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Welcome to Spring, members!
April brings the Junior & Cadet Fencing World Championships, Division I National Championships and April NAC, the start of Olympic qualification for fencing and the continuation of Paralympic qualification. It’s safe to say we’re approaching the “business end” of the season, and at USA Fencing we are starting to look ahead toward next season, too.
Earlier this week, we announced the return of Division II to the NAC schedule, via the SJCC in June in Raleigh, N.C. Registration is open via the membership portal. Sometimes organizations get this wrong, and though I understand this decision was made with every good intent and I am not critical of those that made it, we must raise our hand and say we got this wrong, and we hope this provides one route, amongst others, we can serve this community.
Speaking of which, this month we hope we’ll be able to reveal the NAC schedule for the 2023-2024 season, which will eventually feature two SJCC events, too. We’ll have events in Regions 1, 2, 4, 5 and 6, and it’s probably important to note the first NAC will occur over the weekend of Oct. 28 — a bit later than usual because this year we host the FIE World Veteran Championships.
As I type, I can hear echoes in my ear of “Why no Region 3?” We hear you, and we want to be there. The issue is the lack of affordable venues in Region 3 that can hold a NAC. But with that said, we believe we are close to an agreement to take a 2024-2025 NAC to a major fencing hub in the northeast. Stay tuned.
I’m writing this after just visiting the United States Association of Collegiate Fencing Clubs Championships in Fort Wayne, Ind. This entirely volunteer-run event and national organization is an impressive collection of passionate fencers — many of whom took up the sport in college and just the sort of folks we need to be embracing in adult fencing.
I also visited the NCAA Championships at Duke University in North Carolina. What a weekend! The pace and level of fencing, presentation quality, top-level refereeing — all unbelievable. Big congratulations of course to Notre Dame, making fencing the most successful Notre Dame athletics program in history. Princeton ran them relatively close, though!
Another hot item right now is the potential return of the Russian Federation and Belarus to the international fencing community. Firstly, to be clear this issue is currently only in the Olympic movement. The Paralympic movement has held firm as Paralympic qualification starts that these two nations are not welcomed to IPC (International Paralympic Committee) or IWAS (International Wheelchair and Amputee Sports Federation) sanctioned events.
Last month, USA Fencing was in the minority in voting against the inclusion of individuals, teams, or officials from these nations in light of the breaking of the Olympic truce by these nations and the ongoing atrocities in Ukraine. Since, the IOC has made recommendations that somewhat contradict the vote taken in the Congress. During subsequent meetings, the FIE decided to follow the IOC recommendations and allow Russian and Belarusian athletes to participate as Individual Neutral Athletes but not in team competition.
In the meantime, we are working with the Ukraine fencing federation and their athletes on more ways we can support our Ukrainian friends.
That was a heavy start, so on to happier subjects. We just secured our first sponsor from outside the sport. You’ll see the partnership formally announced as part of the Fencing Foundation Fete in New York City next month, where we will unveil the new Official Wine of USA Fencing and Official Sparkling Wine of USA Fencing (of course for those aged 21 and over only, or for fencing parents looking to relax after a long competition day!). I’ve tasted their products and happened to be a personal customer, and it’s good stuff. We’re close to bringing in a couple of other partners too, and these would not be possible without help from within the USA Fencing community. So thank you. When these come on board, your patronage of our partners will be essential in maintaining and growing these partnerships. Look out for tastings and discounts coming your way, too.
You may have seen on our social channels that we are currently looking for three staff positions, one due to a promotion (Beth Mahr moving into leading our parafencing program), while we said goodbye to Jill Grotzinger and Amanda Mastera during the last month. Jill leaves us after 4.5 years of great service to our organization and leaves a wonderful lasting impression on many who got to know her during that time. We owe her sincere thanks for bringing our development and foundation to the point it is thus far, and we look forward with hope to a new chapter with a new Chief Advancement Officer position to take our U.S. Fencing Foundation to the next level and allow us, in turn, to invest more both in our elite athletes and into our grassroots programs. We are close to hiring our new Communications Coordinator and hope to have them in St. Louis for the April NAC, while our Regional Event Manager search is ongoing.
Back to the field of play, where there was so much happening in March. That included FIE world No. 1 rankings for Lee Kiefer OLY and Alex Massialas OLY, a gold medal for Kiefer and bronze for Gerek Meinhardt OLY at the Busan Grand Prix, and a bronze for Stephen Ewart at the Buenos Aires World Cup.
And closer to home, it’s hard to believe the March NAC was this past month — our largest NAC in history. There’s a point, though, where that’s not what you want to say. It’s so exciting to see this much engagement in our sport, ultimately those people who sustain the sport, follow the sport are also usually those who participate or directly support those who participate. At the same time we (USA Fencing) need to find solutions to embrace this growth but also ensure our events remain a great experience and we don't stretch our already hard-working national events volunteers and staff to breaking point. This aligns well with the work of the event review group which is coming to a close, and will recommend some long-term structural changes which will help with this goal.
Similarly, a group of staff and members have been reviewing our membership offerings. We'll be starting by modifying how our club memberships work for Aug. 1 by combining the current affiliate and premium club membership levels into one membership program, ensuring any USA Fencing member is insured when they walk into a USA Fencing club across the nation, and seeking to lower costs for the majority of clubs with a dynamic pricing structure while keeping a low cost for community groups, high schools, collegiate clubs, new clubs and other similar groups.
Another change, subject to board approval, is to combine the non-competitive and access memberships into one membership. Primarily this avoids the current confusion between the two levels of membership while protecting the benefits of both.
Other changes will take longer to implement but continue to see us try to make positive changes for both club and individual members.
As April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month, it's worth this saying again: If you engage in abuse, you are not welcome in our sport. For those who have suffered abuse in sport, or worse, are currently suffering abuse please come forward so we can do something about it. (Learn how to file a report here or text 320-ENGARDE.) We know it is not easy to do so, but please know USA Fencing will take you seriously.
There's a lot going on across USA Fencing (remember: progress, not perfection) and the above only captures a portion of the work both on and off the field of play. As always, hit reply and make your voice heard. We, proudly, serve a membership which means we want to hear from members.
Until May,
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