When it comes to the qualifying path for Junior Olympics and July Challenge for Cadet and Juniors the whole subject becomes to be very confusing.
The reason is that unlike all other categories the qualifying path works slightly differently. The major difference is cadet/junior season.
Cadet/Junior season is not aligned with USFA fencing season and spans from Junior Olympics of the current year till Junior Olympics of the next year and coincides with International Cadet/Junior age definition.
For cadets and juniors there are two major national level tournaments that require qualification:
- Junior Olympics Championship, held during the President Week Weekend in middle of February (this season February 17-20, 2017 in Kansas City, MO)
- July Challenge, held as part of the Summer Nationals in late June, early July (this season July 1-10, 2017 in Salt Lake City, UT)
Let’s see how to qualify for each one of these events.