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YIKES!  - -> OCTOBER 2022 - Proposal to Eliminate Y10 and Y12 National Youth Fencing Events

LOOKOUT!! - - > FEBRUARY 2023 - Deadline for USA Fencing Task Force Report on the Proposal to Eliminate Y10 and Y12 National Youth Fencing Events

HELP!!! - - > Please READ, SIGN and SHARE this petition to SAVE Y10 and Y12 National Youth Fencing.  We need every fencer, prospective fencer, coach, parent/guardian/family member, teacher, school administrator, mentor, referee, champion, hobbyist, Olympian, alumni, vendor, club mate, small business owner, cosplayer, superhero, artist, armorer, and fencing enthusiast to join us!

WHAT HAPPENED? 

At the October 30, 2022 Annual Meeting of the Board of Directors of USA Fencing in Colorado Springs, a Motion was made by Board Member and At-Large Director Donald Alperstein to appoint a "Youth Fencing Task Force" to "to consider the advisability and propriety of conducting Y10 and Y12 events at national tournaments." A full copy of those meeting minutes can be found at:

USA Fencing Board Meeting Minutes (see 10/2022 at pgs. 6-7)

The Board is giving the Task Force until February 2023 to make recommendations about whether USA Fencing should cancel Youth National Events (Y10 and Y12). 

The following rationale (in summary) was cited in favor of eliminating National Youth Competition for the Y10 and Y12 categories: 

1. That athletes under the age of 12 should emphasize practice over competition and that "stressful travel and national competition is antithetical" to the principals of the American Development Model currently utilized by USA Fencing.
2. That discontinuing or reducing Y10 and Y12 categories at national events would allow USA Fencing to better serve fencers in Divisions 2 and 3.
3. That Local and Regional tournaments are high-quality and are better suited for Y10 and Y12 fencers, in part, because they save family resources.
4. That referees and "other observers" have noted "anecdotally" that "parent and coach misbehavior seems particularly acute and more troubling in younger age events, disrupting the tournaments and diminishing the enjoyment of athletes affected by poor adult conduct."

Counterpoints provided during the Board meeting in support of National Y10 and Y12 competition included the following: 

1. USA Fencing’s international success began after the adoption of youth fencing and our results progressed through Cadet, Junior, and Senior ranks as the youth fencers aged. Eliminating or reducing the number of national level youth events jeopardizes future international results.
2. The viability and success of some clubs and financial support for some coaches may depend on having Y10 and Y12 events at the national level.
3. Children are safer in national venues where FenceSafe and MAAPP are in the forefront.

The Purpose of this Petition is threefold: 

SHARE THE WORD: Most parents and coaches we've talked to have not even heard about the October proposal. Sign the petition, share it, and tell your story online. Tell people what National Youth Fencing means to you!

BE THE VOICE: The Task Force (and the USA Fencing Board) need to hear from ALL OF US before the February 2023 deadline. A decision that affects so many youth fencers (and people who depend on national youth fencing competition) should not be decided by a small committee with limited input. That's undemocratic!  Call, email, SIGN THIS PETITION, tell them who you are! The USA Fencing Board Members can be reached here:

Contact Your Board Members!

TELL A STORY: Every fencing family has a story.

Ours started with our oldest of son who, at a very early age, was told over and over again that something was wrong with him, that he was stupid, that he was disobedient, too emotional, unbalanced. 

In both school and church he just "wasn't welcome" because he was a misfit, misunderstood, different.

Turns out, he is dyslexic and highly competitive - just like his two little brothers. But we didn't know what that meant at first - not until we met other kids like ours. We just knew our family was hurting and we tried everything we knew to help, to no avail.

Fencing. Literally. Saved us. 

A simple twist of fate brought us to a small club tucked into a strip-mall an hour from our home in Kentucky. Our little club is a microcosm of diversity - economic and social - in a very homogenous state. We were blown away by what we saw when we arrived. Kids aged 6 to grownups in their 70's - Egyptian, Filipino, Chinese, Japanese, Iranian, African American, Brazilian, Russian, Ukrainian - all sharing the same piste and the same passion!  

Our club is now our "other home." We fence five days a week and our club mates are our extended family. Our boys (and our family) are thriving. We have fencing, and national youth fencing in particular, to thank for it. We've made a lot of sacrifices to make it work - but every minute has been worth it. Our boys are confident, motivated, happy kids who draw enormous positive energy from their interactions with the nation's top youth and adult fencers, coaches and referees. 

Youth National Events are a goalpost for our sons. Not everyone can live in a big city. National events are their chance to show the big wide world what a few tiny Kentuckians can do. It's what they work hard for all year long. Our boys will be absolutely devastated if Summer Nationals are gone. What's your story? Please tell it!

