beginner fencing compititions

[ian]

I was at a begeinner compition last month, and it was supposed to only be for u's.
but they allowed a couple guys who have been fencing for 8- 10 years and have e rankings! I don't realy understand this. And why i am really destressed about it, is because the guy who has been fencing for 10 years is the one who shut down my 3rd place chance! and a that time i was only fencing for 2 months.
Maybe I'm just venting, but shouldnt there be some kind of rule against that sort of thing?

[jusplainfencing]

it does seem unfair but im sure they wouldent have been allowed to compete if there was any rules against it.

[DHCJr]

How was the tournament listed? Did you know, that a B or even an A can fence at a Div III tournament. I know of someone who was a B when they fenced in a Div III tournament. That is because at time of registration they were not a B. They earned their B, just before the Div III NAC. So that goes back to how was the tournament listed. Did it just have Beginner in the title and then listed as a D tournament? If it did state unclassified, unclassified at what point? Just, curious!

[ian]

it was unclassified. but what do you mean by at what point?

[nahouw]

Was the competition advertised on the division schedule as an Unclassified or as an E-and-Under? If it was advertised as Unclassified, then the division should withdraw their sanction of the event and not award classifications -- we have had that problem before in our division when some clubs let whoever shows up fence, even if they don't meet the advertised criteria.

If it was a club competition and not a division sanctioned competition, then the club is free to do as they choose.

Talk to the executive board of your division about this. Perhaps the club in question that hosted the event is not aware of the operations manual of the USFA.

Originally posted by ian
I was at a begeinner compition last month, and it was supposed to only be for u's.
but they allowed a couple guys who have been fencing for 8- 10 years and have e rankings! I don't realy understand this. And why i am really destressed about it, is because the guy who has been fencing for 10 years is the one who shut down my 3rd place chance! and a that time i was only fencing for 2 months.
Maybe I'm just venting, but shouldnt there be some kind of rule against that sort of thing?

[edew]

Originally posted by ian
it was unclassified. but what do you mean by at what point?

Some tournaments, especially the larger national tournaments have early entry deadline. That means one has to be of a certain classification at the time of the entry submission. But, one may improve upon one's classification between the entry submission time and the actual time of competition.

Another possibility is the way the competitioin is formatted. For example, in the Bay Area, we have the Bay Cup's Category-2 competition. To compete in it, you must start your first category-2 competition with a C-XX or lower classification, where XX is current last-two-digit of the start of the season year, minus two (so it's 00 for this 2002-2003 season). But, if you earn a higher classification since your first comeptition, that doesn't prevent you from continuing in the category-2 events for the remainder of the season. The reason is because the points count towards winning prizes at the end of the season and eliminating the top fencers because they upgraded their classifications would be counterproductive, to say the least. It was a compromise that many people liked, although it's still a bit difficult for some BC people to work with. People are getting it, though.

So, as long as you start your first Category-2 competition with a C00 or lower in that weapon (for this season; next season is C01), you're entitled to continue fencing in the category-2 events for the remainder of the season, even if you get a C02, C03, B03, A03 or whatever.

[ian]

thanks for your thoughts everyone.
I will try and find out if it was an e and under or not. although i think it was u's only