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A Proposal to Begin 70+ Veterans Fencing This Year

By: Paul Levy

As you may know, at the Captains meeting in Sydney, a committee was created to consider various ways to expand veterans fencing competitions worldwide and to especially consider separate events for 70+ fencers. David Sweeney of Great Britain, Margit Budde of Germany and I were appointed to the committee. The 3 person committee will confer to set goals for these two missions. One immediate result was the Friendship International Tournament for Veterans in Curacao in early April.

As to 70+ fencing, there was a well attended separate 70+ competition, for men and women, at the 2007 European Championships. When the committee considered ways to spread this around, it was suggested that the British method was a good way to begin to introduce 70+ events to any individual federation. The Brits have a small 70+ population, so they held two types of 70+ events: in the 60+ age group events, the 70+ fencers fenced a "pool unique" amongst themselves (2 to 4 fencers in each event; if there was only 1 70+ fencer, he/she won automatically), and then when the regular 60+ pools began, the 70+ fencers were included and placed into the 60+ pools. At the end of this tournament, both the 60+ and the 70+ fencers were awarded "age group" medals. Their national championship is a 40+ combined tournament, and at the end, the highest ranking 40+, 50+, 60+ and 70+ fencers were awarded "national championship" medals.

A few weeks ago at the USFA Board of Directors meeting, I explained this to Ron Herman and Kalle Weeks of the Tournament Committee. I asked if the age group method could be incorporated into our Summer Nationals in San Jose, and they enthusiastically agreed we could try it and see how many 70+ fencers registered. These fencers would register for the 60+ event, pay the entry fee, and also indicate they wanted to fence as a 70+ fencer. The TC will do this if requested by the Veterans Committee. Medals will be awarded to the top 3 places in each 70+ event, if there are that many fencers, and I agreed to pay the cost of all those medals; USFA will have them stamped the same as the other age group medals except to say 70+.

I expect this will occur in other countries during the next year, and the international committee will collect these statistics and decide if it is worthwhile to have separate events in the FIE world championships.

The proposal for 70+ events will be presented to the Board of Directors in July for implementation in 2009 Veterans' events.

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	Features A Proposal to Begin 70+ Veterans Fencing This Year By: Paul Levy As you may know, at the Captains meeting in Sydney, a committee was created to consider various ways to expand veterans fencing competitions worldwide and to especially consider separate events for 70+ fencers. David Sweeney of Great Britain, Margit Budde of Germany and I were appointed to the committee. The 3 person committee will confer to set goals for these two missions. One immediate result was the Friendship International Tournament for Veterans in Curacao in early April. As to 70+ fencing, there was a well attended separate 70+ competition, for men and women, at the 2007 European Championships. When the committee considered ways to spread this around, it was suggested that the British method was a good way to begin to introduce 70+ events to any individual federation. The Brits have a small 70+ population, so they held two types of 70+ events: in the 60+ age group events, the 70+ fencers fenced a "pool unique" amongst themselves (2 to 4 fencers in each event; if there was only 1 70+ fencer, he/she won automatically), and then when the regular 60+ pools began, the 70+ fencers were included and placed into the 60+ pools. At the end of this tournament, both the 60+ and the 70+ fencers were awarded "age group" medals. Their national championship is a 40+ combined tournament, and at the end, the highest ranking 40+, 50+, 60+ and 70+ fencers were awarded "national championship" medals. A few weeks ago at the USFA Board of Directors meeting, I explained this to Ron Herman and Kalle Weeks of the Tournament Committee. I asked if the age group method could be incorporated into our Summer Nationals in San Jose, and they enthusiastically agreed we could try it and see how many 70+ fencers registered. These fencers would register for the 60+ event, pay the entry fee, and also indicate they wanted to fence as a 70+ fencer. The TC will do this if requested by the Veterans Committee. Medals will be awarded to the top 3 places in each 70+ event, if there are that many fencers, and I agreed to pay the cost of all those medals; USFA will have them stamped the same as the other age group medals except to say 70+. I expect this will occur in other countries during the next year, and the international committee will collect these statistics and decide if it is worthwhile to have separate events in the FIE world championships. The proposal for 70+ events will be presented to the Board of Directors in July for implementation in 2009 Veterans' events.