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News Items from the Past Formerly Appearing on the Added 2007-09-10, removed 2008-09-23. "Decisions" of the Division Tournament Committee The Division Tournament Committee ("TC") attempted and failed to meet on August 15th, 2007, to attempt to fulfill its obligation under the Bylaws to administer the allocation of specific weekends and days to tournaments hosted by specific clubs. However, as discussed elsewhere on this Web site, the TC defaulted in its obligation for the same reasons for the second year in a row. Also for the second year in a row the Executive Committee (EC) later acted and created a calendar which, for all practical purposes, could be treated as if the TC had made all the calendar decisions which it wished it had been at liberty to make on August 15th. The resulting calendar decisions are described here as if they were decisions of the TC, and can be legally treated as if they were TC decisions, but the legal truth underlying the calendar is considerably more complicated. The TC made no "decisions" which would cause the August 25th CLFC Fête de Lune and September 1-2 FCUH Cougar Call to Arms no longer to remain sanctioned scheduled tournaments. (They were earlier sanctioned by special action of the EC, provided the TC did not meet adequately in advance of them and elect not to sanction them. Given that both tournaments would be completed within 17 days of the TC meeting, the TC did not meet adequately in advance to have the option of superseding the interim decision of the EC.) The TC "decided" that these dates be "blackout dates" when there would be no USFA-sanctioned tournaments of the Gulf Coast Texas Division (except the qualifiers and SSCC tournament):
The TC "decided" that these weekends be "exclusive" weekends when any tournament(s) held on the weekend would exclusively involve a single particular club as organizers, usually for some traditional tournament:
The TC "decided" that these additional club requests for tournaments to be scheduled on other days which are not parts of "exclusive" weekends, be included in the schedule:
Note that these were only the decisions the EC declared as of September 10th to be considered as if made by the TC. This did not necessarily prohibit adjustments to how the "owning" organizers would manage an exclusive weekend. And, this did not prohibit additional competitions later being added to the schedule by the TC on days not belonging to "exclusive" weekends as long as no added competition would conflict with any already-scheduled competition on the same day. Added 2007-09-10, removed 2008-09-23. Executive Committee Meets After Division Tournament Committee Default As discussed in an earlier news item, the Bylaws required the Division Tournament Committee ("TC") to meet and follow explicit procedures for creating a calendar of Division tournaments for the fencing year, but it did not do so, and its members expected that the Executive Committee ("EC") would instead meet and decree what the calendar should be considered to have been. The EC did not work from a blank slate. All members happened to be in the room when club representatives gathered in a failed attempt to do the business of the TC, and were quite aware of the preferences expressed by the clubs' representatives. Ehe EC has finally met, on September 10th. Just as it did last year, the resolution it adopted was carefully phrased. Aside from leaving the already-held Fête de Lune and Cougar Call to Arms untouched, and acknowledging the existence of the two qualifier tournaments and the SSCC tournament (collectively called the "big three" tournaments), the resolution essentially said, "Pretend the TC itself made these decisions and presented the resulting calendar to the EC, which reviewed it favorably." So, like 2006, although the TC did not make any schedule decisions whatsoever, the EC deliberately created a situation where, for legal purposes, the Division can for simplicity treat all the schedule decisions as if they had come from the TC in a fashion which was legal, even though the TC could not legally have made those particular decisions on August 15th. Note that there are some differences between the recommendations of August 15th and the actual resolution of the EC. Because certain clubs still did not have USFA membership, there is no mention of them in the resolution. Added 2007-08-16, removed 2007-09-10. Division Tournament Committee Defaults, Executive Committee Will React In a situation very similar to one year ago in August 2006, the Bylaws required the Division Tournament Committee ("TC") meet and follow explicit procedures for creating a calendar of Division tournaments for the 2007-2008 fencing year. To satisfy requirements in the Bylaws, it is effectively required that the TC do this before the end of August. The TC tried to meet on August 15th, 2007, to attempt to fulfill its obligation to administer the allocation of specific weekends and days to tournaments hosted by specific clubs. As was the case one year earlier, on the day of the meeting, it became apparent that the TC would be unable to prepare a calendar which would be satisfactory, but which would also be in accord with the Bylaws. The Bylaws are quite explicit about the procedure the TC must follow in the creation of a calendar, for delivery to the Executive Committee for review. The Bylaws prohibited allocating tournament dates to clubs not belonging to the USFA. Despite reminders, many clubs did not belong yet to the USFA. It was expected that several USFA club memberships would soon clear. The TC did not even consider arranging a second attempt at a meeting soon enough to meet the requirements of the Bylaws. So, although the TC did not for legal purposes meet, those who arrived did reach an understanding among themselves about scheduling. The default of the TC resulted in no calendar being delivered by the TC to the Executive Committee (EC) for review, as was required by the Bylaws. The EC, as the ultimate administrative authority of the Division, is left having to invent the schedule itself. It is expected that the EC will meet approximately September 1 and wherever possible enact the recommendations from those who attended on August 15th — with the likely exception of any allocation of dates to clubs which still do not belong to the USFA. Since the TC did not actually meet, the TC made no decisions which would cause the August 25th CLFC Fête de Lune and September 1-2 FCUH Cougar Call to Arms no longer to remain sanctioned scheduled tournaments. (They were earlier sanctioned by special action of the EC, provided the TC did not meet adequately in advance of them and elect not to sanction them. Given that the TC is not even meeting, the TC did not meet adequately in advance to have the option of superseding the interim decision of the EC.) For reference, the attendees wished the following information to become official (note that as yet this is only informational, not official): "Blackout dates" (when there would be no USFA-sanctioned tournaments of the Gulf Coast Texas Division, except the qualifiers and SSCC tournament, which themselves cause the dates to be considered blacked out):
"Exclusive" weekends when any tournament(s) held on the weekend would exclusively involve a single particular club as organizers, usually for some traditional tournament:
Additional days which are not parts of "exclusive" weekends:
