legal to be in more than one division?

[foilfencer0617]

i was wondering if anyone knew if you could join more than one division so that for qualifiers, you could try more than once. maybe you could join the usfa twice in two divisions?

[DHCJr]

As an individual no, but you could compete on a team in one division and individual in another, IF your team is registered in one division and you live in another. You division is based on either your team/club or your physical location. But then you couldn't fence team in your own division.

There was a club many years ago, try and qualify weaker members of their team in another weaker division, by claiming they had two addresses. The fencers were disqualified by the national office and were not allowed to fence in the sectionals or the nationals.

[Mo]

Dear Foil Fencer,
You cannot try out in two divisions.
But here are all the rest of the rules

For all competitions at the National Championships AND division and section qualifying tournaments, must be current competitive members of the USFA and citizens or permanent residents of the United States and meet the qualification standards stated herein. The entry form and schedule of competitions will be published in the March issue of the National Newsletter.

For 2003 Summer National Championships & Division & Section Qualifying Competitions

CATEGORY DIV. IA, II, III, Senior TM VET 40 VET 50 VET 60 JUNIOR Ind, Tm CADET YTH 14 YTH 12 YTH 10
BIRTH YRS 1989 or earlier 9/2/53-12/31/62 9/2/43-9/1/53 Before 9/2/43 ‘84-‘90 ‘87-‘90 ‘88-‘91 ‘90-‘93 ‘92-‘95

DIVISION I-A CHAMPIONSHIPS

Fencers must be born no later than 1989 AND
Place in the top 30% of the 2003 Senior Section Championships with the proviso that at least ten will qualify (Any fraction in determining number of qualifiers the number will be rounded up) OR
Placed in top 8 at the 2002 Division I-A National Championships OR
Placed in top 4 at the 2002 Division II National Championships OR
Be the 2003 Under-19 Section Champion

DIVISION II CHAMPIONSHIPS

Fencers must have a classification in the weapon of “C”, “D”, “E” or Unclassified at the time of the qualifying competition AND have been born no later than 1989 AND -

Place in the top 30% of the 2003 Division Qualifying competition OR
Be among the top 6 at the 2003 Senior Section Championships who do not otherwise qualify OR
Qualify for the 2003 Under-19 National Championships in that weapon OR
Qualify for the 2003 Under-16 National Championships in that weapon OR
Placed in the top 4 at the 2002 Division III National Championships

DIVISION III CHAMPIONSHIPS

Fencers must have a classification in the weapon of “D”, “E” or Unclassified at the time of the qualifying competition AND have been born no later than 1989 AND -

Fenced in the Division Qualifying competition for the 2003 Division II National Championships OR
Qualify for 2003 Division II National Championships OR
Fenced in the 2003 Senior Section Championships

SENIOR SECTION CHAMPIONSHIPS

The Senior Section Championships is the qualifying competition for Division I-A Championships. The Under-19 Section Championships is the qualifying competition for the Under-19 Championships

UNDER-19 CHAMPIONSHIPS

Fencer’s must have been born between 1984 and 1990** AND
Place in the top 30% at the 2003 Under-19 Section Championships OR
Be on the Junior point standings as of May 1, 2003 OR
Be in the top 16 of the Cadet point standings as of May 1, 2003.
Host Division of Summer Nationals (South Texas for 2003) may hold an U-19 Qualifying tournament for the Summer Fencing Championships from which 30% who do not otherwise qualify may qualify (Change approved by BOD 2/00).

UNDER-16 CHAMPIONSHIPS

Fencers must have been born between 1987 and 1990** AND
Be on the Cadet point standings as of May 1, 2003 OR
Place in the top 30% of the Division’s U-16 qualifying competition [South Texas as host division for 2003 qualifies double the number of normal qualifiers] OR
Be in the Top 8 of the Youth 14 point standings as of April 29, 2003

YOUTH 14 CHAMPIONSHIPS

Fencers must have been born between 1988 and 1991** AND
Be on the Youth 14 NRPS as of April 29, 2003 OR
Place in the top 30% of the Division’s Youth 14 qualifying competition

** Athletes can fence in their Division’s qualifying competitions for Youth 14 or Cadet (U-16) Summer Nationals IF: 1) the athlete's birth year falls in that age bracket OR 2) the athlete is on the national rolling point standings in the next younger age bracket. For example, a fencer born in 1992, can fence in Youth 10 and Youth 12 at the Summer Nationals without any special qualification requirements. A fencer born in 1992 is eligible to fence in the Youth 14 Division’s qualifying competition ONLY IF the fencer is on the current Youth 12 point standings. For that same fencer to be eligible to fence in the Division’s Cadet (U-16) qualifying competition, the fencer must be listed on the current Youth 14 point standings. Current is the point standings at the time of the qualifying competitions. Similar rule applies for qualifying competitions for the Under-19 Summer National Championships: if athlete is younger than age criteria, athlete must be on current Cadet standings.

