USA Fencing

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — As promised earlier this month, USA Fencing has officially announced the event combinations for the 2023-24 North American Cup (NAC) and National Championships calendar. 

While day schedules (that is, which events are happening on which days) are still being finalized, we know that event combinations are an important piece of information for fencers wanting to plan their 2023-24 participation and travels. 

We hope this info will help you do just that.

One of the key highlights with this year's announcement is the return of Division II to our NAC competition schedule. The event will be contested at our October NAC in Orlando — a move made in direct response to membership feedback. This illustrates our commitment to listening and reacting to our community. As the organization works toward implementing the recommendations of the Events Review Group, further changes are expected for the 2024-2025 season.

And there’s even more still to come. You might have noticed that we initially called this year’s seven-stop calendar our “NAC and Championships Calendar.”

That was intentional, because we’re still planning to add two Super Junior & Cadet Circuit (SJCC) tournaments to the 2023-24 national schedule. These additional tournaments will offer more opportunities for young fencers to compete at a high level. Locations for these SJCC tournaments will be revealed in the coming months, but here’s what we can share now:

• December 2023 SJCC and Division I NAC

  • Exact dates and location to be announced

  • SJCC will feature Junior and Cadet competition

  • The tournament will be held alongside a Division I NAC

• March 2024 SJCC

  • March 15–17, 2024

  • Location to be announced

  • SJCC will feature Junior, Cadet and Cadet Team competition

  • Jointly located with an FIE Foil Grand Prix (Note: while the FIE calendar lists that this tournament is happening in Anaheim, that is not yet confirmed, so we wouldn’t recommend booking your travel just yet)

The addition of Division I to the December SJCC is necessitated by the FIE calendar, released by the FIE on May 30. Ordinarily, these Division I events would have been held as a part of the November NAC, but due to conflicts with the international calendar, it was elected to shift Division I to December instead. This also opened the door for Y-14 and Junior Team to be added to the November NAC. (Interesting side note: This is actually a returning combination of events that was last held in 2019.)

For those of us who just can’t get enough fencing, 103 more tournaments are available on our Regional Calendar, including plenty of Vet opportunities. (Note that Vet events are a part of the ROC circuit. There are some ROCs that are select events, but in general they include Veteran competition.)

Among the major changes for the upcoming season are the addition of Division II to the October NAC; the scheduling of Parafencing at the Junior Olympics and April NAC; and the removal of the Cadet Team event from the March NAC, which will now be held at an SJCC instead.

The other change we mentioned previously: Because of the FIE schedule, released by the International Fencing Federation on May 30, Division I will be contested in December in conjunction with the above-mentioned SJCC.

Below is a breakdown of the key events for each tournament:

• October North American Cup in Orlando, Fla.: Oct. 26–29, 2023, featuring Division I, Division II, Cadet and Para.

• November North American Cup in Fort Worth, Texas: Nov. 10–13, 2023, featuring Junior, Cadet, Y-14 and Junior Team.

• January North American Cup in San Jose, Calif.: Jan. 5–8, 2024, featuring Division I, Junior, Vet Age and Vet Combined.

• Junior Olympics and Para NAC in Charlotte, N.C.: Feb. 16–19, 2024, featuring Junior, Cadet, Junior Team and Para.

• March North American Cup in Portland, Ore.: March 1–4, 2024, featuring Cadet, Y-14, Y-12 and Y-10.

• April North American Cup, Division I National Champs, Parafencing National Champs in Salt Lake City, Utah: April 25–28, 2024, featuring Division I, Division I Team, Junior, Vet Age, Vet Combined and Para.

• USA Fencing National Championships & July Challenge (Summer Nationals) in Columbus, Ohio: June 29 – July 8, 2024, featuring All Divisions and Age Groups (except for Vet Combined).

USA Fencing's designated international calendar, which shows which FIE events will be "designated" in 2023-24, will be released in the coming weeks.