Added 2007-03-10, removed 2008-03-25. 2007 Annual Meeting Details The 2006-2007 Annual Meeting of the Gulf Coast Texas Division of the USFA will be held Saturday, March 24th immediately after fencing at Divisionals (as required by the Bylaws), at the Houston Athletic Fencing Center, 4997 W. Braseswood, Houston, TX 77035. This location is the same as the location of the divisional qualifiers for Summer Nationals, and the day is the same as the first day of Divisionals as is required by the Bylaws. The exact time is impossible to predict. Since some members will only be arriving for the meeting and would like to know an approximate time to arrive at the venue, we are estimating that the finish time for fencing will be anywhere between 4:30 p.m. and 8:00 p.m. If you need a more exact time, please call one of your club fencers or coaches who will be at the venue after the last close of registration at 3:00 p.m. The meeting is being held to receive reports from the Executive Committee, financial report, inventory and condition report of Divisional equipment, recommendations by outgoing officers, and to elect and qualify new officers and Congress representatives. Any Division member is welcome to vote if 1) he had his USFA membership accepted by the national office, and also 2) the national office became aware that he was born before February 1, 1989 -- both before February 1, 2007. Postcards announcing the meeting have been sent to all eligible voters. Votes may be by proxy. The meeting announcement postcards themselves have proxy forms on them. It is encouraged that these proxy forms be used, but this is not required. (The phrase "power of substitution" on the proxy forms means that the person designated to cast the vote may transfer this authorization to another person, for instance if he cannot attend the meeting either.) If you lose your postcard, here is another proxy form which will work. Proxies must be submitted to the Secretary by 2 p.m. on the day of the meeting to be valid. Added 2007-03-09, removed 2008-03-25. 2007 Divisionals and Annual Meeting The 2007 Divisional qualifiers for Summer Nationals, hosted by Salle Mauro will be held March 24-25 at the Houston Athletic Fencing Center. Details are available by clicking here. As required by Division Bylaws, there will be a meeting of the membership of the Gulf Coast Texas Division after completion of fencing on the first day of the tournament, Saturday, March 24. The meeting is to receive reports from the Executive Committee, financial report, inventory and condition report of Divisional equipment, recommendations by outgoing officers, and to elect and qualify new officers and Congress representatives. Neither a predicted time for the completion of fencing nor a promise to convene the meeting no earlier than a specific time is available yet, but a commitment to start the meeting no earlier than a specific time might be available shortly with more details about the meeting. Added 2006-12-11, removed 2007-12-30. Results from JO Qualifiers Results from the Gulf Coast Division qualifying tournament for the Junior Olympic Championships ("JO qualifiers") are available both on askFRED and on this Web site. Note that FRED has no concept of the idea of qualifying for Junior Olympics, so those who qualified for Junior Olympics are identified only in the results listing on this Web site. Junior Olympics is February 16-19 in Denver. The entry form is available on the USFA Web site. The entry deadline is January 12th (with late entries accepted at triple price between January 13 26). Added 2006-11-07, removed 2007-11-18. Junior Olympic Championships Qualifiers The 2006 Divisional qualifiers for the 2007 Junior Olympic Championships, hosted directly by the University of St. Thomas, will be held December 2-3 on the campus of the University of St. Thomas. Details, including maps, are available here in the tournament announcement letter. Full details of eligibility requirements to compete in the Junior Olympic Championships, and this qualifying tournament, are given in the tournament announcement letter. Pre-registration is at askFRED, as noted in the tournament announcement letter. Masks, cords, and lamés and saber manchettes/gloves will be checked. Added 2006-10-21, removed 2007-06-12. CLFC Fall Tournament Canceled The CLFC Fall Tournament scheduled for October 21, 2006, has been canceled by the organizers due to loss of utilities at the venue. The organizers do not yet have any announcements involving any rescheduling. Added 2006-09-08, removed 2007-09-10. "Decisions" of the Division Tournament Committee The Division Tournament Committee ("TC") met on August 23rd, 2006, to attempt to fulfill its obligation under the Bylaws to administer the allocation of specific weekends and days to tournaments hosted by specific clubs. However, for reasons discussed elsewhere on this Web site, the TC defaulted in its obligation under the Bylaws to prepare a calendar in the specific way required by the Bylaws, and instead the Executive Committee (EC) later acted and created a calendar which, for all practical purposes, could be treated as if the TC had made all the calendar decisions which it wished it had been at liberty to make on August 23rd. The resulting calendar decisions are described here as if they were decisions of the TC, and can be legally treated as if they were TC decisions, but the legal truth underlying the calendar is considerably more complicated. The TC made no "decisions" which would cause the August 26th CLFC Fête de Lune and September 2-3 FCUH Cougar Call to Arms no longer to remain sanctioned scheduled tournaments. (They were earlier sanctioned by special action of the EC, provided the TC did not meet adequately in advance of them and elect not to sanction them. Given that both tournaments would be completed within 11 days of the TC meeting, the TC did not meet adequately in advance to have the option of superseding the interim decision of the EC.) The TC "decided" that these dates be "blackout dates" when there would be no USFA-sanctioned tournaments of the Gulf Coast Texas Division (except the qualifiers and SSCC tournament):
The TC "decided" that these weekends be "exclusive" weekends when any tournament(s) held on the weekend would exclusively involve a single particular club as organizers, usually for some traditional tournament:
In addition, CLFC would have been listed for a May 12-13 "exclusive" weekend, except that CLFC volunteered to forego May 13th. The Bylaws provide only for entire "protected" weekends with it being expressly prohibited for either day of the weekend to be used for other purposes. So, although May 12 is not part of an actual "exclusive" weekend for CLFC, the EC declared that no tournaments would be allowed to be added to the calendar on May 12th as if May 12-13 were a CLFC "exclusive" weekend, but that May 13th would be treated as normally instead of as if it is a part of any "exclusive" weekend. The TC "decided" that these additional club requests for tournaments to be scheduled on other days which are not parts of "exclusive" weekends, be included in the schedule:
Note that these were only the decisions the EC declared as of September 8th to be considered as if made by the TC. This did not necessarily prohibit adjustments to how the "owning" organizers would manage an exclusive weekend. And, this did not prohibit additional competitions later being added to the schedule by the TC on days not belonging to "exclusive" weekends as long as no added competition would conflict with any already-scheduled competition on the same day. Added 2006-09-08, removed 2007-09-10. Division Tournament Committee Meets and Defaults, Executive Committee Finally Reacts The Bylaws required the Division Tournament Committee ("TC") meet and follow explicit procedures for creating a calendar of Division tournaments for the fencing year. To satisfy requirements in the Bylaws, it is effectively required that the TC do this before the end of August. The TC met on August 23rd, 2006, to attempt to fulfill its obligation to administer the allocation of specific weekends and days to tournaments hosted by specific clubs. However, on the day of the meeting, it became apparent that the TC would be unable to prepare a calendar which would be satisfactory, but which would also be in accord with the Bylaws! The Bylaws are quite explicit about the procedure the TC must follow in the creation of a calendar, for delivery to the Executive Committee for