What are qualification paths?

The USFA has qualification paths for National Championships (individual and team) and Junior Olympics. Most national championship events are held during the Summer Nationals (early in July). Sometimes the Division I National Championships are held separately, depending on the international fencing schedule.

This is just a brief overview of qualification paths, specifics can be found in the Athlete’s Handbook, found on the USFA web page, under the Resources tab.

There are often several qualification paths for an event. Some of these are considered ‘automatic’. For example, if the fencer placed in the top 8 at the previous year’s Division 1-A championship, they are automatically qualified to fence in this year’s Division 1-A championships. Another ‘automatic’ qualification for some events is to be on the NRPS list (for example, the Junior Olympics).

If you are not an automatic qualifier, you can qualify through qualifying tournaments. There are 3 qualifying tournaments held in our Division and Section: Junior Olympics, Divisional (Individual and Team) Qualifiers and Sectional Qualifiers.

Division 1-A and U-19 championships are qualified for through the Sectional Qualifying tournament. Division II, Division III, Under 16 and Y-14 championships are qualified for through Division Qualifiers (with a couple of secondary qualifying paths through Sectional Qualifiers and RYC competitions). The Y-10 and Y-12 Opens are qualified for through the Regional Youth Circuit (see the FAQ item about RYCs). The number of fencers that qualify is based on the number of entrants.

As an example, to qualify for Division III Summer Nationals:

Fencers must have a classification in the weapon of 'D', 'E' or unclassified and be born no later than 1997 AND

• Place in top 25% of the total number of ‘D’, ‘E’ or ‘U’ fencers competing in the 2010 Division’s Division II Qualifying event (see Table 1 below for the number of qualifiers) OR
• If a separate Division III Qualifying event is held by the division, then the top 25% of the field will qualify (see Table 1) OR Qualify for Division 1-A National Championships (which is held at Sectional Qualifiers) OR
• Qualify for the 2010 Under-19 National Championships in that weapon (which is held at Sectional Qualifiers) OR
• Qualify for the 2010 Under-16 National Championships in that weapon (also held at Divisional Qualifiers)

As you can see, there are several ways to qualify BUT you also need to look at the qualifying tournament schedule. The Colorado Division board attempts to schedule division qualifiers in a way to maximize the opportunities for fencers to qualify for national events, however, it is the responsibility of each individual fencer to be aware of what the qualifying opportunities are, and plan accordingly.

If a fencer qualifies through a given path they will be considered already qualified even if they participate in future qualifying events, and will not be double-qualified. That space is allotted to the next fencer that didn't qualify through Division Qualifiers.