What types of competitions are there?

There are competitions held at international, national, regional and local levels.

Local tournaments include our Colorado Cup tournaments and club tournaments. The Colorado Cup is a local tournament because although we do not restrict non-local fencers from attending, the majority of fencers are from our division and our annual awards are given based on points earned at these events. Some club tournaments are non-sanctioned events that do not award ratings and are usually held for some friendly competition.

Regional tournaments include the Regional Youth Circuit (RYC) and Regional Open Circuit (ROC) events. These are tournaments that tend to attract fencers from a regional area of the United States, such as the Rocky Mountain Region (which includes Colorado, New Mexico, Texas, and other states). Sometimes local tournaments that have gained popularity become regional tournaments by attracting fencers from outside of the area. The Nick Toth Open and the Falcon Open are two of these in Colorado - they are both held at the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, but are attended by fencers throughout the country.

Finally there are national level tournaments such as North American Cups or NACs, Junior Olympics and Summer Nationals. These tournaments typically draw fencers that are placing highly at the local and regional level, and in many cases have invested several years of training. These are also tournaments that often require the fencer have met certain qualifying requirements as defined by the USFA.

International competitions are really outside the scope of the information contained here as most of these require a high performance level at the national level before entry is allowed. If you want to more information regarding international competition we suggest that you visit the USFA Website.