review. The Bylaws prohibited allocating tournament dates to clubs not belonging to the USFA. Despite reminders one month earlier, many clubs did not belong yet to the USFA, or there was still conflicting information about the validity of their memberships. It was expected that several USFA club memberships would soon clear, and it was expected that membership questions would soon be resolved favorably. (This actually did come to pass.) The TC knew it could not arrange a second meeting soon enough to meet the requirements of the Bylaws. So, although the TC did meet, and did make some decisions, it did not produce a calendar. The default of the TC resulted in no calendar being delivered by the TC to the Executive Committee (EC) for review, as was required by the Bylaws. The EC, as the ultimate administrative authority of the Division, was left having to invent the schedule itself. However, the parties assembled for the TC meeting (both from clubs entitled to membership on the TC and from clubs without USFA memberships at that time) spoke extensively, before the TC meeting was convened, about what would be desirable for a schedule. At the time, all of the members of the EC were in the room, and became quite familiar with the schedule recommendations made by all who gathered. But, after the default of the TC, the EC had its own problems. Because of unfortunate coincidences of trips out of town and personal obligations, the EC was completely unable to convene a meeting until September 8th. When the EC finally did meet, the resolution it adopted was carefully phrased. Aside from leaving the already-held Fête de Lune and Cougar Call to Arms untouched, and acknowledging the existence of the two qualifier tournaments and the SSCC tournament (collectively called the "big three" tournaments), the resolution essentially said, "Pretend the TC itself made these decisions and presented the resulting calendar to the EC, which reviewed it favorably." So, although the TC did not make any schedule decisions whatsoever, the EC deliberately created a situation where, for legal purposes, the Division can for simplicity treat all the schedule decisions as if they had come from the TC in a fashion which was legal, even though the TC could not legally have made those particular decisions on August 23rd. Added 2006-04-11, removed 2007-08-16. Results from Divisionals Results from the Gulf Coast Division qualifying tournament for Summer Nationals ("Divisionals") are available both on askFRED and on this Web site. Note that FRED has no concept of the idea of qualifying for Summer Nationals, so those who qualified for Summer Nationals are identified only in the results listing on this Web site. Summer Nationals [Webmaster's note: The previous two words used to link to http://www.usfencing.org/do/contentItem?contentId=638, but with the October 2006 changes to the USFA Web site, no page could be found with information about any 2005-2006 national tournaments any longer.] is June 31-July 9 in Atlanta. The entry form [Webmaster's note: The previous two words used to link to http://www.usfencing.org/downloads/2006%20Summer%20National%20Championships%20Individual%20Entry%20Form1.pdf, but with the October 2006 changes to the USFA Web site, no page could be found with 2005-2006 documents any longer.] and team entry form [Webmaster's note: The previous three words used to link to http://www.usfencing.org/downloads/2006%20USFA%20Summer%20National%20Championships%20TEAM%20Form1.pdf, but with the October 2006 changes to the USFA Web site, no page could be found with 2005-2006 documents any longer.] are available on the USFA Web site. The entry deadline is May 18th (with late entries accepted at triple price between May 19 and June 9). Added 2006-03-16, removed 2007-08-16. Candidacies for Office The Bylaws provide for declarations of candidacies for Office. Specifically, the Bylaws mention: "... nominations may be made and submitted to the Secretary for posting on a Division Web site. Brief biographies and statements of goals may also be submitted for each Officer nomination. Nominations for Division Officers may also be made from the floor at the Annual Meeting." (Note that this creates absolutely no requirement that anyone do anything beforehand for a person to be eligible to be elected to office. This is merely an opportunity for candidates to communicate certain information if desired.) This year, it is not practical for such submissions to be made directly to the Secretary or to be put on the Division Web site. As a substitute, candidates are encouraged to go to a discussion board made available specifically for this purpose on the Gulf Coast discussion forums. This board is only for "brief biographies and statements of goals" for candidates for office. Other posts on that specific board will be deleted without warning. The URL for this specific board is http://campechesteel.proboards15.com/index.cgi?board=Division&action=display&thread=1142653414. Any member planning on running for office is welcome to post information there. All Division voters are encouraged to read any such postings. Added 2006-03-16, removed 2007-04-02. Annual Meeting Details The Annual Meeting of the Gulf Coast Texas Division of the USFA will be held Saturday, April 1st immediately after fencing at Divisionals (as required by the Bylaws), at South Houston High School, 3820 South Shaver, South Houston, TX 77587. This location is the same as the location of the divisional qualifiers for Summer Nationals, and the day is the same as the first day of Divisionals as is required by the Bylaws. The exact time is impossible to predict. Since some members will only be arriving for the meeting and would like to know an approximate time to arrive at the venue, we are estimating that the finish time for fencing will be anywhere between 4:30 p.m. and 8:00 p.m. If you need a more exact time, please call one of your club fencers or coaches who will be at the venue after the last close of registration at 3:00 p.m. The meeting is being held to receive reports from the Executive Committee, financial report, inventory and condition report of Divisional equipment, recommendations by outgoing officers, and to elect and qualify new officers. Any Division member is welcome to vote if 1) he had his USFA membership accepted by the national office, and also 2) the national office became aware that he was born before February 1, 1988 -- both before February 1, 2006. Postcards announcing the meeting have been sent to all eligible voters. Votes may be by proxy. The meeting announcement postcards themselves have proxy forms on them. It is encouraged that these proxy forms be used, but this is not required. (The phrase "power of substitution" on the proxy forms means that the person designated to cast the vote may transfer this authorization to another person, for instance if he cannot attend the meeting either.) If you lose your postcard, here is another proxy form which will work. Proxies must be submitted to the Secretary by 2 p.m. on the day of the meeting to be valid. Added 2006-03-15, removed 2007-03-10. Divisionals and Annual Meeting The 2006 Divisional qualifiers for Summer Nationals, hosted by the South Houston High School Fencing Team will be held April 1-2 at the South Houston High School. Details are available by clicking here. As required by Division Bylaws, there will be a meeting of the membership of the Gulf Coast Texas Division after completion of fencing on the first day of the tournament, Saturday, April 1. The meeting is to receive reports from the Executive Committee, financial report, inventory and condition report of Divisional equipment, recommendations by outgoing officers, and to elect and qualify new officers. Neither a predicted time for the completion of fencing nor a promise to convene the meeting no earlier than a specific time is available yet, but a commitment to start the meeting no earlier than a specific time may be available shortly with more details about the meeting. Added 2005-12-12, removed 2007-06-12. 