
get one? The purpose of this document is to explain some of these complexities.
This document does not cover items such as the rules of the fencing match or
weapon specifications. More information on these topics can be found on the
USFA web page at www.usfencing.org.
1) What is the
The USFA
national office is the highest level of this national fencing organization. One
of the purposes of the USFA is to qualify and support athletes heading for the
Olympics. But the USFA is also responsible for maintaining fencer ratings (how
a fencer ranks with other fencers), and most non-collegiate fencers will sooner
or later compete in a USFA sanctioned event.
Not all fencing
falls under this organization. For example, college fencing is under the
auspices of the NCAA, as are other collegiate sports.
This is the
hierarchy within the USFA:
I.
National Office
A.
Sections (we are in the Rocky Mountain Section)
a.
Clubs (member clubs of the division)
Our section is
made up of quite a few divisions:
Why is it necessary
to know which Division and Section you participate in? Because there are
qualification paths for national level tournaments and these qualification
paths are fenced within your Section and Division. Also, when you sign up for
USFA membership, you need to know your Division.
2) Do I need to be a USFA member?
While it is not
necessary to be a member of the USFA, to fence in many tournaments USFA
membership is required. If you want to earn a rating at a tournament, the
tournament must be sanctioned by the division, section or national office to
award ratings. It is possible to find some local tournaments (usually club
sponsored) that do not require membership, but in almost all tournaments at a
division or higher level will require it.
In addition to
fencing in competitions, being a USFA member gets you the
Another
membership option to consider is the Family membership. This allows the parents
and up to two competitive family fencers to be members for one price. If as a
parent you wish to participate in event coordination, you need to be a USFA
member also for some positions.
3) When is the fencing season?
The USFA runs
on a calendar from August 1st through July 31st. Membership expires on July
31st. In the
4) What is a classification rating?
A
classification is a letter from A to E (with A being the highest) that is
earned in competition. The classification reflects the skill level of a fencer.
If a fencer has not earned a classification, they are considered a U (for
unclassified). A classification includes the letter assigned as well as the
year in which it was last earned, for example "A-03". Classifications
are valid for four years, at which point they revert to the next lowest letter,
or "U", if the classification has not been re-earned within the four
year period. Classifications years are based on a calendar year (for example, a
fencer earns a C rating at a competition in December 2003, that rating is a
C03. If the fencer earns a C rating at a competition in February 2004, the
rating is a C04, regardless that both tournaments are within the same fencing
season. When the rating reverts however, this is based on the fencing season.
For example, a B99 becomes a C03 on August 1st of the 2003-2004 fencing season.
5) What types of competitions are there?
There are
competitions held at international, national, regional and local levels. This
document is not going to cover international competitions, as most of these
require a high performance level at the national level before entry is allowed.
At the national level are North American Cups or NACs,
Junior Olympics and Summer Nationals. Examples of regional tournaments include
the Regional Youth Circuit (RYC) and the Falcon Open. Often local tournaments
that have gained popularity become regional tournaments by attracting fencers
from outside of the area. The Falcon Open is one of these - it is held by the
Air Force Academy but is attended by fencers throughout our section. Finally
there are local tournaments. Local tournaments include our Colorado Cup
tournaments and club tournaments. The Colorado Cup is a local tournament
because although we do not restrict non-local fencers from attending, the
majority of fencers are from our division and our annual awards are given based
on points earned at these events. Some club tournaments are non-sanctioned
events that do not award ratings and are usually held for some friendly
competition.
6) Can I fence at any of these competitions?
Some
competitions are restricted by age and/or rating, especially national
competitions (see #8 and #9). At the national level, competitions are also
restricted by gender. Opens are not gender restricted.
Here are some
examples of our local tournaments:
Colorado Cup
Open - any fencer can enter
Colorado Cup Women’s - any female fencer can enter
Unrated Open - any fencer without a rating in that weapon can enter
Y-14 Open - any fencer who falls in the Y-14 age category (see section #7)
can fence
7) How do I know which age classification I'm in?
Age
classifications are based on the fencer's birth year, not their birthday. So it
is possible for a fencer to be in an Y14 group and not be 14.
These are the
age classifications (in the 2003-2004 season):
Veteran - 1963 or earlier
Junior (also known as U20) - 1984-1990
Cadet (also known as U16) - 1987-1990
Youth14 (also known as Y14) - 1989-1992
Youth12 (also known as Y12) - 1991-1994
Youth10 (also known as Y10) - 1993-1996
8) What does the USFA mean by Division I, II and III?
Division
categories are used at NACs and Summer Nationals for
different levels of fencing (not to be confused with the geographic division
discussed earlier). Division I require a fencer to have a classification rating
of C, B or A. Division II requires a fencer to have a classification rating of
C, D, E or U. Division III requires a fencer to have a classification rating of
D, E or U. In summer nationals only, there is also a Division I-A. Division I-A
is only age restricted. Division events are age restricted - fencers must have
been born in 1990 or earlier.
9) How are local competitions run?
Most of our
local competitions are run in the following manner:
Fencers are seeded (based on rating and club) into pools. Pools usually consist
of 5-8 people, depending on the number of fencers. Fencers fence every other
fencer in their pool in a 5-touch bout. Once all the pools have completed
fencing, a tableau is completed based on how well the fencer did in their pool
against fencers in other pools. In our tournaments, 100% of fencers are
promoted to the next step. Some competitions restrict promotion to the next
level - for example 80%.
