Academy of Fencing Masters Blog

I need to address a concerning scheduling decision that impacts our national team athletes. The 2025 April Division 1 Championships and NAC in Los Angeles (April 11-14, 2025) overlaps with the final days of the 2025 Junior and Cadet World Championships in Wuxi, China (April 7-15, 2025) - a situation that creates significant challenges for our sport's top performers and creates a huge conflict of potential choices for event attendance. This conflict particularly affects around 40 of our most...

For many fencers, their primary interaction with USA Fencing comes through national events - NACs, Junior Olympics, and Summer Nationals. It's no surprise, then, that NAC-related topics generate intense discussion among participants, parents, coaches, and officials alike. As someone who frequently writes about these issues, I want to outline the major challenges we face in national events and propose potential solutions. Critical Issues Facing National Events Location and Timing Challenges...

As we previously discussed, with the growth of American fencing both in quality and in numbers, there arose a need to review how our national events are structured, particularly for Senior level national tournaments. The unprecedented success of American fencers on the international stage, from Cadet World Cups to Olympic Games, along with the increasing popularity of our sport, demands that we rethink our competition format to better serve this new reality. In the previous post, I suggested a...

American fencing grew tremendously in the 21st century, transforming from underdogs on the international scene to one of the most powerful countries in the world. Look at any level of competition, from Cadet World Cups to Olympic Games, and it's unfathomable not to see an American fencer on the podium, oftentimes claiming the highest prize. This success, along with many other factors, led to an unprecedented increase in our sport's popularity compared to the previous century. With such...