2006 Junior Olympics Qualification and Entry Forms Entry forms [Webmaster's note: The previous two words used to link to http://www.usfencing.org/do/filePreview?id=1610, but with the October 2006 changes to the USFA Web site, no page could be found with information about any 2005-2006 national tournaments any longer.] for the 2006 Junior Olympics [Webmaster's note: The previous four words used to link to http://www.usfencing.org/do/filePreview?id=1610, but with the October 2006 changes to the USFA Web site, no page could be found with information about any 2005-2006 national tournaments any longer.] must be received by the USFA National Office by January 19, 2006. Late entries will be accepted between January 20 and February 3, 2006, with a payment of triple the regular fees. To fence in the Junior Olympics, a fencer must have appropriate age (unless on the next younger NRPS), membership, and nationality or immigration status. To qualify to compete, the fencer must be an automatic qualifier, or must place sufficiently well in the Division's Junior Olympics qualifying tournament, or the fencer must not compete in the qualifier (or withdraw for legitimate medical reasons) and petition the USFA to qualify within five business days of the qualifying competition. (See the 2005-2006 Athlete Handbook [Webmaster's note: The previous four words used to link to http://www.usfencing.org/do/filePreview?id=1191, but with the October 2006 changes to the USFA Web site, no page could be found with 2005-2006 documents any longer.] chapter 2.8.) NOTE: Due to recent changes to the USFA Web site, you may be unable to open the entry form by clicking on the link "Entry forms" [Webmaster's note: The previous two words used to link to http://www.usfencing.org/do/filePreview?id=1610, but with the October 2006 changes to the USFA Web site, no page could be found with information about any 2005-2006 national tournaments any longer.] at the start of the previous paragraph, or the link 2005-2006 Athlete Handbook [Webmaster's note: The previous four words used to link to http://www.usfencing.org/do/filePreview?id=1191, but with the October 2006 changes to the USFA Web site, no page could be found with 2005-2006 documents any longer.] at the end of the previous paragraph. If your browser and the USFA Web site do not get along, try downloading the page to which the link points, saving it as a file with an extension of ".pdf", then trying to open that file. For example, with Microsoft's Internet Explorer, right-click on the link and select "Save Target As...". Added 2005-11-28, removed 2006-09-13. 2006 Junior Olympic Championship Automatic Qualifiers Fencers who are on the Cadet or Junior (or high enough on the Y14 or Cadet) NRPS lists as of January 17, 2006, automatically qualify to compete in the Cadet or Junior events respectively at the 2006 Junior Olympic Championships, and do not need even to attend the Division's 2005 JO qualifier. Although January 17th was still many weeks away, on November 28th, the USFA prepared a list of everyone who could already be guaranteed to be on the NRPS lists as of January 17th. This list is supposed to be available on the USFA Web site, but until it is (or at any time the USFA Web site is not up), check the Southwest Section Web site's "USFA Materials" page for a copy. Expect the USFA to revise the list after the December NAC, and again after the January NAC. Added 2005-11-28, removed 2006-09-13. Junior Olympic Championships Qualifiers The 2005 Divisional qualifiers for the 2006 Junior Olympic Championships, hosted directly by the Division, will be held December 3-4 at South Houston High School. Details, including maps (click on the name of the high school), are available here in the tournament announcement letter. Full details of eligibility requirements to compete in the Junior Olympic Championships, and this qualifying tournament, are given in the tournament announcement letter. Pre-registration is at askFRED, as noted in the tournament announcement letter. Masks, cords and lamés will be checked. Note well that the venue was changed a little under a month before the tournament, and the event schedule was made final the Monday before the tournament. (On each day, the only change from the initial schedule was the switching of the times of women's épée and women's foil.) Added 2005-11-28, removed 2006-05-20. Louisiana Division Junior Olympic Championsips Qualifiers As a service to Louisiana Division fencers displaced to our area by Hurricane Katrina, at the request of the Secretary of the Southwest Section, we provide this information: Attention: LOUISIANA JUNIOR FENCERS Be advised the Louisiana JO qualifier is being held in Baton Rouge, Dec 3-4. Further information is available on the Web site of the Ark-La-Miss Division. If you have been displaced and cannot make it to the qualifier, please contact the Section Secretary at magnetfencing@sport.rr.com or call (318) 458-3779. Added 2005-11-28, removed 2007-09-10. The USFA Web Site The USFA recently migrated from its old traditional Web site to a revised layout with changed content. The URL is still http://www.usfencing.org/. However, many things are proving hard to find, or are slower in appearing than expected. If you need something which was on the old Web site before it "disappeared", it is still possible to get to the old Web site by using a different URL, http://oldsite.usfencing.org. There was no official announcement about the availability of the old site or when it might disappear, so expect that it could disappear without notice. However, until then, it still exists. In fact, sometimes the old site is perfectly healthy even when the new site has failed and become unavailable. Added 2005-11-01, removed 2006-09-13. Division Tournament Committee Decisions The Division Tournament Committee met twice during August to fulfill its obligation under the new Bylaws to administer the allocation of specific weekends to tournaments hosted by specific clubs. For the record, here are the decisions made by the Division Tournament Committee. The Tournament Committee (TC) declared these dates to be "blackout dates" when there would be no USFA-sanctioned tournaments of the Gulf Coast Texas Division (except the qualifiers and SSCC tournament):
The TC scheduled these weekends to be "exclusive" weekends when any tournament(s) held on the weekend would exclusively involve a single particular club as organizers, usually for some traditional tournament:
The TC acknowledged club requests for tournaments to be scheduled on other days which are not parts of "exclusive" weekends, and included those tournaments in the schedule:
Note that these were only the decisions made as of the August meetings of the TC. This did not necessarily prohibit adjustments to how the "owning" organizers would manage an exclusive weekend, and did not prohibit additional competitions being added to the schedule on days not belonging to "exclusive" weekends as long as no added competition would conflict with an already-scheduled competition on the same day. Added 2005-09-30, removed 2005-12-20. Miami NAC Urgent Information The USFA has asked for some urgent information to be posted on the USFA's own, division, section. and the Fencing Officials Commission Web sites about the October 7-10 NAC ("NAC A") in Miami. IMPORTANT INFORMATION - NAC A MIAMI NAC A Miami Greyhound Shuttle Schedule: Wyndham Hotel, Comfort Suites, La Quinta and Crowne Hotel: There is no Shuttle Service on Thursday, October 6, 2005. Shuttle Service begins each Competition day at 6:30 am and runs continuously until the end of competition. On Friday, October 7 and Monday, October 10 - expect traffic delays and plan accordingly - you still must make your scheduled check in time. There is very limited Concessions at the Fair/Expo Center. Please make sure you have enough food/beverages to get you through each tournament day.
