Petitioning for Nationals

[AndrewH]

Hi all! While visiting LA, my family and I were involved in an accident that left me with some persistant injuries, that I can't fence with. My section's Div I-A qualifiers are coming up this weekend and I am entered, but I won't be able to fence. What i'm wondering is how I would go about petitioning the USFA to qualify for I-A summer nationals? I looked around on the site but I can't find a specific form. Has anyone else done this and can fill me in on the process? Thanks!

[damianip]

Andrew,

I can't help you, never having done it. I suggest you contact the NJ division officers and see what they have to offer. I'm sure Carol or Gladys will know how to proceed.

Sorry to hear about the accident. Recover soon.

Take care,

Paolo

[D'Artagnan1673]

Andrew, I can offer you nothing but my sympathy, but there is plenty of that for your situation. I hope it works out alright.

[oiuyt]

Check the very final page of the National Newsletter portion of the American Fencing that just came out. The top half of the page is the national appeals process. It's also just a section taken from the USFA Operations Manual (available on the USFencing website) if, for whatever reason, you don't have Am. Fen. available to you.

-B :)

[edew]

There is no form per se. You need to send a letter to USFA explaining your situation (why you didn't compete), your qualifications (why you should be eligible for the event in question), and provide support from a division officer. The division officer should write a letter supporting your claims of injury and skills and recommend that your appeal be approved.

Then send the letters and a $30 check to USFA and wait for an answer. You need to send in your appeal within 1 week of the qualifying event.

Of course, if you attend the qualifiers and fail to qualify, then you're SOL (for those who might be considering appealing after accidentally getting knocked out early in the event).

[frenzl]

hopefull the injuries sustained will be rocovered from by nationals, the USFA might ask the question regarging that situation too. SO Sorry to hear such news and good luck with it all.

[ShadowHuntr]

im sorry to hear about your accident. i was wondering how accurate your profile was. moreso, how recent it is. because as an E02 (as stated on your profile)and petitioning to Div 1-a as an E. I dont know that they would accept. You got to figure, you gotta qualfiy in the top 25% in Div 1-a to qualify which would probably mean you would probably be a higher rating just to qualify. That is just my thought on it, I dont know how the entire process goes though, but good luck.

[Sabresque]

I petitioned long ago for an event. I believe that as long as you DON'T FENCE the qualifier you can petition because of an injury. I think the process is that you write down your best results, write them a letter of why you couldn't fence the qualifier (aka the sob story), and send in all that with the petition fee (you might want to add a doctor's note). You'll have to check back over the rules, but I believe this is all you must do. It's worth a try, and they just might let you in. I've got to believe they let in most of the people who petition, because that means they're serious about it, but I don't knwo for sure. Good luck!

[Peach]

I believe you can also withdraw during the tournament due to injury. The main idea is NOT TO FENCE INJURED. That means if you don't do well you can't petition.

[SupportCrew]

I just went through this. All the preceding advice is good, and if I have who you are figured out correctly, you have some decent results to report. Along with print outs of the results from the NJ site, I included a copy of the doctor's note, peeled the prescription label off the bottle, and xeroxed that. My biggest problem was trying to get through to the division. We talked to everyone before we left the competition that day, BUT...I neglected to get that little piece of paper from the bout committee. Lots of stress followed, but eventually everything turned out fine. I would just recommend trying to get in touch with the officers starting now. Gladys has been traveling, the division has gotten very large...etc. If it's not too far, you might want to drive down on Saturday. Good Luck.

[AndrewH]

Actually the profile is old, I'm now a C04 with top8/top4 in our U19/Senior division champs, and a top8 in the u19 sectionals. I'll get that letter written up and email gladys too. Oh, do I send in the appeal with my entry form? Or do i have to wait to hear back from the USFA before I send in my entry?

[oiuyt]

Just for our future reference, could you post what the USFA says in response to your petition?

The final bit of the appeals write-up says:

The submission of an appeal does not constitute an entry into the Championships; the fencer who is appealing should send a timely entry, noting the competitions for which the fencer is submitting an appeal. If the appeal is denied, the fees related to the competitions for which there was an appeal will be refunded in full.

So send in the entry with the appeal.

-B :)

[AndrewH]

Since oiuyt asked for the status update... I wasn't able to have it in within 3 days of the qualifying competition, as required, because I didn't recieve the letter from the section chair until Thursday of that week. But I packaged everything up anyway and sent it, and called the USFA to ask if it was OK to send late. I left a message with them and never got called back, but today I got an email simply stating "your petition is approved". So, all's well that ends well. See you all at Nationals!

[oiuyt]

Congratulations. See you in Charlotte.

-B :)

[ac_fencer]

I have heard it is very hard to petition to goto nationals.