YOUTH-12 OPEN

Fencers born between 1990 and 1993** may enter the Youth 12 competitions at the 2003 Summer National Championships without meeting any special qualifying criteria.

YOUTH-10 OPEN

Fencers born between 1992 and 1995 may enter the Youth 10 competitions at the 2003 Summer National Championships without meeting any special qualifying criteria. Fencers must be current USFA competitive members.

SENIOR TEAM

All members of a team are to be competitive members of the same USFA Member Club and their USFA Member Club must enter the team. Members of the team must be born no later than 1989 and must be US Citizens or permanent residents.

Each team member must have represented that club according to the rules of team representation as specified in Chapter III, Section 1:B(1) of the USFA Operations Manual.

Automatically qualifying to the National Team Championships will be any team from a current USFA member club that placed first through fourth in the previous year's championships (for 2003 that will be the top 4 teams in the 2002 Division I Team Championships and the 2002 Open Team Championships).

Teams otherwise qualify through their Divisions with each Division qualifying a minimum of two clubs who have entered teams in their Division's qualifying competition, fifty percent (50%) (rounded down) of the number of clubs that competed in the qualifying competition.

# Teams 2-5 6-7 8-9 10-11 12-13 14-15 16-17
# Qualifiers 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

There must be a minimum of six teams entered in a team competition at the National Championships for the competition to be held.

The US Modern Pentathlon Association may designate three fencers each to compete in the men’s épée and women’s épée competitions.

The members of the team at the Nationals need not be the same as the members of the team at the Division qualifying competition. The members of the team MUST have represented the club at USFA competitions.

UNDER-19 TEAM CHAMPIONSHIPS: members of the team must be born between 1984 and 1990

Placed in the top 4 at the 2003 Under-19 National Team Championships and be a current USFA member club OR

Each division is allowed to qualify a specified number of teams to the Under-19 Team Championships based on the number of clubs represented in the qualifying round:

Nbr of Clubs Competing 2 3 4-5 6-10 10 or more
Number of Clubs Qualify 2 3 4 5 6

Any current USFA member club that qualified at their Division’s 2002 Under-19 Team Championships (qualifying competition) may enter one team in each weapon in which it qualified.

The members of the team fielded at the Nationals need not be the same as the members of the team at the Division qualifying competition nor have qualified to fence in the Under-19 individual Championship competition..

VETERAN AGE

Any current competitive member born 1962 or earlier who meets one of the age categories described below and who has competed in

2003 Section Championships OR
2003 Division qualifying competition for Division II Championships OR
any NAC during the 2002-2003 season.

The Veterans Age Championships will be held in three age categories: “40-49” as of 1/1/03, “50-59”, and “60 and older”, the last two age groups as of Sept. 1, 2003. The international fencing governing body (the FIE) has determined that age eligibility for the two age categories at the World Veterans Championships - 50-59 and 60 and older will be as of the first of the month in which the Championships are held. The 2003 Veterans Championships are scheduled for Sept. 5-7.

For 2003 Summer National Championships & Division & Section Qualifying Competitions

CATEGORY DIV. IA, II, III, Senior TM VET 40 VET 50 VET 60 JUNIOR Ind, Tm CADET YTH 14 YTH 12 YTH 10
BIRTH YRS 1989 or earlier 9/2/53-12/31/62 9/2/43-9/1/53 Before 9/2/43 ‘84-‘90 ‘87-‘90 ‘88-‘91 ‘90-‘93 ‘92-‘95

[edew]

In addition to being a US citizen or permanent resident, the person could not have competed on a foreign national team within the past three years. A fencer from Stanford competed in the JOs several years back. He is a US citizen, being born in the US, but lived in England for many years and competed on the UK junior national team (within three years of competing in the JOs). If you look up his results in that JOs, his name is FENCER EXCLUDED.