Competition Sanctioning
The information on this page is generally for clubs and competition organizers within the Metropolitan Division.
In order to provide more and stronger competitions for our members, the Division strives each season to negotiate member clubs' schedules to achieve a minimum overlap of the same types of events. For example, we actively work to avoid having two foil opens on the same day.
For your competition to be sanctioned -- that is, recognized as an official USA Fencing event eligible to allow fencers to earn classification changes -- you must submit your event to the division for schedule approval, pay the annual sanctioning fee, and send the division your classification changes (if any) upon completion of the event. Read on for details of how to do all of these things.
If you have questions, problems or new events, contact us.
Annual Scheduling
2025-2026 season schedules are due to the Chair by August 31st. Competitions planned for July 1 - October 31 are first-come, first-approved, so that early schedulers don't have to wait for the last-minute planners to get their events up; conflicting events submitted later will not be approved. Competitions November 1-June 30 are subject to schedule optimization - that is, you may be asked to change a date in order to accommodate another club.
How to submit your dates:
E-mail your proposed dates to . Please include the date, type of event, and time(s) for close of registration if you know them. Do not send your clever, cute competition name - just the weapon, age group, and gender (or mixed). For example:
Sun 7/4 Foil Open - Men's Foil, 10 am, Women's Foil 12 pm
Sun 7/4 Youth Epee - Mixed Y10 epee 8 am, Y12 men's/women's epee 10 am, Y14 men's epee 11 am, Y14 women's epee 12 pm
In planning, be sure to avoid national events (NACs etc). Around the time of Summer Nationals, I generally provide a planning calendar to clubs who have run events in the past.
Schedule mediation period:
The Vice Chair will mediate any schedule conflicts via e-mail during August 11-31, and then send around the final schedule at which point you can post your dates on AskFred. Do not post any events to AskFred until they have been cleared and you get the official go-ahead. Use the "hide this tournament" link in your bout committee panel on Fred if you want to set your events up ahead of time. Events without conflicts will generally be approved sooner than the 31st.
Annual sanctioning fee
There is an annual $120 sanctioning fee due to the division by September 15th, via Paypal. Please e-mail chair for info / look for an invoice from the Division. You will be reminded and may also request an invoice for your records. This fee offsets divisional resources (such as maintaining this website) and supports divisional programs to expand fencing in our area (such as our 2010 equipment grant to grow the PSAL Fencing League).
Non-USFA events do not incur a sanctioning fee and will not be considered for schedule mediation; however, the division appreciates being informed of your plans to run these events.
Qualifiers
If you are interested in hosting a qualifier, you must submit specific date(s) that you are able and willing to host that particular qualifer. Qualifiers with only one requesting club will be assigned to that club. Qualifiers requested by multiple clubs will be awarded at the division meeting in September. In order to be considered, please submit your dates by August 11. For qualifiers, referees must be USA Fencing “GTG” with a supervising referee of 5 or higher.
Adding or Changing Events During the Season
Over the course of the season, you must clear changes and additions to your competition schedule with the Vice Chair before posting to AskFred. In general planning around what's posted on Fred already will give you clear dates and quick approval, but keep in mind other clubs are also adding and changing, so you must check first. Additions and changes after the master schedule has been generated are first-come first-served.
Classification Changes
Remember to submit your classification changes! They are not automatically be sent in, you must use the "send rating changes" button in your AskFred bout committee panel to generate an e-mail to the Vice Chair (enter fedde@brooklynfencing.com in the second dialogue where it asks for an e-mail address). If you make a habit of doing it right after you post the results to Fred, it's an easy procedure of a few seconds. Results usually go to the national office within a day of receiving your e-mail. Classification changes must be submitted through AskFred.