TOURNAMENT GUIDE

Guide for newly competitive fencers and families of CFA Stay tuned for updates for 2025, but this is mostly still applicable.

Updated Oct 2022

WHEN TO START COMPETING

• Basic guidelines to follow:
• Complete a Beginner Camp session or two of Intro class
• Compete in a CFA Intro Tournament
• Consult your fencers coach about transiting to recreation or competitive packages
• Sign up for weekly private lesson(s) and group class(es)
• When registration opens for a tournament, your fencers is interested in attending, have them talk to their coach
• Your fencer being comfortable to talk/discuss with their coach is critical to the dynamic of student/coach relationship
• Being able to effectively communicate off the strip will play a valuable roll on the strip when it comes time to compete.

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TYPES OF TOURNAMENTS�

In House

• Tournaments held at CFA/run by CFA staff/members
• At least a non-competitive membership

Local

• Tournaments held at other fencing clubs in the area
• Most outside clubs will require a competitive USAF membership
• New 2021-2022 season: Access membership allows for local (clubs) tournaments

Regional Youth Circuit and Regional Cadet and Junior Circuit (RYC/RJCC)

• Require a competitive USAF membership
• VA is in Region 6
• A fencer can compete at a RYC from any region, but will only earn regional points if tournament is held in their region
• If within Region 6, everyone from 1^st to last place will earn regional points (based on sliding scale)

Super Youth Circuit (SYC)

• Require a competitive USAF membership
• Only Youth events (Y8, Y10, Y12, Y14) earn national points
• Cadets/Juniors do not earn national points, but will earn regional points if tournament is held in Region 6

North American Cup (NAC)

• Require a competitive USAF membership
• Generally, happens once a month and are for more serious competitors trying to earn national points/ qualify for Summer Nationals

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TOURNAMENTS FOR NEW COMPETITORS

• If you are just starting out on your competitive journey, consider the following as general guideline:
• In House tournaments
• Local tournaments
• After you have a competed in a couple of those and have a better understanding of how a tournament works, consider:
• RYC (local at first)
• Fairfax Challenge RYC (FFX) is held in Fredericksburg, VA and is well run event, perfect for a fencer to try out a larger scale tournament
• SYC
• Capitol Clash (Held at The National Harbor- Gaylord Hotel/convention center)
• Local and largest SYC in the US
• Even if you don’t compete, CFA recommends you stop by and check out the competition
• Once your fencer becomes more comfortable in tournaments, than you can branch out to RYC/SYC’s out of state and eventually NACs

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Tournament Matrix

• Open the Tournament Matrix and filter using the tabs at the bottom.

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Results show only tournaments with Cadet events

Results show only tournaments with Y12 events at Local clubs

Tournament Matrix (continued)

• Each season there are expected tournaments coaches would like fencers to attend.
• The matrix has separate tabs for each age group/class
• If you are new to competing please feel free to take a look at the appropriate tab and reach out to either your fencers primary coach or in the group chat, if you have any questions.

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REGISTRATION SITES

• The tournament name in the Tournament Matrix will link directly to the registration page
• No need to search for registration links
• Besides in house Club tournaments (which one registers via CFA website), there are 2 main registration sites
• USA Fencing website: RYC/RJCC, SYC, NAC, Summer Nationals etc.
• You will need to pay online before registration is completed as well as sign waivers
• AskFred: Local and Divisional events
• Typically you pre-register, occasionally pay ahead, but usually pay at the door/in person the day of the event
• Both sites will require a username/password. You can also designate Cardinal Fencing Academy as your affiliated club.

AGE ELIGIBILITY

• Age eligibility for fencing in US is based off of birth year, not the specific age of the fencer.
• 5 main age groups* for “kids”
• Youth 10 (Y10)
• Youth 12 (Y12)
• Youth 14 (Y14)
• Cadet (or Under 16)
• Junior (or under 19)

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• A fencer can compete in their age category (based off birth year) and may fence up one age level (if they want-not required)

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*A small number of tournaments will hold Y8 events

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POINTS

• There are two type of points a fencer can earn
• Regional Points:
• A fencer will earn regional points for any RYC within Region 6
• 1^st to last place earns points (based on sliding scale)
• Cadet/Juniors will earn regional points at SYC’s within Region 6
• Regional points will only accumulate during the current season and will reset to zero at the start of next season.
• National Points:
• SYC: Youth fencers (Y8, Y10, Y12, Y14)
• Generally, the top 40% finishers earn national points
• NAC, JO’s, July Challenge, and Summer Nationals
• National points are awarded based on the size of the event with a max of top 64 finishers earning national points.
• See Chart to the bottom right
• National points will roll over into the next season as long as the fencer hasn’t aged out.
• The points will roll over until the event is held again, or if event is not held again, after 12 months those points will be dropped.
• Example: If a fencer earned points at the January NAC in 2022, those points will roll over until the May NAC 2023. At this time, the fencer will lose the points unless they fence and earn points again at the next January NAC.

