After numerous meetings and discussions with the National Office and a group of coaches' representatives, we have reached an agreement that coaches will have representation in the event scheduling group.

Starting with the new season, a group of three coaches – Natalie Dostert, Ralf Bissdorf, and Terrence Lasker, each representing one weapon discipline and led by Natalie – will be part of the USA Fencing event scheduling group. This coaches' group will work closely with other coaches and club owners and contribute to the event scheduling process with a unified voice.

This is a significant step forward for the community, as the joint efforts of the event planning team and the coaches/club representatives will address most of the issues with the current schedule. This collaboration aims to create a national schedule that works better for fencers, their families, and coaches.

While this petition could not change the current summer nationals schedule, it achieved its major goals:

a) Raising awareness among the general fencing population that issues in the schedule are not private but systemic.

b) Bringing this matter to the attention of the National Office.

c) Facilitating dialogue between the National Office and coaches' representatives.

d) Ultimately leading to the creation of a coaches' working group to participate in the event scheduling team.

We want to thank the National Office team (Phil Andrews, Glen Hollingsworth, and Kate Reisinger), the coaches team (Andrey Geva, Yury Gelman, Greg Massialas, Tsanko Hantov, Mikhail Mokretsov, Sergey Danilov, and Zoltan Dudas), and this coaches' representative team (Natalie, Ralf, and Terrence) who agreed to lead the effort. Your collective support and cooperation were instrumental in achieving this positive outcome.

Thank you to all who supported this petition! Your voice mattered!