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Happy New Year, Members!
It’s been a roller coaster 2022 for so many of us in sport — and, to some extent, in life. The recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic continues to affect our daily lives and our sporting lives. I want to take a moment to thank fencers, their families, coaches, officials and everyone for finding ways to get through the pandemic and for continuing to grow fencing. It has been a pleasure getting to know this committed and determined community over the last few months. I’ve visited about 40 clubs across the country already!
We'll look back a bit more on 2022 in a moment, but I immediately wanted to remind everyone of the rule changes that took effect Jan. 1. Ahead of the January NAC in Louisville, be sure to review this since it will be the definitive interpretation used by our officials.
Elections
This year will also see the election of three At-Large Directors to the USA Fencing Board of Directors. We received some 30 nominations to the Board, and it was amazing to see the variety and interest that was expressed in being part of our strategic leadership structure. The Nominating Committee selected nine individuals to advance to the election. Other interested members may petition to be added to the ballot.
The election also means it is time to thank Lorrie Marcil Holmes for her outstanding contributions to the leadership of USA Fencing as Lorrie has chosen not to stand in the forthcoming election. The Nominating Committee this time used a combination of objective scoring and subjective information to establish which individuals moved forward in this exceptionally competitive process against the needs set forth — and in consideration that these individuals will be among the five who are eligible to be Chair of USA Fencing.
At least one new director, and two other elected officials, will join Aimee Rice and Darryl Jacobs as new members of the board this year, while we anticipate another independent joining USA Fencing in 2023 as well. Above all — thank you to USA Fencing members for your engagement in these processes. This May, we will be asking you to thoughtfully use your vote.
Club and Member Services
Work is continuing on our first Club Best Practices Conference, an exclusive and free member club conference which will take place in March. My colleagues Brad Suchorski and Beth Mahr are leading this inaugural effort, and we look forward to both its occurrence and your feedback on what we can do better in 2024! We hope many clubs and coaches will join us to learn from one another and help us shape this for future years — ultimately growing fencing into a stronger sport and federation!
Similarly, we’ll shortly be ready to share feedback from our club and alumni surveys, and you’ll shortly receive our annual All-Member Survey which will be going forward an annual primary tool to evaluate our service to members and what we can do to improve (and where we have improved over the past year). We hope to hear from not hundreds, but thousands of you in this.
Another new event in 2023 will be our Gala in New York City. Our New York fencing community has produced a rock star organizing committee, and we look forward to celebrating our Olympians and Paralympians in New York in the spring. Look out for a save the date coming your way soon, and please help us make this effort a success as part of the relaunch of the U.S. Fencing Foundation.
Youth Fencing Working Group
Much talk has occurred in the membership over the last month or so about the Y8-Y10-Y12 working group, which was set up with a goal in mind of discussing whether Y10 and Y12 events are appropriate at the national level. We hear and understand the passion for this subject on all sides of the discussion. I do want to give an update on the discussions so far and the data that we have looked at. Thus far, the data supports the continued participation in national events of the Y10 and Y12 age groups, while the group has contemplated that the real issue is: “Describe the appropriate youth fencing model for the United States that fosters a culture of a fun and enjoyable youth fencing experience while maintaining sustainable competitive excellence.” This is a big question, of course, and requires deeper discussion and analysis of data. Shortly there will be a number of surveys coming related to this to gain further insights and data from around our membership and alumni. Watch your inbox!
Collegiate Fencing
Our college outreach continues at pace, too. You’ll shortly learning of the newest college to add fencing — the first in many years to add fencing as a fresh sport (though Wagner College and Long Island University recently added men’s programs). College programs are vital to our ecosystem, so seeing new interest in adding our sport is great. We’ve also partnered with the USOPC who have agreed to give us a grant to support our collegiate partnerships. As part of that, we’ll be in San Antonio at the NCAA Convention to talk with athletic directors about our sport.
Growing Our Sport
Work is continuing around the Federation. I’m very proud of Shannon Jolly and our team working on Fencing the Gap initiative. It’s a first step in making our sport more accessible, and as part of that we’ve partnered with All Kids Play, who are primarily based in Chicago. We are working on partnerships in other cities around the nation to open up access to the sport, and we look forward to announcing more key growth partnerships over the coming year with the goal of widening participation in the sport. Other projects include our membership review, our events review and our coaching education program.
Happening This Month
That’s a lot to digest, so let’s look ahead to more "routine" matters (if you can call them that!). We look forward to the January NAC in Louisville, where we’ll see our Division I, Junior and Vet fencers in action.
Just a week later, we’ll host the 2023 IWAS Wheelchair Fencing World Cup, which has been the result of a great deal of effort across both USA Fencing and IWAS (International Wheelchair & Amputee Sport Federation). The tournament is a 2024 Paralympic qualification event. We encourage anyone to stop by and experience Parafencing, especially those attending the Capitol Clash which is the same weekend across the other side of Washington, D.C. When you visit, look out for Scott Rodgers PLY (our Paralympic medalist) and Ellen Geddes PLY, who will be cheered onto the hope of yet another World Cup medal on home soil, while Shelby Jensen PLY is also coming off of her U23 world medal!
Internationally too, the World Cup circuit for able-bodied fencing does not let up with Grand Prix events for saber and epee in Tunisia and Qatar, respectively. Foil will be in action for the World Cup in France, while our all-conquering Junior and Cadet teams find themselves in Italy, Hungary, Croatia, Israel, Spain, Bahrain and Peru.
Oh yes, and about that 2022. It's been a big year in many ways, highlighted by our team medals and Nick Itkin’s individual medal at the World Championships in Egypt, but you can view more of what happened for USA Fencing here.
It's going to be a busy month folks, but as always hit reply if you would like a conversation!
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