From Fencing Wiki - Powered by Fencing.Net
Local competitions allow fencers to fence at all levels and in all three weapons. They are run by divisions or individual clubs. In most divisions, open tournaments are held once a month. Often, there are not enough women to support separate women's events at tournaments and fence in "mixed" competitions.
In the United States, fencers are eligible to compete as long as they have USFA membership.
Many divisions post their tournaments in the online tournament database AskFRED.
[edit] Regional
[edit] Sectional Championships
Competition designed to qualify athletes to Summer Nationals, particularly the Div 1A competition and the Junior (U-19) competition.
[edit] Important Regional Tournaments
Annual events hosted by divisions or clubs as fund raisers, often with memorable names. Tournaments yield high athlete turn-out and are considered an intermediate between local competitions and national level competitions.
Examples include:
The inclusion of a number of these events is subjective. There have been rumors of an unofficial national circuit, the formation of which will help define which tournaments remain in this category.
[edit] Regional Youth Circuit (RYC) and Super Youth Circuit (SYC)
Events include Y-10, Y-12, and Y-14 events.
[edit] National
North American Cups (NAC)
Summer Nationals/National Championships
[edit] International
Competitions that count in FIE points toward the Olympic Games:
- Satellite World Cups
- World Cups
-Nations are allowed to send up to 12 athletes
-Host nations are allowed to send up to 30 athletes
-Countries must send one referee per 5 athletes
-FIE points awarded for fencers in the top 64
-US National points awarded for the top 32, or the top 64 if the strength factor of the tournament is 2.0
-Five per season
-Tied to international team events
-National are allowed to send up to 8 athletes
-Host nations are allowed to send up to 20 athletes
-Countries are not required to send referees. The host country must provide them instead. This is one reason Grands Prix are more expensive than World Cups (60 Euros instead of 20).
-FIE points awarded for fencers in the top 64, double what is earned in World Cups
-US National points awarded in the same manner as in World Cups
- Continental Championships
-Nations allowed to send 4 athletes
-FIE points given for the top 64 fencers and count double, as for Grands Prix
-Team event is tied to the event, with points counting toward international rank
-Nations allowed to send 4 athletes
-FIE points given for top 64 fencers and count triple for the individual events
-FIE points count double in the team events
Only a handful of these tournaments offer cash prizes, notably the Men's Epee Grand Prix in Doha, Qatar and the Men's Epee Grand Prix in Kuwait City, Kuwait. Fencers from the United States are eligible for performance grants at these tournaments, based on the type of tournament, their placement at the event, the strength factor of the event, and their prior results in similar events.
Other important international competitions:
