Priority on Youth #2 over the weekend of December 3rd and 4th continued to show success for the athletes, parents, and coaches. Forge Fencing hosted 74 athletes from 7 different North Carolina Clubs ranging from Boone to Fayetteville. Check out our photo album on Facebook to see images of your favorite fencers in action.
Forge was impressed and surprised with how quickly these events have grown! To meet the growing needs of our club, and our state, we are branching out the events into 3 unique competitive opportunities over the course of the tournament weekend. Our next weekend is January 21st & 22nd, 2023. We have 3 levels of competition to choose from now, depending on the age and level goals of the fencer.
Level 1: Forge Youth Academy Tournament. This event will take place on Saturday morning, January 21st, from 9am until 11am. This event is for all of our Youth Academy members and will take the place of the normal Saturday morning practice. The cost is $25 per fencer, and you must pre-register before the event. The coaches will instruct the students (and parents) on how fencing tournaments works, set goals & expectations, and work towards a fun experience. No medals are awarded, but everyone gets a sticker!
Level 2: Priority on Youth # 3 Tournament. Due to the impressive growth of this event, we are expanding the schedule over 2 days. This event is geared towards fencers who have all (or nearly all) of their own equipment and have participated in at least 1 prior tournament. We welcome fencers from all over North Carolina in the Olympic style weapons of foil, epeé, and saber. These are the events in which fencers earn points (see below for the points update).
Level 3: Priority on North Carolina! It is obvious to us that the “seasoned” crew of fencers in all 3 weapons from across North Carolina are performing at levels beyond their current USA Fencing classifications, or ratings. To help Region 6, we are offering sanctioned events in foil, epeé, and saber in the next event. These events will be classified as Division 3 events, which means athletes have to have a rating of “D” or Under in order to compete.
Athletes must have a current USA Fencing membership, full tournament kit to USA Fencing regulations, and be born 2009 or earlier. Some equipment specifics for each weapon include 800N FIE gloves for saber fencers. For foil, ensure you have a conforming foil mask, with conductive bib, and if you use a chest protector, it must be the FIE padded version. *If you are a junior fencer and had been competing in POY, we will use your finish from this event for points results going forward.
Priority on Youth Points Updates:
Here is the updated list of participants and their final result in each event, along with how many points they earned. Remember that our formula rewards the larger events, so fencing “up” an age group or level may give you a better point finish than winning your age group. It also helps to encourage your friends and teammates to compete, the bigger events give more points!
Here is our overall POY points rankings after our second event. Group 1 values are your highest point value for each tournament weekend. The fencers are ranked on the sum of their best values from each weekend. For Juniors going forward, we will be using the Division 3 events for your points. As always, if you have questions or spot an error please reach out to Coach Jeff or any of our staff.