KNOW THE FACTS: At a time when youth sports general enrollment is declining, the last thing we should be doing is limiting opportunities for competition! Below are some numbers (and a few counterpoint anecdotes): 

• MEMBERSHIP:  Currently, there are 28,087 Registered Members of USA Fencing. Of that number, the Y10 Category (birth years 2011 - 2014) and the Y12 Category (birth years 2010 - 2013) make up a total of 8,244 of registrants. That's 30 PERCENT of the entire organization represented by the Y10 and Y12 categories. Why does USA Fencing want to eliminate events that level the playing field for 30% of their membership?
• PARTICIPATION: In the most recent Summer National Competition, a total of 9,619 fencers participated. Of that total, 1,368 were in the Youth Y10 and Y12 categories and 1,786 were in the Division 2 and Division 3 categories. Both groups had a robust showing in Minneapolis. One need not take precedence over the other. Let's make more of both, not less! In fact, we should add a Y8 Category! 
• SUPERHEROES: In 2021, only two dozen American fencers made the U.S. Olympic Fencing Team(s).  Most youth fencers are not able to fence alongside Olympians at their local clubs. In an age of weird politics and publicly atrocious adult behavior, kids need solid role models. Olympians are modern-day superheroes and our Olympic fencers are the BEST of the BEST.
• National Youth Events put the littlest kids in the same room with their favorite superheroes. For some kids, it is the only chance they will ever get to meet a real life Olympian, and it means the world to them. Just ask every kid and parent who stood in line to meet the Olympic fencers in Minnesota last summer!
• And a special note on another type of superhero - - - > there is a referee that we met last year when we first started on our journey. She remembered our middle son from his very first bout - it was a really tough pool and he was terrified. She travels the country reffing and offering wisdom and guidance to kids of all ages. Every time we see her she encourages our son. And it is a BIG DEAL to a LITTLE KID to be seen and appreciated by a professional referee in uniform, let me tell you. Don't even get me started on the coaches - angels, all of you! There simply is no substitute for the quality of support these kids get from national competition.
• BEHAVIOR: "Anecdotally," it is an acceptable proposition that adolescent children behave less tolerably than their mature adult counterparts. Kids are crazy, we know. It takes two decades for some kids to learn good manners. ;) But one of the benefits of fencing, and sport in general, is the opportunity to mimic the positive behaviors of our mentors and harness all those big emotions into positive action - and there are A LOT of big emotions in fencing. (See supra, section on Superheroes and role modeling.) If parents or coaches or competitors are out of line at a tournament, there is a mechanism for dealing with bad behavior - the black card and ejection. If the problems persist, further disciplinary action is available under the Rules. Every sport has a rule book. What better example to set for our kiddos than showing them the grown-ups know how to follow the rules?! Toss the bad apples and shine up the rest. You got this! We're a family and we can do it together by holding each other accountable!
• LOCAL v. NATIONAL: For the kids who live in Los Angeles and New York (not picking on you guys - we love you!), any plan to limit Y10 and Y12 competition to Regional and SYC events will work out just fine. For everyone else, regionalization will have dramatic effects that will follow these kids into the Y14 categories and create a huge skill divide. The regionalization of the sport will all but guarantee that kids living in big cities will have an advantage over kids from small towns. National events are the great equalizer. David v. Goliath! Cinderella v. the Step Sisters! Peanut butter v. Jelly. Well, you know what we mean. 
• STRESS: Traveling with young kids is stressful. So are holidays, pandemics, in-laws, work deadlines, school exams, medical emergencies, flat tires, learning differences and interpersonal conflicts, among a laundry list of other life challenges. Fencing is one of the best tools we have to teach our youngsters how to manage stress.
• Anecdotally, fencing has taught my children how preparation and physical activity can reduce stress and result in personal achievements both big and small. For my 10-year-old, it's working hard for the chance to earn national points. For my 7-year-old, it's getting a "double touch" on a kid twice his size and becoming an Olympian like his favorite superhero - Lee Kiefer! My 9-year-old likes to pretend he is Yoda - his blade is his protector - take that, Stress Monster! 
• The National Y10 and Y12 Events are the gold at the end of the rainbow, the conference of rockstars, the BIG IT. Its what so many kids work hard for all year. These events teach them how to plan and make goals then execute those plans and make adjustments IN SPITE OF stress. Most importantly, they SHARE these experiences with their peers from all over the country. These littles are dreaming of big things - like, Olympic-level things. Nationals are their time to really shine like the big people they look up to. Also, just walking into the room at Summer Nationals is AWE INSPIRING.   
• RESOURCES: We could all save time, money and a little sanity if we skipped the March NAC and Summer Nationals. But before we rid ourselves of a shining star of American Youth Competitive Sports - and an invaluable Olympic pipeline - let's look at some numbers:  
  • $932: Average spent per American on holiday gifts in 2022 (Gallup '22).
  • $2,376: Avg. spent dining out per year per household (BLS '20)
  • $480: Avg. spent on alcohol per year per household (BLS '20)
  • $312: Avg. spent on tobacco per year per household (BLS '20)
  • $864: Avg. spent on pets, toys, hobbies and playground equip. (BLS '20)
  • $1,368: Avg. annual cell phone bill
  • $768: Avg. annual internet bill
  • $5,044 - $7,841: Estimated cost for a 5-day family trip to Disney. 
  • $20,040: New York State annual education expenditures per pupil
  • $7,771: Idaho annual education expenditures per pupil 
• If the goal is to equalize access to resources, we need more youth events, not less. Only a handful of states have high school fencing programs. The rest of us rely on small private clubs for access to this sport. Gutting youth national competition could easily force the closure of small clubs in small towns all across America. We need these clubs to keep our kids healthy and exercising - and to ensure the United States stays competitive abroad. 
• We need to ask ourselves: how much are France, Italy, Brazil and Russia spending to train youth fencers? To compete with them - and support our own aspiring Olympians - we need our youngest kids engaged and surrounded by talented fencers, coaches and referees. 

IN CONCLUSION. . . 

At a minimum, we need USA Fencing to hesitate on this. Create a public survey. Make sure the people drafting the survey include the people impacted by the decisions. 

And, thank you so much for lending us your voice. 

We hope to see you soon.

A Loving & Grateful Fencing Family Just Like Yours 

XOXO