Organization and Segregation
How Qualifers and National events work
The Classification System
There are a number of different categories of tournaments with events open to different fencers. Fencers may be segregated based upon the following categories: Gender, Age and Division (Skill Level)
Gender) Tournaments may be fenced with the genders separated into Men's and Women's (typically Sectional and National tournaments and qualifiers thereto) or Mixed (occationally with an additional separate Women's event).
Age) Tournaments are separated into different age categories: Open (13 years and up), Veteran (40+), Junior (13-20), Cadet (13-17), Youth-14, Youth-12, and Youth 10. Birth years are used to assign fencers into different categories as follows (for the 2007-2008 season):
| Event | Div I, IA, II, III, Open, Senior | Veteran | Junior | Cadet | Youth-14 | Youth-12 | Youth-1 |
| Birth Years | 1994 or earlier | 1967 or earlier | 1988-1994 | 1981-1994 | 1993-1996 | 1995-1998 | 1997-2000 |
Fencers "age up" into the next age bracket each new USFA season, which begins August 1st. The exceptions to this rule are the Cadet and Junior brackets. The Junior and Cadet World Championships are held at the end of April each season (the US uses Cadet, Junior and DivI NACs, in addition to International results, to determine the members of this team). After the Junior and Cadet World Championships, these age categories "age up," and subsequent events held that year are fenced according to the following season's age categories. To avoid confusion, the Cadet and Junior-level events at Summer Nationals are referred to as Under-16 and Under-19, along with the qualifiers thereto (click here for more information on qualifying and attending national events).
Division) In this usage, "Division" refers not to a geographic locale (our USFA Division is the North Texas Division), but a separation according to classification, a tool used for separating fencers into different ranks based upon previous tournament results. Classifications can be earned at events of different calibers and are also called "ratings." (Click here more information on earning classifications). In this way "Division" is roughly equivalent to "Skill Level."
Division I is the "Elite" category of fencing in the USFA and is only open to fencers of "C" or higher classification. These NAC's (North American Cups) are used, in combination with international results, for selecting members of the US National Team.
Division IA is a special Division that is fenced at Summer Nationals, open to all Classifications, subject to qualification out of the Sectional level (our USFA Section is the Southwest Section).
Division II is open to fencers of classifications "C", "D", "E" and "U" at the time of registration or qualification.
Division III is open to fencers of classifications "D", "E" and "U" at the time of registration or qualification.
Open is a term used on the local and regional level and means the tournament is "Open to all comers" provided they are of the correct age (Birth year 1994 or greater) and gender (varies from tournament to tournament:Mixed, Men's or Women's). This term is often used interchangeably with the term "Senior."
National Events come in three different types: NACs, Junior Olympics and Summer Nationals. PLEASE NOTE! This is a distilation about how the qualifying proceedures work and is intended as a general guide ONLY. For OFFICIAL information, please visit either the USFA website or the North Texas Division website.
NAC's are the North American Cup series of events. NAC's are held at various locations around the country each year, and may consist of different events. For example, a Division II/Cadet and Y14 NAC is often held in October, whereas a NAC with Junior and Division I events is typically held in January. There is no qualification path to NACs, they are open to any person of the proper age and/or classification. SPECIAL NOTE: The USFA Board of Directors has issued the guidelines that in order for a Y10 or Y12 fencer to attend the Youth NAC in April, they must attend at least one RYC in their age category and weapon.
Junior Olympics are held in February and is essentially a Cadet and Junior NAC. However, it must be qualified for. The qualification path can be a little confusing, but basically consists of attending the Junior Olympic Qualifiers held in our Division (usually in December) and performing in the top quarter of the field. See the above sources for more detailed info.
Summer Nationals are where the National Championships are held each year. This is an EXTREMELY large tournament approximately 11 days long, that is held the week surrounding July 4th. At Summer Nationals, the following events are held:
In Men's and Women's
Foil, Epee and Sabre
Division I (Elite)
Division IA
Division II
Division III
Veteran-40
Veteran-50
Veteran-60
Under-19 (Junior aged up)
Under-16 (Cadet aged up)
Youth-14
Youth-12
Youth-10
Senior Team
Under-19 TeamAlso, Wheelchair events!
As you can see, that translates to QUITE a lot of events, each with their own unique qualifying path! Generally speaking though, the qualifiers run like this:
Division I (Elite) - National Rolling Point standings
Division IA and Under-19 - attend the Section Qualifying event and place in the top quarter of the field
Division II, Division III, Under-16, Youth-14 - attend the Division Qualifying event and place in the top quarter of the field
Youth-12 and Youth-10 attend an RYC competition in that season.
Veteran, and Team - attend the Division Qualifying event.
Classifications are a system of seeding fencers at the beginning of a competition into a single list, ranked roughly in order of skill level. There are six classifications: "A", "B", "C", "D", "E", and "U." Each of these is further divided into four sub-classifications, designated by the year in which the classification was last earned (e.g. C2004, A2003, B2002). Once a classification has been earned, the fencer has 4 years to re-earn it, or it will drop one level. Classifications are also used as cut-offs for National events, as illustrated here. One occationally finds a Division III or an Unclassified event (only open to "U"s) at the local level too.
Classifications are earned by attending and placing in the top part of a tournament of the appropriate size and strength. Different classifications can be earned in different ways. For a complete run-down of all the ways to earn a classification, see the USFA Operations Manual or check out this chart.