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Check current Point Standings

STRIP COACHING

• Strip coaching is when a coach provides input or advice usually during the 1 minute breaks or in between bouts. Coach(es) also provide emotional support, observe your fencer, and collect information to bring home to incorporate in lessons for continued growth and development
• For more information: https://academyoffencingmasters.com/blog/fencing-strip-coaching-insight-into-the-coachs-philosophy/
• Strip coaching is not available at every tournament
• CFA has its own formula to calculate costs/consists of two parts:
• Coach(es)Travel and Expense: split evenly across all participating fencers
• Coaching Fee: coaching fee is spread evenly across all fencers for each specific day
• If CFA sends a coach(es) to tournament, families are responsible to pay their share of the coaching fees for their fencer
• No opt out
• If you need to pull out of the tournament for some reason, please contact either Coach Ilya or a Parent Booster PRIOR to coaching fee spreadsheet publication

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WHAT TO BRING TO TOURNAMENTS

• Fencers should have at least 2 epees and body cords
• Every fencers will experience a weapon failure on the strip at some point, so a backup epee and body cord is essential
• Fencers should have both a paper and electronic copy of their USA Fencing membership card
• You will need to show and/or scan the barcode at check in
• If you have not sent USA Fencing a copy of birth certificate or passport to verify the age of fencer, you will need to have a copy or either birth certificate or passport at the tournament
• You can download/print membership card at following link
• https://www.usafencing.org/page/show/698114-individual-memberships
• It’s a good idea to have both a paper copy and electronic. Electronic (phone) is easier, but sometimes network coverage is spotty so a paper copy backup is always handy
• All your equipment and fencing uniform
• Some tournaments have limited space and you may have to invest in a strip bag (leave your larger bag in another room or out in the car
• At strip bag general holds an extra epee and body cord
• Water bottle and healthy snack(s)

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ARRIVING AT TOURNAMENT

• In general, arriving about 1 hour early is sufficient especially for local tournaments
• Equipment check
• For larger tournaments (RYC, SYC, NAC, Summer Nationals) all fencers will need body cords, mask, and glove checked by the armor.
• Both the glove and mask will get a stamp indicating they have passed
• Body cords will get a colored piece of tape added to one end to indicate passing
• If short on time, a parent can stand in line with the equipment to get checked
• Warm up
• Fencer should do the CFA warm up in an open area/free strip as well as stretch. About 30 minutes prior to start time, fencer should “suit up” and fence three 5 touch bouts with other fencers (preferably NOT from CFA)

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GENERAL FORMAT OF TOURNAMENTS

• After check in times have closed, all fencers will be placed into pools based off an initial seeding
• Seeding is based on national points, ratings, and than is randomized (for all fencers who do not have national points or a rating)
• Pools are generally 6 to 7 people
• Your fencer will fence everyone in their specific pool to either 5 touches or 3 minutes (whichever comes first) regardless of how many you win or lose.
• It is the fencers responsibility to keep track of how they did each bout (V-victory or L- loss as well as final score). After their individual pool is over, the referee will ask each fencer to review their result and sign off. There is rarely a discrepancy, but no one is perfect and occasionally a mistake is made, so make sure they look closely before signing
• After all the pools have finished the tournament organizers will enter pool results into the computer and a new seeding will post based on how everyone fenced in pools
• A tableaux for DE (Direct Elimination) is then posted
• This table will list your fencers name, their seed number, who they are fencing and on what strip.
• The fencer should report to the strip or the general area and wait for the ref to call them
• Unlike Pools, you only continue to fence if you win hence the term “Direct Elimination” once you loose get knocked out, you are finished in that tournament

HELPFUL LINKS

• Explanation of USA Fencing membership tiers and pricing
• https://member.usafencing.org/membership-types
• Great article about planning out your fencer's tournament schedule for the season
• https://www.fencingparents.org/for-beginners/2018/4/24/how-to-plan-your-childs-fencing-competition-schedule-for-the-year
• Thinking about moving from Intro to Fencing or Recreational to Competitive?
• What’s next at CFA?
• Great article explaining age categories based on birth year
• https://academyoffencingmasters.com/blog/why-fencing-birthday-is-different-than-regular-birthdays/
• Helpful article about first competition for fencers and parents
• https://academyoffencingmasters.com/blog/a-comprehensive-primer-on-the-first-fencing-competition-for-new-youth-fencer-and-their-parents/

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