Fencing: Summer Nationals 2014 Ohio

Fencing: Summer Nationals 2014 Ohio

In the past few posts we wrote about a new qualification path for Y12 fencers. The life of a Y12 fencer is becoming much more challenging from one side, but much more exciting from the other, as most Y12 fencers now need to aggregate enough Y12 regional points to qualify for Summer Nationals.

The Laws of Nature say that if you loose energy in one thing, it will be compensated in another 🙂 I’m not sure that this law always applies to fencing, but this year it did—while Y12 fencers may have an added challenge in the new season, for Y14 fencers it will be much easier to qualify for the 2015 Summer National championship compared to this past year.

And the reason is simple: starting from this season Y14 regional points count!

Lets review the rules for Y14 qualification. A fencer will qualify for Y14 Summer Nationals in 2015 if he/she meets one of the following criteria:

  1. He/she has Y14 national points, meaning he/she placed in the top 32 at the last NAC in the Y14 category or the top 40% in a SYC for the current season
  2. He/she is in the top 16 Y12 fencers in the country based on Y12 national points
  3. He/she is in the top 25% of Y14 regional points
  4. He/she is in the top eight in Y12 regional points
  5. And finally, he/she placed in the top 25% in the Divisional qualifiers

I know many fencers that worked to qualify for Y14 last year, but didn’t make the cut. Unfortunately, in most cases the fencer got better throughout the season but wasn’t able to pull up to the top 25% of Divisional qualifiers or the top 40% in a SYC by the end of the season. Of course, placing in the top 32 at a NAC is always a challenging task. So they missed fencing at the Y14 event in Columbus. They still fenced at Cadet and Junior events, but their primary event was missed.

The good news for this year is that RYCs count! Up until now only the winner at a Y14 RYC qualified for Summer Nationals. This year a consistently good performance at RYCs can earn you a place at Summer Nationals.

So my advice is simple: if your Y14 fencer is not yet able to consistently place in the top positions at NACs, SYCs, or Divisional qualifiers, make a plan to qualify via RYCs. Essentially that means start going to every RYC in your region. Cumulatively and statistically results will count and the chances are much higher than last year to qualify.

Read our blog about the Y12 fencer’s qualification plan and prepare a similar action plan for your Y14 fencer. This post also gives a bit more detail on how the regional points are tallied for evaluation of qualification to Summer Nationals.

By the way, it’s worth noting that the top eight Y12 fencers in every region also qualify for the Y14 Summer Nationals, which opens an additional opportunity for Y12 fencers that perform well on the regional level to fence for Y14.

Good luck with your season plans and hope to see you all in San Jose next year!