About the Qualifiers  
 

The Green Mountain Division has two annual qualifying competitions on our schedule. Above all, we intend for the Qualifiers to be fun GMD tournaments, and to provide everyone lots of fencing experience. We particularly wish to encourage unclassified fencers to come and make these big tournaments. Think of these as just another chance for everyone in the division to get together and fence on the weekend, and think second of these as qualifiers. We hope the information here helps you understand in what National competitions you may be qualified to fence based on your participation and placement in the qualifiers.

Divisional qualifiers for North Atlantic Sectional Championships are no longer being held. The Sectionals are open registration (anyone who is eligible by age may compete). However, you must finish in the top 25% of the field at Sectionals to qualify for Division 1-A and Junior events at Summer Nationals.

For all qualifiers, USFA rules require us to hold separate men's and women's events for each weapon, and there are some age restrictions. To compete in the Div II/III qualifier, you must be rated C or lower, and to qualify for Div III you must be rated D or lower. Everyone competing in these events must be a member of the USFA and of the Green Mountain Division. You must also be a US citizen or a permanant resident.

The table below lists all the qualifying competitions, and describes the birth years eligible to compete and what percentage of the competitors will qualify to fence in the National competitions.
2006-07 Qualifiers     Last updated Oct 12, 2006
DateQualifierBirth Years EligiblePercentage Qualified
Nov 18Cadet JO Qualifiers1990-1993top 25% Cadet Junior Olympics
Nov 18Junior JO Qualifiers1987-1993top 25% Junior Junior Olympics
April 21-22Summer Nationals Senior Team1993 or earliersee USFA Athletes Handbook
April 21-22Summer Nationals Junior Team1988-94see USFA Athletes Handbook
April 21-22Summer Nationals Y141992-1995top 25% Summer Nationals Y14
April 21-22Summer Nationals Cadet1991-1994top 25% Summer Nationals Cadet
April 21-22Summer Nationals Div II/III1993 or earliertop 25% Summer Nationals Div II
next 25% of those eligible Summer Nationals Div III
 

Please note that fencers born in 1987, 1990, and 1994 have a change to their age group eligibility between the JOs and the rest of the season.

The Junior and Senior Team, Y14, Cadet, and Div II/III competitions qualify a percentage of the competitors for corresponding events at the Summer Nationals in July. As in the JO qualifiers, only the top 25% will qualify to fence at the Summer National events, so the number of fencers that qualify beyond the minimum of 3 depends on how many fencers compete.

The authoritative sources of information from the USFA on qualifying for National Competitions are the National Newsletters that you get in the mail, and the Athletes Handbook, which is available on the USFA web site in the Forms area (on the menu under Info for Members).