USA Fencing

On July 8, for the first time in history, USA Fencing had to cancel the final day of competition at Summer Nationals due to the tragedy that occurred in downtown Dallas. While the Convention Center closed down the fencing halls and much of downtown remained blocked off to vehicle access, we were faced with the issue that six groups of young fencers never got the opportunity to fence for their National Championship titles. Safety was at the utmost concern for the fencing families who traveled to Dallas as well as for our referees, tournament officials and staff members on the evening of the attacks and in the days that followed. But each of these young athletes trained hard all year for that day and it remains unfortunate that the violent acts that occurred in Dallas would take that opportunity away.

Although these events occurred and will always be a part of history, we believe that our fencers still deserve the chance to compete for gold and the national titles that remain unclaimed for 2016. Therefore, USA Fencing has rescheduled the six youth National Championship events that were canceled in Dallas. These events will be held in conjunction with the 2016 November North American Cup in Milwaukee, WI from Nov. 11-14. All six events will be held at a tournament that also includes Y14, cadet, cadet team and junior events.

All entrants in the canceled events at the 2016 USA Fencing National Championships in Dallas are invited to compete in Milwaukee in the events in which they were originally registered. These canceled events include the Y10 men’s epee, Y10 women’s foil, Y10 women’s epee, Y10 men’s saber, Y12 men’s foil and Y12 women’s saber competitions. 

To be eligible for these youth events, athletes must have been registered for the National Championship in Dallas and will need to submit a paper entry to the National Office. While these six events will be listed in the Athlete Packet, they will not appear in the online registration as a paper entry is required.

To obtain an entry form, or if you have additional questions, please email nationalevents@usfencing.org. The birth year spans for Y10 and Y12 will be based on the 2015-2016 season and points earned in Milwaukee will be added to the NRPS as having been earned in 2015-2016.