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Rotation for Allocating the "Big Three" Tournaments in the Gulf Coast Division

Answers to Frequently Asked Questions

At a meeting of the Executive Committee on the afternoon of Friday, April 16th, 2004, the recommendations of "The Committee" concerning selection of host clubs for the "big three" tournaments in the Division were more or less adopted. See the minutes (HTML version and MS Word version) for details. A random drawing was conducted even before the motion passed, although it was done in a way where even the Executive Committee did not know the order of the draw until the motion had already passed.

Since originally established, the rules for the rotation were amended at the Wednesday, July 13th, 2005 meeting of the Executive Committee. First, irregularities in April 2005 confronted the rotation with something unforseen and outside the rules, which was handled in an apprently reasonable but unofficial fashion. The current state of the rotational order was set to be exactly what it would have been if what was done unofficially was fully official. Second, a rule 10 was added to the rules to specify for the future how to handle any irregularity similar to what had arisen in April 2005. See the minutes (HTML version and MS Word version) for details.

The rules for the rotation were amended again at the Wednesday, August 31st, 2005 meeting of the Executive Committee. Rule 8 was amended to provide a 60-day instead of the original 30-day grace period for a lapse of club USFA membership. See the minutes (HTML version and MS Word version) for details.

At the Wednesday, October 5th, 2005 meeting of the Executive Committee, rule 8 was extended to provide for any club then still lapsed to have through October 11, 2005 to rejoin, but there was no permanent amendment made to the wording of rule 8. See the minutes (HTML version and MS Word version) for details.

Contents:

Initial Order of the Rotation List

On April 16, 2004, the 17 clubs of the Gulf Coast Division were randomly drawn in this order:

  1. ALL
  2. TB
  3. RFC
  4. SM
  5. TAMUFC
  6. GFC
  7. UST
  8. UFC
  9. KTFA
  10. CLFC
  11. WFC
  12. SHHSFT
  13. BCFC
  14. KB
  15. FCUH
  16. SC
  17. BCFA

Dates of Recent "Big Three" Tournaments; Date Restrictions

JO QUALIFIER

Schedule restrictions

There is no requirement about whether the tournament must be held on a single day (as had always been the case recently before 2004), or even on a single weekend (as has always been the case starting with 2004). Although our Division has not done so, other divisions have spread the tournament over more than one weekend. The USFA does require that all reasonable efforts be made to allow fencers to compete in as many different events as they wish.

Date

Normally, the tournament must be held early enough in the year for the Division to report the results to the National Office before mid-January. In recent memory, the tournament has been held:

  • December 15-16, 2007(-8)
  • December 2-3, 2006(-7)
  • December 3-4, 2005(-6)
  • December 11-12, 2004(-5)
  • December 7, 2003(-4)
  • December 15, 2002(-3)
  • December 1, 2001-2
  • December 16, 2000(-1)
  • undetermined date 1999-2000
  • January 16, 199(8-)9

DIVISIONALS

Schedule restrictions

There is no requirement about whether the tournament must be held on a single day (it has been on two days starting with 2002), or even on a single weekend (as has always been the case recently). Although our Division has not done so, other divisions have spread the tournament over more than one weekend. The USFA does require that all reasonable efforts be made to allow fencers to compete in as many different events as they wish.

Date

Normally, the tournament must be held early enough in the year for the Division to report the results to the National Office before mid-May. In recent memory, Divisionals has been held:

  • March 24-25, 200(6-)7
  • April 1-2, 200(5-)6
  • April 23-24, 200(4-)5
  • April 3-4, 200(3-)4
  • April 5-6, 200(2-)3
  • Apr. 13-14, 200(1-)2
  • Apr. 22, 200(0-)1
  • undetermined date, 1999-2000
  • May 15, 199(8-)9

SSCC TOURNAMENT

Schedule restrictions

There is no explicit requirement about whether the tournament must be held on more than a single day (it is not allowed to be more than two days), but it is effectively impossible to satisfy requirements with a one-day tournament. There is no explicit requirement about whether the tournament must be held on a single weeked (just that it be "limited to 2 days of competition"), but SSCC tournaments have always been scheduled on a single weekend. The Section does not require that fencers be allowed to compete in as many different events as they wish, merely that "[C]ompetition in more than one event per day is allowed provided it does not interfere with the smooth operation of the tournament, in the judgment of the Bout Committee." When SSCC tournaments had mixed and women's events, it was required that the schedule allow a fencer be able to compete in the mixed and the women's event in the same weapon, but starting with 2004-2005, SSCC tournaments have had men's and women's events and that former schedule requirement disappeared as moot.

