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Archived News

11/08/07: Elections are coming up, and we need nominations fornational officers. Watch your mailbox over the next couple of weeks for more information.

10/8/07: A new season of competition is beginning. New membership forms are now available.

7/17/07: Qualification information for National Championships is now available (PDF). Entry forms will be mailed out in the next few days to all National Division members and to divisional secretaries to pass on to their members who have qualified. In brief, all National Division members are invited to Nationals, where they can qualify (or not) using a wildcard format. Members in PNW or CenVA Divisions will need to qualify through their division, whether by using a traditional divisional championship or by some other means. The details are described in the PDF file (above). If you have questions about this process, please contact Michael Heggen, AFL president.

6/26/07: The board of directors has decided to postpone this year's National Championships to August 25-26. Nationals will be held in Salem, Oregon this year. We regret any inconvenience this may cause you. We will be publishing the qualification process shortly, so be on the lookout for additional information.

5/21/07: Entry forms and more information about the Pacific Northwest divisional championships are now available.

5/15/07: The AFL welcomes Pacific Fencing Club of Alameda, California (Harold Hayes, maestro) to its ranks! PFC is part of the National Division.

3/26/07: The Central Virginia Division website is now up and running.

3/15/07: The Pacific Northwest divisional championships will be held June 2-3 in Salem, Oregon. Entry forms will be available online soon.

In addition, we are seeking bids from National Division clubs who wish to host the National Division divisional championships. Contact Michael Heggen if your club is interested.

Aside from an opportunity to fence with the best fencers in your division, divisional championships are the qualifiers for the AFL's first-ever national championships (July 14-15, location TBA).

3/8/07: Fencers in the Pacific Northwest division should note that Salem Classical Fencing will be hosting an AFL tournament on April 14th. More info...

3/7/07: The latest edition of the rules (PDF file) is finally available online. This edition cleans up typgraphical errors and inconsistencies. The penalty chart is finally accurate now, too. Enjoy!

1/17/07: Fencers in the Pacific Northwest division should note that Salem Classical Fencing will be hosting an AFL tournament on February 3rd. More info....

12/6/06: Fencers in the Southeast should note that Tampa Bay Fencers will be hosting an AFL tournament on January 6th. More info....

11/14/06: Our website may experience intermittent outages today due to some behind the scenes changes. Sorry for any incovenience.

9/3/06: Minutes from our board meetings are now available online.

8/31/06: We extend a warm welcome to our two newest member clubs, Tampa Bay Fencers (Florida) and Malibu Fencing Club (California). Both clubs are in the National Division.

8/29/06: The elections results are in. Our board was re-elected and the bylaws amendment passed.

Remember: Clubs in the National Division need to submit their scheduled competitions as soon as possible in order than the events can be published.

7/30/06: Nominations for national office are now closed. Ballots are being mailed out to all members meeting the following criteria:

Joined on or before July 22, 2006; and,
Is an adult member for the current year -- i.e. year of birth of 1989 or earlier.

This election is both for national offices and for a proposed bylaws amendment. Ballots are due back August 12, 2006. Alternatively, members may vote in person at the annual meeting, which is Saturday, August 12, 2006 at 3 p.m. at Salem Classical Fencing at 354 Belmont Street NE, Salem, Oregon (bring your fencing gear if wish to fence afterwards!).

7/12/06: The board of directors is pleased to announce the formation of the two new divisions: the Central Virginia division and the Pacific Northwest division. In addition, a division in the Delaware area is pending. Congratulations!

Also, nominations for AFL President, Secretary, and Treasurer for the 2006-7 year are now open. Nominations close July 22, 2006.

7/6/06: The American Fencing League's annual membership meeting that was scheduled for Saturday, July 8th has been postponed to Saturday, August 12th at 3 p.m. at Salem Classical Fencing at 354 Belmont NE, Salem, Oregon.

5/12/06: Congratulations to all of the fencers who participated in the first-ever divisional championships for the AFL National Division in Salem, Oregon. There were about 24 hours of fencing competion held in just two days, making this championship a true test of endurance for fencers competing in multiple events. Not only was this the largest and longest tournament the AFL has ever held, it also marked the return of three-weapon fencing to the United States. (An individual three-weapon championship was held for the first time in the U.S. since 1948. A three-weapon team championship was held for the first time in the U.S. since 1964.) Gold medals went to:

Individual foil: Josh Conner (unattached)
Individual epee: Josh Conner (unattached)
Individual sabre: Wolfgang Agotta (SOFC)
Individual three-weapon: Josh Conner (unattached)
Team foil: SOFC -- "McDougall's Men of Mystery"
Team epee: SOFC -- "Epee Gurus"
Team sabre: SOFC -- "Sabeurmaus"
Team three-weapon: SCF -- "The Old Guys"
More detailed results are now available.

