How to Host a Sanctioned Tournament:

Due to the new mandates by the USFA, the Division's rules for hosting a sanctioned tournament have changed slightly. Please see the following:

“If you hold a Fencing tournament and wish to award classifications, your event must be sanctioned by the Long Island Division of USA Fencing. Each of the following conditions must be met to qualify for sanctioning from the Long Island Division.

  1. The tournament must be posted on Askfred.net. The event needs to be posted at least 28 days prior to the competition.
  2. All competitors must be valid competitive members of USA Fencing.
  3. All rules and regulations of USA Fencing must be followed. These include but are not limited to: competitors must be in full fencing uniform, tournament must use an accepted tournament format, new equipment rules (such as conductive foil bibs and 800N sabre gloves) must be followed.
  4. Results must be posted on either askfred.net or the club’s website at the conclusion of the tournament. It is suggested that software that allows the complete results including pools and DE’s be used.
  5. If there are classification changes they must be forwarded to a division officer for certification and submission to the National Office. Please use the classification change document provided by the national office or the export available from FencingTime or other standardized tournament operation software. A full list of referees must be included with the results. (An export of a referee usage report is acceptable if all referees are accounted for.)
  6. The tournament referees must all have passed the USFA referee exam, be a member of US Fencing, have passed a background screening by USFA (if over 18), and be SafeSport certified.”
While your results and referee list can be sent to any of the Division Officers, it is suggest that they be sent to Jennie Salmon ( [email protected] ) and/or Alison Finfrock ( [email protected] ). While it is not technically required for sanctioning, it is strongly suggested that clubs do their best to minimize conflicts with pre-existing events at a local, divisional, regional, and national level as much as possible.

While not required for sanctioning, it is suggested that you email the Division when you schedule your events so we can put it up on the Division events calendar as well!

Tournament Referees:

As of October 1st, 2015 the USFA (and, by extension, the Long Island Division) requires that all referees for USFA-sanctioned events meet the following criteria:
  • Have passed the referee exam in the weapon(s) they will be refereeing
  • Be a member of US Fencing
  • Have passed a background screening through USFA (for all referees over 18 years of age)
  • Be SafeSport Certified through USFA/TeamUSA

Tournament organizers will be required to submit a full listing of all referees used when they submit their results and classification change documents to a Division officer to sign off on, and the Division officer must then include them when forwarding to the USFA. According to the USFA: “If a non-screened official is used, the tournament organizer will receive a warning letter. On the second offense, the tournament organizer will not be allowed to host a sanctioned event for a period of six (6) months. On the third offense, the tournament organizer will be referred to the Board of Directors for investigation and potential disciplinary action.”

You can check each of the referee criteria in the following places:
Referee Rating: http://foc.askfred.net/Referee/
USFA Membership: http://www.usfencing.org/page/show/698125-current-membership-listing
Background Screening: http://www.usfencing.org/page/show/698125-current-membership-listing (Downloadable file)
SafeSport Certification: http://www.usfencing.org/page/show/892379-safe-sport (Course Completion List)