Christine Strong Simmons Added 2005-09-21, removed 2005-12-20. September 24-25 Tournament Canceled The tournament scheduled for September 24-25, 2005, has been canceled by the organizers due to the approaching Hurricane Rita. This tournament, known both as Houston Cup #1 and Houston Cup #2, was to be held by, and at, Alliance Fencing Academy, apparently by arrangement with Knights of Trapani Fencing Academy (which was awarded exclusive use of the weekend by the Division's Tournament Committee). Added 2005-07-18, removed 2005-12-10. Absentee Ballots and Proxies for Division Meeting for Elections and Bylaws The voting members of the Division were mailed a letter from the USFA announcing the "annual meeting". (Actually, this is a special meeting, as the Annual Meeting already occurred on April 23rd as required by the Bylaws.) At this announced meeting, elections and Bylaw changes will take place. Note that this letter included a form with which a voter can cast his votes in advance and/or designate another person to vote in his stead. There is a deadline by which such absentee ballots and/or proxy designations must arrive by mail (or equivalent) in the hands of Donald Alperstein in Colorado. He must receive delivery, with envelope return addressing and contents as specified in the details of the letter by noon Mountain Daylight Time (?) two days before the meeting. Added 2005-07-16, removed 2005-07-18. Division Meeting for Elections and Bylaws The membership of the Division will meet at 1 PM, Sunday, July 31st. This was declared by Donald Alperstein, USFA General Counsel, who was designated by the USFA "to conduct the Gulf Coast division in the current year's election and the adoption of by-laws to comply with USFA requirements" (see news item about USFA intervention in Division operations). This notice was made in a letter to the voting members of the Division from the USFA. Although the letter states that the location of this meeting will be announced on this Web site no later than July 15, 2005, the latest information available to post on this Web site is that (because the computer with the bookings for the venue was down until the responsible personnel ended their work week,) location confirmation cannot occur until at least Monday morning, July 18th. Note that this letter included a form with which a voter can cast his votes in advance and/or designate another person to vote in his stead. There is a deadline by which such absentee ballots and/or proxy designations must arrive by mail (or equivalent) in the hands of Donald Alperstein in Colorado. He must receive delivery, with envelope return addressing and contents as specified in the details of the letter by noon Mountain Daylight Time (?) two days before the meeting. Added 2005-07-03, removed 2005-07-23. Bylaw Committee June 17th Draft The Bylaw Committee has a draft new set of Division Bylaws, concerning which they are seeking comments from the division membership. The June 17th version is available on this Web site. Added 2005-05-20, removed 2005-07-15. Results from Divisionals Results from the Gulf Coast Division qualifying tournament for Summer Nationals ("Divisionals") are available both on askFRED and on this Web site. As with all tournament results given on this Web site, there is a link to the results on the tournament results page. Note that FRED has no concept of the idea of qualifying for Summer Nationals, so those who qualified for Summer Nationals are identified only in the results listing on this Web site. Summer Nationals is July 1-10 in Sacramento. The entry form and team entry form are available on the USFA Web site. The entry deadline is May 26th (with late entries accepted at triple price between May 27 and June 17). Added 2005-04-20, removed 2006-04-11. "The Rotation" for 2005-2006 The Gulf Coast Division assigns local organizing committees for its qualifier tournaments and its Southwest Section Circuit Cup tournament by a process known as "the rotation" which offers every club in the division, in a rotating order, the chance to host. By a December decision of the Executive Committee, John Trojanowski will administer "the rotation" through this coming July, including deciding when the "rotating" will happen. In order to meet Southwest Section notification requirements, "the rotation" has to do its "rotating" before April ends. The administrator announces that the club currently first in the rotation will have a hosting offer formally extended to it at 10 AM Monday the 25th of April. Further details about "the rotation" (including the current state of "the rotation") are available on this Web site. Added 2005-04-20, removed 2005-12-14. Divisionals and Annual Meeting The 2005 Divisional qualifiers for Summer Nationals, hosted by the Texas A&M University Fencing Club will be held April 23-24 at the Texas A&M Student Rec Center. Details are available by clicking here. As required by Division Bylaws, there will be a meeting of the membership of the Gulf Coast Division at 8 AM Saturday, April 23, prior to the beginning of competition. The meeting is to receive reports from the Executive Committee, financial report, inventory and condition report of Divisional equipment, recommendations by outgoing officers. However, in accord with the details of USFA intervention in division operations, the annual election will not occur at the Annual Meeting. Added 2005-04-19, removed 2005-07-03. Automatic Qualifiers for Summer National Championships The USFA has available a list of automatic qualifiers [Webmaster's note: The preceding five words originally linked to http://www.usfencing.org/Misc/SummerQual.asp?Sort=Div&A=G and, later, after the USFA Web site underwent a change and the old content was made available at a different host, http://oldsite.usfencing.org/Misc/SummerQual.asp?Sort=Div&A=G. Neither the original nor the changed URL are available any more. The content was saved on a page on this Web site, to which the words now link.] for the Summer National Championships (this particular page lists all auto qualifiers from divisions beginning with G, like Gulf Coast TX). Note that occasionally there are errors in this list where unqualified fencers are listed or qualified fencers are omitted. However, it is generally correct. Anyone listed as an automatic qualifier for a given Summer Nationals event need not do anything further to be eligible to enter. For example, anyone listed as an auto qualifier for under 16 women's épée has no need to enter and fence sufficiently well in the under 16 women's épée event in Divisionals to be allowed to enter the under 16 women's épée event at Summer Nationals. Added 2005-04-19, removed 2005-05-20. Referee Development at RYC Referee instructor Amgad Badawi is currently scheduled to conduct a referee seminar the evening of Friday, Apr. 29th, the evening before the spring Houston Regional Youth Circuit (RYC). Further details will be forthcoming. This referee development opportunity can accommodate only 15 participants who will be allowed to take the seminar and/or take written referee exams and/or be examined refereeing at the RYC for possible rating improvement. There will be no fee for the seminar for members of the Gulf Coast Division. Space is available on a first come, first served basis to current members of the Gulf Coast Division only. Interested parties should e-mail the Division Secretary. Added 2005-04-06, removed 2005-09-04. Nominations for Division Elections A formal request has been made of the USFA to intervene and conduct the upcoming elections. Although information about intervention was already expected, there is no news yet available to report. Until and unless there is intervention by the USFA, the election will be held at the Annual Meeting