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Athlete Handbook

The Athlete Handbook provides fencers, coaches, administrators, and parents the information pertinent to all aspects of USA Fencing programs. Periodic updates may occur during the season; these updates to the book will be communicated to the membership via postings to this page. Please email any AH questions, comments, concerns or corrections to information@usafencing.org.

You're free to print or reproduce any or all of the Athlete Handbook without separate permission from USA Fencing. We only ask that you include a link back to this page (https://www.usafencing.org/athlete-handbook) so that the individual has access to the latest version of the handbook as print copies could become outdated over time.

2022-23 Athlete Handbook Changelog

This section contains a list of changes to the 2022-23 Athlete Handbook made after its initial publication date. 

  • May 25, 2023
        Reworked Chapter 13 to incorporate new Complaint and Hearing Procedures 
  • May 2, 2023
        Updated language in 2.4.1 about refunds.
  • March 21, 2023
        Updated language in 2.16.1 pertaining to Vet 70 and Vet 80 events.
  • Jan. 26, 2023
        Added language that had been mistakenly omitted in the team event section about the cap on the number of entries from a single club. (Section 2.14)
  • Dec. 21, 2022
        Revised language in final paragraph of 2.1.3
  • Dec. 20, 2022
    • Revised Black Card Policy section (Pages 104-106) to reflect policy as amended by the Board of Directors on December 3, 2022.
    • Clarified 1.1 and 1.3.1 to encourage members to upload an image of their birth certificate, passport, green card, driver’s license and/or other legal document clearly showing date of birth and citizenship to their member profile at member.usafencing.org. Previous instructions were to email this document, which is still an option but not the preferred method.
  • Dec. 8, 2022: Corrected typo (no content updates)
  • Dec. 2, 2022
    • Added the USA Fencing Transgender and Nonbinary Athlete Policy (Section 14.4)
  • Nov. 22, 2022:
    • Added Table B to Page 18 to clarify eligibility rules for Cadets and Juniors at tournaments held after the Junior Olympics.
  • Nov. 16, 2022:
    • Revised Black Card Policy section (Pages 104-106) to reflect policy as amended by the Board of Directors on Feb. 16, 2022.
    • Added World Championships points graphic to 3.1.8
    • Other small corrections to typos, etc.
  • Oct. 18, 2022: Fixed broken links. (No content updates)
  • Oct. 4, 2022: Minor formatting changes. (No content updates)