The League extends its thanks to Salem Classical Fencing and Willamette University for co-hosting the championships.

5/7/06: Registration for the National Division Championship is now closed. There is no need for a preliminary round of foil on Friday afternoon/evening, so the event has been shortened to two days: May 20-21. A complete schedule is now available.

5/1/06: The deadline for entries to the National Division Championship has been extended to Saturday, May 6th. Entry forms are available online, as well as in the current issue of The Fencing Standard.

3/8/06: We are very pleased to announce the addition of the first-ever AFL fencing tournament on the East Coast. The event will occur on April 9th at Salle Green in Glen Allen, Virginia.

2/12/06: Make your plans now to attend the National Division championships May 19-21, 2006 in Salem, Oregon. Our host club, Salem Classical Fencing, has a limited number of homestays available for out-of-area fencers. If you will be flying in, please let us know if you would like assistance in coordinating ground transportation from Portland International Airport.
(As we are still a small organization and our first season is a short one, we will only hold divisional championships this year. Our first true national championships will be held in 2007.)

2/11/06: The board of directors is pleased to announce that Joel Klepper has accepted an appointment to serve as the director representing the National Division for the remainder of this season -- a position that was created by the adoption of our bylaws in January. Joel fences for Southern Oregon Fencing Center in Ashland, Oregon. His term will expire August 31, 2005.

2/7/06: A new version of the PDF file of the rules has been posted. Now rules have changed since January 13th, but a technical error that resulted in the last 20 pages being omitted from the PDF has been corrected.

1/13/06: More hard work has paid off, and the new January 2006 edition of the AFL rules is now available. The most significant changes:

Foil and sabre bouts are now five minutes long.
If time expires, the scores are advanced an equal number of points until one fencer's score equals five -- e.g. 3-2 becomes 5-4; 3-0 becomes 5-2; 3-1 becomes 5-3.
If time expires and the score is tied, the score is advanced to 4-4 and the fencers fence for a deciding touch without time limit.
Both feet over the end line results in a point for the other fencer.
Both feet over the side boundary results in a one-meter penalty.
The bib is not target in foil.
A glove on the back hand is permitted for épée.
Rules for what constitutes corps-à-corps have been revised to include the guards remaining in contact with each other -- i.e. a "clinch". Deliberately provoking corps-à-corps is forbidden at foil and sabre -- even if no body contact results -- and may result in a Group I penalty for one or both fencers.
Reversal of the line of shoulders is permitted at all weapons (turning the back remains prohibited, however).
AFL competitions are now limited to AFL members.

The less significant changes include:

Order of bouts for pools of 11 was added.
Fencers withdrawing for bogus reasons are now subject to loss of placement and suspension.
Rules for handling withdrawals from a pool were revised to be more fair (slightly more complex, though).
Interruption of a bout for a specious (bogus) claim of injury is a Group II offense (immediate red card).
Group III penalties revised so that repetition of the same Group III offense in the same bout results in a black card (as opposed to a second Group III offense of any type resulting in a black card).
Rules for shifting the jury mid-bout were clarified.
Rules for replacing the fencers on guard after a halt were clarified.
Rules for stop-hits into composite attacks (foil and sabre) were clarified.
Definitions of remise, redoublement, and reprise were clarified.
Additionally, many typographical and grammatical errors were fixed.

1/3/06: Months of hard work have paid off! We are now accepting membership applications! Join us!

12/27/05: The board has been hard at work, and we are just about ready to accept membership applications. We hope to have the forms available in the next few days.

As of January 1, 2006, all sanctioned AFL tournaments will require that all fencers be AFL members in good standing.

Additionally, the board has made some rules changes that will become effective on January 1, 2006. A copy of the new rules and a summary of the changes will be posted shortly.

10/13/05: Our interim board of directors has been formed. It consists of Michael Heggen (president), Nanci Keatley (secretary), and Keith Kohan. We have been meeting regularly and are working out the administrative details to be able to accept members. We anticipate we will be ready for members in early 2006.

The board has agreed to suspend indefinitely the implementation of the placing the mask bib back into valid target for foil. Expect a rules revision in early 2006. We welcome feedback on our draft rules.

Finally, please join our Yahoo! group to stay up to date on AFL news via e-mail.

4/4/2005: The American Fencing League was incorporated as a non-profit public benefit corporation (with members) in the state of Oregon on March 25, 2005.

Page created 5/22/06.
Last updated 05/22/2008 .

The American Fencing League is a non-profit 501(c)(3) (tax-exempt status pending) corporation, which is not affiliated with the United States Fencing Association
or the Federation Internationale d'Escrime.