at Divisionals, and the nominations have already occurred. The complete list of nominees and their submitted brief biographies and statements of goals are available on this Web site, and will be available for the entire period required by the Bylaws, i.e., on or before April 9th through the completion of the election. Added 2005-03-25, removed 2005-10-13. New Division Vice Chairman A new Vice Chairman of the Gulf Coast Texas Division has been appointed by the Chairman of the Division, as provided for by the Bylaws of the Division. The new Vice Chairman is Jerry Dunaway, the fencing coach for South Houston High School. The appointment, effective March 19th, was in response to a resignation tendered two weeks earlier by the previous Vice Chairman, John Trojanowski. Added 2005-03-23, removed 2005-09-04. "Filing Deadline" for Candidacy for Election (Revised); Requested USFA Intervention The membership of the Gulf Coast Texas Division amended the Bylaws of the Division on March 4th (among other things) to create a deadline for announcing candidacy for election at the Annual Meeting of the Division. (The details of the rules for declaration of candidacy are in Article IX Section 1). The new rules require "notification of the Secretary prior to [the deadline], and submission by the candidate of a brief biography and statement of goals, to be disseminated to the voting membership ...." Additiional nominations from the floor cannnot be accepted for any position which already has an eligible nominee. The offices which must or may be filled at the Annual Meeting are:
This year, the deadline for declaration of candidacy is "prior to four weeks before the start of the Divisional qualifiers for Summer Nationals", which means prior to the morning of Saturday, March 26, 2005. N.B.: A formal request has been made of the USFA to intervene and conduct the upcoming elections. Whether this intervention occurs will be decided at the April 4th meeting of the USFA Executive Committee. If the intervention occurs, the elections will no longer be required to be conducted as described in the Division Bylaws. (The USFA Executive Committee, exercising the authority of the USFA Board of Directors, can intervene in division affairs in any fashion, without regard to the bylaws the division may have.) In fact, the election probably would be conducted differently. In particular, the voting is likely to be conducted by mail and not at the Annual Meeting at Divisionals. And, if the election is no longer tied to the weekend of April 23-24, it is quite plausible that the deadline for declaring candidacy might be revised to some time later in the year. It has also been suggested that the USFA might act to limit the minimum or the maximum number of optional additional members of the Executive Committee (currently as few as zero or as many as six). However, given that intervention has not occurred, it cannot be guaranteed that the elections will be run any differently from how the Bylaws currently describe. In particular, to be safe one should assume that Saturday the 26th might be the end of the one and only opportunity to declare candidacy. Added 2005-03-23, removed 2005-04-13. Foil Coaching Clinic The Division is hosting a coaching workshop by Maestro Alex Beguinet, Program Director of the USFA Coaches College. The two day seminar will take place on the weekend of April 9thth and 10th. It will be open to all Gulf Coast members, at no cost. Maestro Beguinet will be offering an introduction on proper techniques for coaching foil, focusing on developmental skills to help you become a better coach. Some topics to be covered are proper cueing and distance as well as the fundamentals of a good lesson. You will need standard fencing protective clothing and a foil. All work will be done non-electrically. The fundamental techniques of this class can be crossed over to all weapons. Maestro Beguinet has been a member of the national Coaching Development staff since its inception (1985). He was the coach of the U.S. World Cadet Team in 1992, 1991, and 1989, and the coach for the 1989 and 1997 U.S. Continental Cadet Teams. He was on the staff of the USFA Junior Elite Camp Program (1977-80, 1983-89). Alex has been a coach for five Olympic Festivals and is the Head Fencing Coach at Duke University. There will be no limit to the number of participants. If you are interested in participating, please send an e-mail to the Secretary by April 1st. Additional details will be provided to participants and interested parties. Added 2005-03-16, removed 2005-03-23. "Filing Deadline" for Candidacy for Election The membership of the Gulf Coast Texas Division amended the Bylaws of the Division on March 4th (among other things) to create a deadline for announcing candidacy for election at the Annual Meeting of the Division. (The details of the rules for declaration of candidacy are in Article IX Section 1). The new rules require "notification of the Secretary prior to [the deadline], and submission by the candidate of a brief biography and statement of goals, to be disseminated to the voting membership ...." Additiional nominations from the floor cannnot be accepted for any position which already has an eligible nominee. The offices which must or may be filled at the Annual Meeting are:
This year, the deadline for declaration of candidacy is "prior to four weeks before the start of the Divisional qualifiers for Summer Nationals", which means prior to the morning of Saturday, March 26, 2005. Added 2005-03-11, removed 2005-03-23. Meeting of Members of the Division (detailed); Bylaw Changes A special meeting of the Gulf Coast Texas Division of the USFA will be held at 7:00 P.M., Monday, March 21st, at Courtyard Houston Near The Galleria located at 3131 West Loop South (the northbound access road across the Interstate from The Galleria -- the map shows it on the west side in error). The meeting is being held to allow changes to be made to the Bylaws. Motions will be be made to amend the Bylaws of the Division. The texts of these motions are available for viewing on this Web site. In conformity with Division Bylaws and USFA Bylaws concerning eligibility to vote, any Division member is welcome to vote if
All division members eligible to vote are listed on this Web site. Added 2005-03-08, removed 2005-03-11. Meeting of Members of the Division; Bylaw Changes A special meeting of the Gulf Coast Texas Division of the USFA will be held at 7:00 P.M., Monday, March 21st. The formal announcement of the meeting has yet to be made. The meeting is being held to allow changes to be made to the Bylaws. Motions will be be made to amend the Bylaws of the Division. The texts of these motions are available for viewing on this Web site. Added 2005-03-06, removed 2007-09-12. Tournament Notification to Division Fencers (Revised) On March 1st, the Executive Committee rewrote the policy enacted December 7th (and partially rewritten on January 4th) which specifies how much advance warning about a tournament to the fencers of the Division is required. This policy exists because the USFA Operations Manual requires that "Classifications cannot be awarded if adequate notice of the competition has not been given to the members of the organizing body via such means as a published schedule, newsletter, or notices sent to all USFA clubs within the division or section" but does not say how timely "adequate notice" must be. The policy was rewritten to clarify some confusions between whether classifications can be earned and whether a tournament merely has USFA sanction, and to elaborate on what effects there are when competitions ("events") are added to or dropped from a tournament. Almost by accident, the entire policy seems to be a little easier to read.
