Division Members,

There is much concern and speculation about the recent desanctioning of events in our state, as well as the requirements that the USFA National Office has imposed for sanctioning events in the NC Division. These new requirements have been put in place as a result of the findings of a recent audit of all NC Divisional events for the current season. The audit was deemed necessary when it was brought to the attention of a Division officer that a North Carolina fencer appeared in the results for an event that fencer had not attended, in a weapon they did not own, with a rating they did not have, representing a club to which they did not belong. These results were reported using the website www.askfred.net.

In our investigation, the Division found an inordinate number of tournaments that included non-USFA members. This is a clear violation of USFA rules stating that only current USFA members may fence in USFA-sanctioned events, and that the results of an event in which non-members participate are not considered valid for ratings changes. Although most tournament organizers do take membership applications during registration, none of the non-members listed in audited events were current members as of March 15^th, 2006—well after most of the questionable events were held, and certainly long enough for membership applications to be processed.

Since many ratings changes had been reported to the National Office under the assumption that these tournaments had been run according to USFA rules, the results of the audit had implications for the credibility of ratings throughout the Southeast Section and possibly for National events. Acknowledging this fact, the NC Division reported our findings to the National Office. The USFA requested the results for Divisional events for the current season, and audited our results and classification changes. Despite the fact that the Division asked for a grace period for memberships to be resolved, the Board of the USFA responded that all tournaments with irregularities must be invalidated, and in some cases, ratings changes revoked.

The Division Board feels that the current procedure for sanctioning and accepting results from events within the Division has failed its membership. Over the past year, the Board has tried to accommodate most, if not all, requests for sanctioning. The Board did this with the trust that tournament organizers would apply the rules of fencing and requirements for USFA-sanctioned events. The Board also assumed a level of trust in assuming that event results reported via the www.askfred.net website would be accurate. This unfortunately has not been the case. As a result, the National Office has put the Division on notice. For the future, we must implement checks and balances to assure events are run according to USFA rules. The Division Board will be meeting in the next several weeks to discuss ways in which we can assure compliance with the rules of our sport at all sanctioned events. Should you have suggestions or questions, please feel free to contact a Board member.

Respectfully,

Gerhard V. Guevarra

Chair, NC Division

Below is a summary of the events considered by the USFA to be invalidated. The USFA will be issuing new member cards to reflect any changes in ratings due to the invalidated tournaments. The following list has been reviewed, approved, and recommended for posting by the USFA.

KOS: 18 total events in 6 tournaments

Charlotte Fencing Academy: 5 total events in 3 tournaments

Touche: 3 total events in 3 tournaments

Raleigh Fencing Club: 2 total events in 1 tournament

Charlotte Fencing Center: 1 event in 1 tournament

ASU: 1 event in 1 tournament