The next level
is direct eliminations. These are 15-touch bouts. As the name implies, if the
fencer loses, they are eliminated from the competition. Final ranking is based
on which bracket you initially seeded into from the pools and the bracket you
finished in.
10) Who are the people running these competitions?
Often it is
club and division members who are volunteering to run the local competitions.
We are always looking for fencers and parents who will help, since there is a
lot of effort involved as you can see from the previous section. There is the
bout committee, who is responsible for seeding the competition, assigning
referees to strips, recording results and resolving disputes. There are
referees who watch the bouts and make the calls. There are support people who
help with errands - getting food for the volunteers, laying strips and other
necessary components. Most of this work is done gratis, and as a division we
try to get new people involved as this will only help to strengthen our
division.
11) How are ratings determined at a competition?
Ratings at a
competition are determined by 3 factors:
There is a
chart that the division follows at competitions from the USFA. When a
tournament is listed as a ‘potential’ event, this means the expectation based
on the number of entries and the ratings of the fencers entered is that the
event will finish that way.
Here is an
example:
The event is a ‘potential’ C1 if there are at least 15 fencers entered and
there are 2 C rated fencers, 2 D rated fencers and 2 E rated fencers (or
higher). For example, if there is a B rated fencer and a C rated fencer, this
would count for the 2 C fencers. In order for the event to finish a C1 event, 2
C rated fencers and 2 D rated fencers (or higher) must finish in the top 8. If
that happens, the first place winner earns a C, 2nd through 4th earn a D and
5th through 8th earn an E.
12) What is the RYC?
The regional
youth circuit (RYC) is fairly new. The goal of the RYC is to grow youth fencing
by allowing youth to fence more competitions within closer distances than
national tournaments. There are 8 regions; the Colorado Division is in the
13) What are point standings?
Point standings
are calculated based on placement in National tournaments. This is often
abbreviated as NRPS (national rolling point standings). The standings can be
viewed on the USFA web page, under National Rankings heading (they are sorted
by age classification). As the fencing year progresses, points from a
tournament from last year is replaced with the equivalent tournament results
from this year.
14) What are qualification paths?
The USFA has
qualification paths for National Championships (individual and team) and Junior
Olympics. Most national championship events are held during the Summer
Nationals (held the first week of July). Sometimes the Division I National
Championships are held separately, depending on the international fencing
schedule.
This is just a
brief overview of qualification paths, specifics can be found in the Athlete’s
Handbook, found on the USFA web page, under the Info For
Members/Forms heading.
**NOTE: the
qualification paths have been changed this year but the qualification path
document has not been updated on the web page, refer to the Athlete’s Handbook,
section 2.3.
There are often
several qualification paths for an event. Some of these are considered
‘automatic’. For example, if the fencer placed in the top 8 at the previous
year’s Division 1-A championship, they are automatically qualified to fence in
this year’s Division 1-A championships. Another ‘automatic’ qualification for
some events is to be on the NRPS list (for example, the Junior Olympics).
If you are not
an automatic qualifier, you can qualify through qualifying tournaments. There
are 3 qualifying tournaments held in our Division and Section: Junior Olympics,
Divisional (Individual and Team) Qualifiers and Sectional Qualifiers.
Division 1-A
and U-19 championships are qualified for through the Sectional Qualifying
tournament. Division II, Division III, Under 16 and Y-14 championships are
qualified for through Division Qualifiers (with a couple of secondary
qualifying paths through Sectional Qualifiers). The Y-10 and Y-12 Opens are
qualified for through the Regional Youth Circuit (see the section above on the
RYC). The number of fencers that qualify is based on the number of entrants � new this season is a Division III
qualification path. And next year, the 30% cut off will change to 25%.
Here is an
example (this is to qualify for Division III):
Fencers must have a classification in the weapon of �D�,
�E� or unclassified and be born no later than 1991 AND
Table 1: Number of Individual Qualifiers for National Championships
|
# of competitors |
# of qualifiers |
|
1 |
1 |
|
2 |
2 |
|
3-12 |
3 |
|
13-16 |
4 |
|
17-20 |
5 |
|
21-24 |
6 |
|
25-28 |
7 |
|
29-32 |
8 |
|
33-36 |
9 |
|
37-40 |
10 |
|
41-44 |
11 |
|
45-48 |
12 |
As you can see,
there are several ways to qualify BUT you also need to look at the qualifying
tournament schedule. For example, in the Colorado Division, our Division
Qualifiers are held before Sectional Qualifiers. There are a couple ways of
looking at this: if you didn't qualify through one of the first two options
above, you can try again at Sectional Qualifiers and qualifying for the
Division 1-A event. However, if you don't go to
Division Qualifiers, you must go to Sectional Qualifiers and do well in order
to go to this event and you've lost a chance to qualify through the other path.
If a fencer qualifies through the Division Qualifier, they will be considered
already qualified at Sectional Qualifiers, and will not be double-qualified.
That space is allotted to the next fencer that didn't qualify through Division
Qualifiers.
We hope this information helped. There are many more items that have not
been addressed in this document and surely there may be other questions you may
have. For information on rules, regulations and other documents, you can go to
the USFA website for items such as the Athlete’s Handbook, the Parent’s Guide
and the USFA Rule Book. Or contact your club coach or manager, your division
officers or the USFA office.