Historically, tournaments have usually done one or both of having the tournament be on the Division schedule on the Web site more than 30 days in advance, or notifying every club in the Division by e-mail. The unapproved draft minutes for the March 1st meeting of the Executive Committee are available in MS Word format. The section about this matter is the third quarter of the minutes. Added 2005-03-06, removed 2005-04-19. Referee Development Referee instructor Gary van der Wege is currently scheduled to conduct a referee seminar the evening of Friday, Apr. 22nd, the evening before Divisionals in College Station. Further details will be forthcoming. The seminar can accommodate unlimited participants but only ten participants who will be allowed to take written referee exams. There will be no fee for the seminar for members of the Gulf Coast Division. Space is available on a first come, first served basis. Interested parties should e-mail the Division Secretary. Interested parties from outside the Gulf Coast Division may express interest within seven days of the start of the seminar, will be charged $25, and provided they pass written tests will be required to make themselves available to be used as a referee for a day of their choice of the two days of Divisionals. Added 2005-03-06, removed 2005-03-08. "Open Season" for Bylaw Change Proposals There is a meeting of the Division scheduled for 7 PM Monday, March 21st at a location which has not yet been made known (no official notice of this meeting has been disseminated yet). The meeting is being called because some people have desires to change the Bylaws which could not be pursued at the March 4th meeting (because any meeting is strictly limited to Bylaw change proposals for which the membership has been given 15 days notice). Any interested members are invited to deliver to the Secretary exact wordings of proposed changes to the Bylaws by the end of Sunday, March 6th. Contact the Secretary if you wish assistance preparing an exact wording. Added 2005-03-01, removed 2005-10-06. Armory Workshops The Executive Committee will consider requests from clubs to have Division-supported armory workshops by Terry Unrein, a level 3 certified armorer. Requests for workshops need to be addrressed to the Secretary. The target audience for these workshops is individual fencers without armoring background. Added 2005-03-01, removed 2005-05-20. Division Logo Contest The members of the Division are asked to submit proposals for a logo to represent the Gulf Coast Texas Division. The Executive Committee has specified that it will adopt a logo based on the result of a popular vote of the voting members of the Division who attend the 2005 Annual Meeting (to be held the fourth weekend of April in conjunction with Divisionals, in College Station). Submissions should be made to the Division Webmaster by two weeks before the Annual Meeting (i.e., by the second weekend of April), for display on this Web site. Added 2005-02-07, removed 2005-03-06. Meeting of Members of the Division; Bylaw Changes A special meeting of the Gulf Coast Texas Division of the USFA will be held at 6:00 P.M., Friday, March 4th, at the Uptown Hotel and Suites (formerly the Holiday Inn) at 7787 Katy Freeway, near Silber and Antoine, on the south side of the Katy Freeway. The meeting is being held as required because of a written request by five or more members of the Division. Their intent is to allow changes to be made to the Bylaws. Motions will be be made to amend the Bylaws of the Division. The texts of these motions are available for viewing on this Web site. In conformity with Division Bylaws and USFA Bylaws concerning eligibility to vote, any Division member is welcome to vote if
All division members eligible to vote are listed on this Web site. Added 2005-01-25, removed 2005-02-07. Referee Development Referee instructor Gary van der Wege will be conducting a referee seminar at 6 PM on evening of Friday, Feb. 4th, at The Woodlands Christian Academy, 5800 Alden Woods DR, The Woodlands (Yahoo! map) (MSN map). This is the evening before the Space City Rendezvous tournament at the same location. The seminar can accommodate 10 participants. There will be no fee for the seminar for members of the Gulf Coast Division. The spaces are available on a first come, first served basis, and if more than ten people respond, people will be added in order of response to a waiting list for replacing withdrawals. This is the official Fencing Officials Commission seminar required of people wishing to become certified referees. Expect the seminar to take four, possibly five, hours to cover the general topics followed by the weapon-specific topics. Anyone participating is encouraged to download the USFA rulebook [Webmaster's note: The preceding two words originally linked to http://www.fencingofficials.org/Rules/USFA_Rules_11-04_ed.pdf, the November 2004 edition of the rules, the most current at the time. Neither this URL nor this edition are available any more. The April 2005 edition has become available at http://www.fencingofficials.org/Rules/April%2005%20USFA%20Rules.pdf]. The referee exam will be administered in conjunction with the seminar, and probably during the weekend depending on how the weekend proceeds. People intending to take written tests are strongly advised to read the study guide. There are expected to be opportunities during the tournament to referee, including being bserved for a rating higher than entry level. Interested parties should e-mail the Division Secretary. Added 2005-01-09, revised 2005-01-18, removed 2005-03-16. Gulf Coast Fencer at Madrid, Leszno, and Burgsteinfurt Junior World Cups Gulf Coast fencer Ben Parkins (Salle Mauro) recently represented the United States in men's foil at the FIE's Junior World Cup in Madrid, Spain November 20-21, 2004, the Junior World Cup in Leszno, Poland, December 4-5, 2004, and the Junior World Cup in Burgsteinfurt, Germany, December 19, 2004. Added 2005-01-09, removed 2005-03-16. Gulf Coast Fencer Takes Eighth Place at Heidenheim Cadet "A" Gulf Coast fencer Francesca Bassa (Alliance Fencing Academy) took eighth place in a field of 206 at the FIE's Cadet "A" women's épée tournament in Heidenheim, Germany, November 13-14, 2004. Also from the Gulf Coast Division were Neely Brandfield-Harvey (Salle Mauro, 52nd), and Stephanie Wheeler (Alliance, 76th). Among the ten United States fencers, six were from the Southwest Section, the three Gulf Coast fencers and Courtney Hurley (2nd), Christa French (25th), and Kayley French (9th). Added 2005-01-09, removed 2005-03-01. 