The past month has seen major hurricanes hit the United States again and again. Every time you turn on the news, it seems there’s another storm that’s destroying homes and lives of people somewhere.

The USFA Hurricane Relief Fund

USFA started a fund to help clubs in the affected area with repairs over the coming months.  It’s a great cause and a wonderful way to address these major issues with compassion and support from the wonderful fencing community.

Tournament to raise funds

Our hearts go out to the fencing families and clubs affected by these hurricanes.  We wanted to help in any way that we could, as we’ve heard our fencing families talk so much about their desire to do something. A fencing tournament turned out to be a great idea, and we found that we garnered a ton of community support for this effort!

What better way to raise money than with fencing?!

So yesterday we had a Hurricane Relief Tournament for youth foil and epee. We had a fantastic turnout for this event. More than 120 fencers came out to participate, and the  atmosphere was great, truly the spirit of friendship and camaraderie that we cherish as part of fencing. It was a celebration of the sport. The proceeds from the tournament were amazing. Based on what we took in from this tournament, we’ll be able to donate more than $2,500 to the USFA Hurricane Relief Fund, which will directly help families and fencing clubs in the hurricane affected areas.

It was so good to see all of the volunteers who came out and put up some fantastic efforts to help the whole thing run smoothly. Our fencers came out and put all hands on deck with everything from refereeing, organization, logistical support, setup, cleanup, etc. Whole families came out to help make this happen successfully. We were touched by many who donated more than the tournament fees for this cause! Truly, to have people give so unselfishly to help out their fellow fencers!

One boy, an 8 years old fencer competing in Y8 category, added from his own money – $10 – on top of the fees his dad paid for the competition. It was so, so heartening to see such a young fencer care about how other people were struggling, then to step up and help them!

We saw so many messages of social consciousness in this tournament. It was all about sportsmanship and the desire to lend a helping hand. This is the true face of fencing, and it’s the reason that we do what we do!

We’d like to deeply thank everyone who came out to support our tournament. It was not only a good cause, but a great day had by all. In the future, we hope to be able to do more tournaments like this to help out when it’s needed.  It’s great to know how much the fencing community cares about their fellow fencers, and how much they’re willing to help them out in a time of trouble.

THANK YOU!! Thank you to everyone who supported, refereed, participated, and were involved in any way with this Hurricane Relief tournament. Thank you!!