I had an A in 1996 but when i renewed my membership this april i was rated E04 after 9 years on no competions after the 4 years are up on the original ranking every year after that you lose a letter i guess i just lucked out when i renewed that i still have some sorta ranking
I'll be the first to say I didn't really deserve it. I got went from "U" to "D99" at an unrated foil tournament. I had a couple of years experience under my belt (fencing mostly epee,) and everyone else had just started fencing. I therefore had little trouble winning all of my pool and DE bouts. I competed in several foil competitions after that (including the Div III Summer Nationals,) and never even finished high enough to earn a "E." I haven't picked up a foil in over three years now; just concentrating on epee.