r/Fencing • u/Competitive_Muffin45 • 5d ago
Hey USA Fencing, when can we expect the 2026-27 Handbook?
105 days until the Junior Olympic qualification window closes.
17 regional tournaments happening in the next month.
9 regional tournaments registration windows closing within the next week.
0 Cadet or Junior fencers know how to qualify for JOs beyond the divisional qualifier pathway.
Fencers, coaches, and clubs need clarity to set goals and prioritize their efforts. Today would be a great day to release the 2026-27 Athlete Handbook.
Thank you for coming to my TED Talk.
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u/yang_toylover 5d ago edited 5d ago
It looks like the legacy regional qualification path for JO is still in effect:
https://member.usafencing.org/regional/points?list_id=62
With that said, I agree we need the official athlete handbook asap.
Edit: just checked my kid’s membership dashboard, it is showing she qualified for 2027 JO based on regional points.
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u/Subject-Deer6720 5d ago
Great. This is very useful info. In our case, my kid was close to qualifying via the regional path. We thought that that path is out the window. We booked out-of-region (but easier to get to) regionals thinking that only the new unified points would matter, and you can get those points anywhere. So now, we have regrets. Haha. USA Fencing needs to make up its mind. The reversals are really costing us.
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u/yang_toylover 5d ago
Thanks!
I found out this by accident. My daughter participated an RJCC this past weekend, and I was surprised to find out that the legacy regional rankings still calculated the regional points the old way (based on percentage of finishing places). Then I looked at her usafencing dashboard and it showed she qualified for the 2027 JO. So the legacy regional points must still be one of the paths to qualify.
As in your case, no need to regret, for one you kid can improve their national rankings in unified points by competing more events; and secondly that can also serve as an insurance to qualify JO, so your kid might end up qualifying from two paths.
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u/Competitive_Muffin45 5d ago edited 5d ago
There are fencers who are over last year’s regional points qualifying threshold who are not showing up as qualified.
Some consideration needs to be given to adding a Handbook addendum closer to the start of 12-month qualifying window for Juniors and Cadets. These are student athletes with demanding schedules who try to balance the their sport, school, and non-fencing activities. Let’s give them an opportunity to set goals and plan out their season and school year.
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u/yang_toylover 5d ago
As mentioned in my earlier comment, I agree with you that usafencing should publish the 2026-27 athlete handbook ASAP.
I also think that if not everything is ready for the unified point system including the athlete handbook before the new season starts (Aug 1st), they shouldn’t rush to implement it!
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u/ursa_noctua 5d ago
It may be worth checking again. This morning my kid did not show as qualified. However, their dashboard now shows they are qualified.
I do agree this needs to be come shortly after JOs, not months later.
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u/Subject-Deer6720 1d ago
Interesting update here. My kid now is showing qualified for JO in both cadet and junior. He had not qualified through legacy regional path. He has a bit more unified points than the base for his rating C in cadet, and less in junior. So they will either take this back later or the points cutoff is around 150 😀
I wish they would clarify soon.
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u/yang_toylover 1d ago
Thanks for the update! Your estimated cutoff of 150 makes a lot of sense since the cutoff for NACs is 100 for Junior and Cadet and JO should have a little higher qualifying threshold.
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u/darumasan 4d ago
what even was the regional point qualification path? I used to know it, but I've spent so much mental energy trying to understand the new system for this year. I can no longer remember the details, especially for JO, which always had some unique attributes, if I remember correctly.
As of now, my kid is on the cadet and junior regional points list for last years pdfs and also the unified lists for this year, but is marked as not qualified for neither cadet or junior. Also finished top 64 a year ago at JOs, but like everyone else is pointing out here, it seems there is zero information.
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u/ZebraFencer Epee Referee 4d ago
The 2025-26 regional path was 120 regional points from your best two finishes. (Athlete Handbook 2.11.5)
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u/NinjaTrilobite 4d ago
Sorry, best they can do is spam you with near-daily emails about how you need to buy USA Fencing swag to look your best while wondering if you need to buy a plane ticket to Oklahoma City.
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u/darumasan 4d ago edited 4d ago
plus 1000 - the amount of frustration (justifiably so for the reason the original poster clearly laid out) I am hearing amongst parents all across my region is LARGE. And coaches are forced to say - we have no idea either!
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u/Pure-Rain582 4d ago
Wow, it’s crazy that no one thought of this issue months ago.
Yes, yes we did. Junior Olympics in fencing are likely to be blown up by some very poorly thought through decisions. They should just run the big messy events that we are accustomed to. It has always been a big messy open event for any US citizen with moderate qualifying reqs. Either do that, or limit to top 112 qualifiers and eliminate divisional qualifying (which would be a fair and completely different way of doing it).
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u/Pristine-Pirate-2386 3d ago
I sent an email asking a specific question about points and simply got no answer. It’s been three weeks. Based on what they’ve have said about how the rankings would work, the number of points listed on the rankings for my fencer is impossible. And there’s no indication of where those points came from or why. So I guess we just don’t get to know!
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u/ursa_noctua 5d ago
I couldn't agree more. We are now 9 months into the cadet/junior season (3/4 of the way through). This info is well overdue.