Teams for Summer Nationals

[Inquartata]

Hopefully someone intimately familiar with the intricacies of the administrative requirements can answer this question.

Is there a "deadline" for registering a team with the National Office?

We held our Divisional Qualifiers for epee last weekend and for sabre and foil this weekend. When we went to enter our sabre team, we were told that we had to have registered the club before March 18th. I can find no mention of such a deadline in the Operations Manual. ( There is a mention of an April 15th date. ) Nor indeed can I find any requirement that teams be "registered" with the National Office prior to holding Qualifiers.

Last year we just showed up, entered the team event and qualified. We went to Nationals and fenced the event.

Is there a new wrinkle this year, or were we misinformed?

[oiuyt]

Your division could have an entry deadline for qualifiers, including team qualifiers.

Was the statement that you needed to have registered for the tournament, or that you needed to be an official USFA member club?

Out of curiosity, why wasn't the club membership renewed before this in any case (if that's what happened)?

-B

[4qtrs]

We held our Divisional Qualifiers for epee last weekend and for sabre and foil this weekend. When we went to enter our sabre team, we were told that we had to have registered the club before March 18th.

You do not have to register with the National office. Any club in good standing that finishes high enough to qualify, does. If you need more info I can email you the rules we were all sent.

[Inquartata]

Your division could have an entry deadline for qualifiers, including team qualifiers.

If so, it is not in the Bylaws.

Was the statement that you needed to have registered for the tournament, or that you needed to be an official USFA member club?

It was that our club had to have registered its teams with the USFA by March 18th.

Out of curiosity, why wasn't the club membership renewed before this in any case (if that's what happened)?

-B

The club is up to date membership-wise. The fellow running Qualifiers said that we had to have recorded the club's various intended teams with the USFA by March 18th. ( Apparently he'd requested a list of teams in the Division from the National Office, and since ours wasn't on it he said we could not enter a team in the Qualifiers. His club had done this, I guess; maybe he thought they had to do so, and thus that everyone had to do so. )

[Inquartata]

You do not have to register with the National office. Any club in good standing that finishes high enough to qualify, does. If you need more info I can email you the rules we were all sent.

So, there was an update sent out? Did it go to Division Secretaries, clubs, or what?

The only mention of a deadline I could find in the Operations Manual was:

A. Fencers are not permitted to represent a club in team championship competition unless they satisfy the club representation rules in Chapter 5, and meet one of the following criteria:

1. They have represented that club at least once during that regular season either in a competition in the division or in the Sectional Championships of the
section in which the club is located, OR

2. They have represented that club at least once during that regular season in a North American Circuit competition or in the Junior Olympic Championships, OR

3. They have represented the same club in the last National Championships and have notified the National Office in writing before April 15 (and be able to prove so by, for example, certified mail with return receipt requested) of their intent to represent that club at the coming National Championships.

There is no mention of a Divisional deadline in our Bylaws...

I am unsure whether this is merely a misinterpretation on the part of the guy who was running Qualifiers, or a rule he thought should exist and that he implemented unilaterally, or what. He seemed fairly conversant with all of the other organizational differences between Qualifiers and other tournaments. But I'd like to make sure I'm not missing something buried in the fine print somewhere before I talk to him about it.

[KD5MDK]

Are you sure this isn't actually a registration deadline to sign up for Division Qualifiers being referred to?

[Inquartata]

Yes. We don't have those, either. ( We don't have the numbers to make such measures necessary. ) Just show up and sign in.

[fencerX]

:

There is no mention of a Divisional deadline in our Bylaws...

I am unsure whether this is merely a misinterpretation on the part of the guy who was running Qualifiers, or a rule he thought should exist and that he implemented unilaterally, or what. He seemed fairly conversant with all of the other organizational differences between Qualifiers and other tournaments. But I'd like to make sure I'm not missing something buried in the fine print somewhere before I talk to him about it.

If you want your team to fence at Summer Nationals, don't waste too much time trying to figure out what likely is a mistake by your division officer. Take another look at the "fine print" you've been reading through -- even if you can't find reference to the deadline the organizer was enforcing, you can find the deadline for appeals.

[Inquartata]

That's already in the works.