Date

Under current rules, the local organizing committee for an SSCC tournament must be named by the Division two weeks before Sectionals. But, because SSCC tournaments are scheduled to avoid national tournaments, and the national schedule is not available until months after Sectionals, the negotiations to select SSCC tournament dates do not happen until whenever sufficient planning information is actually available. A prospective date for the tournament would be of value, but the firm date actually has to be named by two weeks after the national schedule is published. Any club hosting an SSCC tournament must realize that scheduling arrangements may have to be made, or existing schedule arrangements changed, during a specific two-week period some uncertain time around the beginning of the fencing year. This may make it impossible for the administration of a club to all be on vacation at the same time. The tournament must be at least two weeks before Sectionals. In recent memory, the SSCC tournament has been:

  • Gulf Goast SSCC, Sep. 29-30, 2007(-8)
  • Don't Fence Me In, Mar. 3-4, 200(6-)7
  • Gulf Coast Open, Feb. 11-12, 200(5-)6
  • Space City Rendezvous, Feb. 5-6, 200(4-)5
  • Katy Blades Invitational, Nov. 15-16, 2003(-4)
  • Heavy Metal, Oct. 19-20, 2002(-3)
  • Heavy Metal, Nov. 17-18, 2001(-2)
  • Heavy Metal, Apr. 28-29, 200(0-)1
  • ? 1999-2000
  • ? 1998-9
  • Van Buskirk, Mar. 28-29 199(7-)8

Restrictions on "Big Three" Tournaments

JO QUALIFIER

Requirements

There are no particular requirements for the JO qualifying tournament, besides what events are mandatory, the USFA requirement that a referee rated 5 or better must be present, and the Division requirement that a trainer or equivalent be present.

Consequences of planning problems

If a JO qualifying tournament is being planned badly, the management of the Division could intervene, and has done so at least once.

Consequences of operation problems

If a JO qualifying tournament is operated badly, there is a theoretical possibility that the USFA could invalidate the tournament (as they could with any tournament), the USFA could possibly require that another replacement qualifying tournament be held (if time permits), and the ability of Division fencers to qualify to attend the Junior Olympic Championships would be jeopardized.

DIVISIONALS

Requirements

There are no particular requirements for Divisionals either, besides what events are mandatory, the USFA requirement that a referee rated 5 or better must be present, and the Division requirement that a trainer or equivalent be present.

Consequences of planning problems

If Divisionals is being planned badly, there is a theoretical possibility that the management of the Division could intervene.

Consequences of operation problems

If Divisionals is operated badly, there is a theoretical possibility that the USFA could invalidate the tournament (as they could with any tournament), the USFA could possibly require that another replacement Divisionals be held (if time permits), and the ability of Division fencers to qualify to attend Summer Nationals would be jeopardized.

SSCC TOURNAMENT

Requirements

The SSCC tournament does have a lot of restrictions, because it is meant to be one of a set of similar high-quality high-level (one step down from a NAC) tournaments in a circuit. The Section Circuit Operations Manual is available on the SWS Web site. This particular copy has been updated to reflect changes mandated at the January 31st, 2004 meeting of the Southwest Section Executive Committee and the May 1st, 2004 meeting of the Southwest Section. Note also that it is theoretically possible for a club to be prohibited from hosting an SSCC tournament for reasons outside the control of the Division. The rules of the rotation specify that if a club which is prohibited from holding some tournament is offered it and accepts it, it will be treated as if it has declined all the tournaments it was offered, and the rotation proceeds until hosts are found.

Consequences of planning problems

If an SSCC tournament is being planned badly, there is a specific process described by which the SSCC Commissioner can issue warnings, and the SSEC can remove SSCC status from a tournament and possibly award a replacement tournament to a different division. (The tournament could still be held, but it would not be an SSCC tournament, and participation would be expected to suffer.) The ability of host club to be permitted by the Section to host a future SSCC tournament would at best be jeopardized.

Consequences of operation problems

If an SSCC tournament is operated badly, there is a theoretical possibility that the USFA could invalidate the tournament (as they could with any tournament). Aside from that, the ability of the host club to be permitted by the Section to host a future SSCC tournament would at best be jeopardized.