Upcoming rules changes

[grphiw]

I also heard elsewhere of some other possible changes. Fencers who present themselves on the strip without their names on their uniforms in a competition where it is required, will start all their bouts with a red card--touch against--until they fix the problem. I will be interested to see how this is enforced.

At what level of tournaments (if there is no specific answer, an a rough idea will be much appreciated) do they start requiring names being on uniforms?

[Inquartata]

It was confirmed to me in the referee seminar that the 10-touch bout in veteran's sabre has a one-minute break at 5 touches--there was a disagreement about this in Palm Springs, but apparently it's resolved.

And yet, there I was in Vet 40 MS having to ask about this...and getting conflicting answers from the 3 refs assigned. One of whom finally went and asked the BC, which confirmed the breaks. I suspect that had no one asked, we wouldn't have had them. Or we would for some bouts and not others, depending on which ref we got...

[Inquartata]

I think it would be a great idea for the tournament directors to find a better way to show the assigned strips so there aren't a hundred people crowded around three areas trying to find their names, but that's another story.

Hey, this is an integral part of the fencing experience!

Every big tournament I go to I mean to take my binoculars and climb up on a chair at a safe distance, to avoid the elbowing and jostling multitudes. I never remember.

[oiuyt]

Part of the reason behind the confusion regarding t.72 was due in large part to statements from George K. At the BoD meeting he briefly discussed the changes, including explaining how the change would affect calls in foil (which, of course, as was noted a couple of days later it won't, being in the sabre section). These explanations were repeated/continued to various refs around the BC table that afternoon. Not surprisingly there was a fair amount of concern/consternation over that particular change. Eventually the matter was straightened out.

All of the changes are merely rubberstamping changes the FIE has decided upon. The FIE has, apparently, decided to make all calls at the strip... not a problem when there're only a dozen strips in the same smallish room. How closely the USFA will actually adhere to this (and therefore how many stupid blackcards are handed out) will remain to be seen next October in Atlanta.

grphiw- Names are required on the back or on the rear leg (side or front of the leg) in any USFA national-level competition (NACs, JOs, Nationals). For FIE competitions names and country code are required to be on the back of the fencer and country colors must appear on the rear leg.

I thought a good job was done with posting the seeding lists and results in three widely separated locations with a fair amount of spacing between different events. I certainly never had trouble getting in to see where I needed to be (granted I'm taller than most which tends to help). Having the front board double-sided for additional space was a good thought.

-B :)