USA Fencing

PHOENIX, Ariz. - On Thursday, July 6, USA Fencing was made aware of confusion surrounding the initial seeding for the Division II Women's Epee event and the application of rule t.124, as it relates to the awarding of a win after the issuance of a P-Black Card.. In this case, the confusion was a result of two seeding lists being displayed for the Division II Women’s Epee event, one in the event that showed the initial and correct seeding with the pools, and another separate seeding list in the check-in event. 

Director of National Events, Glen Hollingsworth shared, “We would like to apologize for the frustrations experienced by the fencers and coaches in today’s events, and the negative impacts the lack of clarity had on the competitive experience for these individuals.”  

“The fencers and coaches participating have worked hard to earn the right to compete at Summer Nationals, and we have higher expectations of ourselves in providing clear and accurate information to participants in our tournaments. These issues will be rectified in the near term by addressing our existing processes. As we look to next season, we will also coordinate with our partners at Fencing Time to develop solutions that will ensure fencers and coaches have clear, complete information available to them before and during the events.”

During the Division II Women’s Epee event, the semifinal bout concluded with the issuance of a P-Black card. Per Rule t.124, ”When, for the third time, there is one minute of unwillingness to fight, a P-Black card is awarded,” the bout will end. Continuing within the rule, it further stipulates, “If the scores of the two fencers are equal, the referee sanctions the fencer with the lower initial seeding in the competition with a P-Black Card. The fencer with the higher initial seeding wins the bout.”

The decision on which fencer was awarded the win for the bout was made based upon the initial seeding included in the event where the pools were constituted. It was not made based on the seeding that was shown in the check-in event, which is where the confusion occurred for the participants in the aforementioned bout . 

To clarify, for each event being held as part of Summer Nationals, there are two events posted on Fencing Time Live before competition begins. 

1. The first is the initial event, posted the night before competition, which the pools and initial seeding are constituted within AND

2. The Check-In event which is posted the morning of competition and only tracks which athletes check in at Registration or at Bout Committee.

The initial seeding as defined in Rule t.124 is the seeding that is contained in the event from which pools are built the night before competition. As a reminder, seeding for Division II events per table 2.15.1 in the Athlete Handbook, is done by classification and year only, seeding the fencers with the highest classifications earned most recently first. As an example, a fencer with a C23 classification would be seeded first, then a fencer with a C22, then a fencer with a B23, and so on. In the event fencers have identical classifications and years, the order of the fencer in the seeding list is randomized.

Due to the randomized seeding of fencers with the same classification/year, this meant that one seeding list had differences from the other. In this case, one fencer was the higher seeded fencer according to the check-in event, but the other fencer was the higher seeded fencer in the event with the pools and initial seeding. The latter was the event that was actually used to decide the winner of the bout during which the P-Black Card was awarded.

We realize this can all be confusing to look at and process for fencers, coaches and parents at Summer Nationals, so we would like to take this opportunity to clarify some additional key information to help everyone make informed decisions for the remaining events:

1. It is the seeding posted in the event from which the pools are built, which is posted the night before competition begins, that is defined as the initial seeding.

2. In applyingRule t.124, according to whichthe higher seeded fencer is awarded the win in the bout if the score is tied, this is the seeding that is used to apply the rule and determine the winner.

3. Fencers, coaches and parents looking for the applicable seeding for their event should only use the seeding in the event with the pools and NOT the seeding from the check-in event. The seeding in the check-in event is not used in the application of any tournament rules and should not be referenced once the event begins.

In addition to communicating these details to fencers in all remaining events for Summer Nationals, as mentioned previously, USA Fencing will be ensuring that all check-in events are hidden after close of registration to remove any possibility of confusion when looking for the applicable seeding lists. Ultimately, we realize that this does not rectify the issues with the information that was available today and how that information was used to make decisions by the fencers involved in the competition, and we sincerely apologize for these issues to all those impacted. We will be working diligently to get these processes right in order to best serve our members and those participating in future national events.