2005 Junior Olympics Qualification and Entry Forms Entry forms for the 2005 Junior Olympics must be received by the USFA National Office by January 20, 2005. Late entries will be accepted between January 21 and February 4, 2005, with a payment of triple the regular fees. To fence in the Junior Olymics, a fencer must have appropriate age, membership, and nationality or immigration status. To qualify to compete, the fencer must be an automatic qualifier [Webmaster's note: The previous two words used to link to http://www.usfencing.org/Misc/JOQual.asp?Sort=Div&A=G, later revised to http://oldsite.usfencing.org/Misc/JOQual.asp?Sort=Div&A=G, but the USFA no longer has this information available on any Web site.], or must place sufficiently well in the Division's Junior Olympics qualifying tournament, or the fencer must not compete in the qualifier (or withdraw for legitimate medical reasons) and peition the USFA to qualify within five business days of the qualifying competition. Qualification information from the qualifying tournament was delivered to the National Office and acknowledged within a week of the tournament. Added 2005-01-09, removed 2005-01-25. Meeting with the Officers January 25th The Division Officers will hold a meeting On January 25th, to ascertain what issues are important to the membership that the Executive Committee needs to consider. The meeting will be at 7:30 p.m., at the Houston Athletic Fencing Center at 4997 West Bellfort, Houston. All clubs are invited to send one or more representatives. Added 2004-12-19, removed 2005-03-06. Tournament Notification to Division Fencers On December 7th, the Executive Committee acted to specify how much advance warning about a tournament to the fencers of the Division is required. (On January 4th, the Executive Committee revised the wording of part 4 of 5 in an attempt to clarify.) This was done because the USFA Operations Manual requires that "Classifications cannot be awarded if adequate notice of the competition has not been given to the members of the organizing body via such means as a published schedule, newsletter, or notices sent to all USFA clubs within the division or section" but does not say how timely "adequate notice" must be. The Executive Committee acted to specify how long in advance notice must be given to the fencers of the Division depending on how the notice is given. In particular:
Historically, tournaments have usually done one or both of having the tournament be on the Division schedule on the Web site more than 30 days in advance, or notifying every club in the Division by e-mail. Although the exact wording both of the Operations Manual and of the resolution of the Executive Committee concern entire tournaments, fencers do not fence in entire tournaments, they fence in individual events within a tournament. If a tournament is publicized long in advance but a single event in the tournament is created unexpectedly shortly before the tournament, then the fencers will not have "adequate notice" of the event, and the spirit of the Operations Manual would prohibit awarding of classifications in that new event. Notification requirements would have to be met by the new event for classifications to be earned. The unapproved draft minutes for the December 7th meeting of the Executive Committee are available in MS Word format. The paragraph about this matter is about 70% of the way through the minutes, starting with the phrase "Continuing on the general topic of USFA National Office expectations for divisional tournaments". Added 2004-12-19, removed 2005-09-30. Tournament LOC Notification of the Division's Bout Committee On December 7th, the Executive Committee acted to specify that advance warning of any upcoming tournament be delivered to the Division's Bout Committee by three weeks before the tournament. The Bylaws place the complete burden for naming the bout committee for any tournament on the Chairman of the Division's Bout Committee. (Routinely, he will be very interested in any recommendations by the local organizing committee for the tournament.) However, recently, events have taxed the ability of the Chairman of the Division's Bout Committee to fulfill his obligations in a timely fashion, and in a way which would leave him comfortable that the fencing would be free of legal and administrative defects, and the bout committee would have a sufficient reputation to withstand scrutiny from any parties with suspicions. Although the actual Executive Committee resolution did not comment on things like the possibilities of changes of tournament venue, changes of tournament date, or changes of events within the tournament, you can expect the Chairman of the Division's Bout Committee to be quite flexible. If, three weeks before the tournament, there are still details which may change, the more information you can give the Chairman, the better. As long as the venue is not changed so radically that already-arranged bout committee personnel can no longer attend, as long as the date is not changed so unexpectedly or so much that either originally-arranged or contingency backup personnel for an alternate date can no longer attend, and as long as the events of the tournament are not changed so much that the challenge of conducting the fencing grows beyond the capability of already-arranged personnel selected to meet a lesser challenge, then late changes are unlikely to matter. The unapproved draft minutes for the December 7th meeting of the Executive Committee are available in MS Word format. The paragraph about this matter is about 60% of the way through the minutes, starting with the phrase "The assembly discussed recent information from the USFA National Office". Added 2004-12-09, removed 2005-01-09. Junior Olympic Championship Qualifiers The 2004 Divisional qualifiers for the Junior Olympic Championships, hosted by the Clear Lake Fencing Club, will be held December 11-12 at South Houston High School. Details, including maps, are available here in the tournament announcement letter. Full details of eligibility requirements to compete in the Junior Olympic Championships, and this qualifying tournament, are given in the tournament announcement letter. Pre-registration is at askFRED, as noted in the tournament announcement letter. Masks, cords and lamés will be checked. Added 2004-11-03, removed 2004-12-09. Referee Development Referee instructor Gary van der Wege will be conducting a referee seminar on the evening of Friday, Nov. 12th, at Bayou City Fencing Academy at the Houston Athletic Fencing Center. This is the evening before the Regional Youth Circuit tournament at the same location. The seminar can accommodate 8-10 participants. There will be no fee for the seminar. The spaces are intended for people who will referee at the RYC tournament, which is considered a national qualifier. Hence, the spaces will be available according to one's experience as a fencer or referee, and on a first come first serve basis. Anyone participating should download the USFA rulebook [Webmaster's note: The preceding two words originally linked to http://www.fencingofficials.org/Rules/USFA_Rules_11-04_ed.pdf, the November 2004 edition of the rules, the most current at the time. Neither this URL nor this edition are available any more. The April 2005 edition has become available at http://www.fencingofficials.org/Rules/April%2005%20USFA%20Rules.pdf] and be prepared to take the tests and referee at the RYC. Interested parties should e-mail Louise Lepie. Please do not call, as that will not put one on the list to participate. Added 2004-10-07, removed 2004-11-03. Rule Changes Effective August 2004 In July, the USFA Board of Directors adopted many rule changes effective starting with the 2004-2005 fencing year. Fencers, and especially referees, should familiarize themselves with the changes. Unlike the fall of 2002, details are not being mailed to fencers with their membership cards, and the USFA Web site still does not give the changes. However, the information is available on this Web site. Added 2004-07-26, removed 2004-10-06. Gulf Coast Fencers Excel at Nationals Fencers from the Gulf Coast TX Division earned more medals than fencers from all but two other divisions, and earned more gold medals than fencers from all but one other division! Earning medals were: Full results from the Summer National Championships for Gulf Coast fencers are available both from the USFA (team results are not aveilable by division and must be displayed by event) and on this Web site. As with all tournament results given on this Web site, there is a link to the results on the tournament results page. Gulf Coast fencers earned a total of 29 individual medals (6 gold, 6 silver, 5 bronze, 12 5th to 8th), and 1 team (silver). Cumulatively, each won:
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