What’s Next for the Points System: An Expanded Review Group and How to Weigh In

We’ve made a change for the October and November NACs, expanded the group reviewing the points system and opened a channel for your feedback.

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — Since the new points and events structure took effect Aug. 1, we’ve heard a great deal from fencers, parents and coaches with useful feedback and important questions.

We want to be straightforward about where things stand, what we’ve already changed and what happens next.

For the October and November NACs, fencers who sit in the Top 112 of the Legacy points standings but outside the Top 112 on the Unified Points List were given the option to opt in to the Elite field.

Eligible fencers were identified and contacted directly. This was a transition measure, put in place specifically because fencers made competitive decisions during the 2025-26 season under a different set of rules.

We also want to acknowledge something directly. Our June 5 announcement said that 2025-26 regional results would not be used in a way that disadvantaged fencers who made decisions before the new system was announced. In implementation, that isn’t how it worked out, and we understand why fencers who planned their season around that commitment are frustrated. We’re sorry that when we changed how those points carried over, we did not communicate it the way we should have. The opt-in process above is one response to it, and the review below is another.

Fencers who have been unable to compete in points-earning events for an extended period because of injury or other extenuating circumstances, but who have a record of top results at the highest levels of the sport, can petition to be placed in the Elite field without first meeting the usual criteria. Unlike the October and November opt-in, this exemption process is permanent. 

Meeting the criteria below makes a fencer eligible to apply, but it doesn’t guarantee acceptance of the petition. Each petitioner must show a valid reason for their inability to compete in points-earning events and a record of strong competitive results.

To apply, a fencer must meet at least one of these criteria:

• Represented the United States, or another FIE member nation, within the past four years at the Olympic Games, a Senior, Junior or Cadet World Championships, or a designated Senior, Junior or Cadet international event
• Placed in the Top 32 of the Elite field at a North American Cup or National Championships, in the same age category, within the previous two seasons
• Fenced as an individual competitor at the NCAA Championships within the previous two seasons

Requests go through the exemption request form and are due by the withdrawal deadline for each tournament, though earlier is better. The National Office reviews every request and shares decisions before the event split. Those decisions are final. After the October NAC, the review group will look at how the petition process worked, and we will share any refinements before they take effect. Full details are in Two New Ways Into the Elite Field.

The concepts behind the unified points system have broad support: one list per age category (Cadet, Junior and Senior), your best six results, a clear ladder from local to international. Those pillars aren’t in question.

What is under review is how the calculations work in practice. Several specific issues have been raised, particularly around how international results translate into unified points, and they deserve a serious look.

The Board has expanded the points review group, first formed in February 2026, to add the perspective of small clubs. The group already includes national coaches, athletes, parents and tournament officials. The group’s charge includes:

• Review how points are calculated across all tiers, including international results
• Examine specific cases where the current calculations produce outcomes that don’t reflect competitive results
• Recommend changes to the Tournament Committee and the Board
• Address other related issues

The group is not revisiting the core pillars. It’s examining the numbers underneath it and will meet after the October NAC and again after the November NAC.

If you have a specific concern about how points are calculated, we want it in front of this group rather than scattered across social media and email.

Submit Your Feedback

Please be specific. Naming the category, the results involved and what you’d expect a fair outcome to look like is far more useful to the review than a general objection. Every submission goes to the review group.

The group will work through these issues over the coming weeks and months as we get more data from event results. Any recommended changes from the review group will go to the Tournament Committee and then to the Board for approval, and we’ll communicate what changes and when it takes effect before anything is implemented.

This remains a two-year trial. It was designed with review built in precisely because we expected to find things that needed adjusting. We’re finding them, and that’s the process working, even when it’s uncomfortable.

The full points and events structure is at usafencing.org/new-points-and-events-structure.

Complete rules and the 2026-27 Athlete Handbook are at usafencing.org/rules-compliance.