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2021-22 All-Academic and All-American Honorees Announced

07/01/2022, 7:30pm CDT
By Bryan Wendell

The two annual programs honor the best and brightest high school fencers from across the country.

Note: If you didn't pick up your certificate in Minneapolis, it will be mailed to you within a few weeks.

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COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — Fencing is the ultimate mental sport — a game of physical chess that requires athletes to be sharp in both body and mind.

That fact explains the sport’s proven track record of helping young people excel in high school, in college and throughout their lives.

Each season, USA Fencing recognizes these successful high school fencers for their academic and athletic success through a pair of programs:

  • The Absolute Fencing Gear All-Academic Team, which salutes fencers with GPAs of 3.4 to 3.84 (for the Second Team) and 3.85 or higher (for the First Team).
  • The USA Fencing High School All-American Program, which recognizes fencers who have earned or retained an “E” rating (for the Honorable Mention Team), a “C” or “D” rating (for the Second Team), or an “A” or “B” rating (for the First Team).

Applications for each of these popular programs opened in March, and fencers had just over two months to submit the necessary information by the May 30 deadline.

Applications for the 2022-23 All-Academic and All-American Teams will be posted on our website in March or April of 2023.

Let’s learn more about the teams!

2021-22 Absolute Fencing Gear All-Academic Team

The 2021-22 Absolute Fencing Gear All-Academic Team honors 914 talented student-athletes, including:

  • 803 members of the First Team 
  • 111 members of the Second Team

See the full list at the end of this article. 

In addition to presenting each All-Academic honoree with a certificate, Absolute Fencing also awards a combined $10,000 in scholarship money to four worthy fencers selected to the All-Academic Team. 

After reviewing the submitted essays and applications, Absolute Fencing Gear selected four winners — two at the $4,000 level and two at the $1,000 level. The 2021-22 scholarship recipients are:

  • $4,000: Alex Jeffords, a saber fencer representing the Los Angeles International Fencing Center 
  • $4,000: Megumi Oishi, a saber fencer representing PDX Fencing
  • $1,000: Cody Ji, a saber fencer representing Nellya Fencers
  • $1,000: Judy Gao, an epee fencer representing Medeo Fencing Club

2021-22 USA Fencing High School All-American Program

The 2021-22 USA Fencing High School All-American Teams spotlight 641 of the best high school fencers, including: 

  • 306 members of the First Team
  • 240 members of the Second Team 
  • 95 members of the Honorable Mention Team

See the full list below. 

Tag(s): Updates