Events Restructure | Important Registration Updates

Today is the day, with October NAC Registration, and our first event registration under the new rankings and event formats, going live!

While we are still finalizing Athlete Handbook updates and expect to have those out here soon - we want to make sure members have a few key details on what they can register for, new key deadlines and some other quick tips to help make your sign up as smooth and easy as possible.

As we've previously covered, under the new points system, there will be a minimum point value that must be earned by fencers to be eligible to register for National Tournaments for CDT, JNR and DVI. If a fencer has not met the requisite point values to be eligible, that fencer must earn more points by competing in a local or regional competition, in order to become eligible to fence nationally. All other eligibility criteria based on ratings and birth year still apply.

The minimum point values needed are shown below by age category for reference:

The point total, like a fencer's national ranking, is made up of the combined value of a fencer's six best results. As the season progresses, a fencer's points total will adjust as they earn new points and/or results fall off the standings, meaning eligibility can change from event to event!

One last thing - just because you aren't eligible when registration opens, doesn't mean you can't sign up later! If you earn enough points at any time while registration is open - you will become eligible and you can sign up at that time!

We've talked in a few of our earlier releases, that our goal is not for fencers to have to start from scratch in this new system. Fencers who have worked hard at the regional and local levels to earn points and ratings, should have that reflected in where they start in this new system.

To help achieve this, a points "floor" has been assigned for all fencers based on their rating as of August 1, 2026. This points "floor" effectively means that, based on a fencer's rating as of August 1, that fencer will receive a minimum number of points in the new system.

This minimum helps achieve two main goals:

• New points are reflective of a fencer's actual ability, even if they may not have recent results demonstrating where they are at in their fencing journey.
• Reducing initial barrier to entry for National Tournaments, providing access to earn points for down the line.

The points floor for each letter rating/year is shown below for reference to help guide fencers on what points values they should have and what they'll be eligible for based on the minimum points required that were talked about earlier.

**Please note, only ratings as of August 1 will be used to determine the floor for a given fencer. New ratings earned in the current season will not apply.