To All Club Owners, Fencers, and other interested parties:

The USFA-NJ Division will host its annual Team Qualifier for the Summer
Nationals on the first weekend in May, at Gutkovskiy Fencing Academy in Fair
Lawn. This event was poorly publicized last season, resulting in small turnout.
This season, we are asking every club in the Division to try to put together at
least one junior or senior team to compete in this important qualifying event.

To correct some major misunderstandings about this team event, the qualifying
teams gain qualification for their club (if they represent one). Specific team
members need not plan to attend the summer national championships in order to
compete in the qualifier. If a team qualifies, any representatives of the club
may go to the summer nationals as part of that team.

Team competition follows a 9-bout, round-robin competition in a single weapon
with relay-style scoring to a maximum of 45 touches. Teams are randomly
assigned by the FencingTime software to an elimination table, and compete in a
direct elimination round until we reach the number of teams that can qualify in
each weapon.

We encourage everyone who wishes to compete in this important qualifying event.
We hope to see fencers from all parts of the Division participating on May 2-3.
Please register well in advance so we can have the requisite number of officials
available to give you the best team competition possible this year. Registration
is now open on AskFred.
http://askfred.net/Events/moreInfo.php?tournament_id=8366

Gene Packer
Tournament Chair