NCAA Fencing Explained
The NCAA (National Collegiate Athletic Association) fencing combines the three divisions: Division I, Division II, and Division III into a combined National Collegiate Sport. There are divisional difference for recruiting, scholarships, and various other rules.
NCAA Fencing is composed of:
- 44 women’s teams, 35 men’s teams
- Most men and women teams operate combined.
- On average, over the past 5 years:
- Over 1300 student-athletes; 700 female, 632 male
Team Season Schedule
- The NCAA season typically starts in the Fall with teams starting to train around September.
- There are a variety of types of competitions that teams will participate in:
- USA Fencing events – often as individuals, but some programs will fund/host as travel as a team
- Individual Collegiate Events – these are effectively preseason/exhibition for the teams to get themselves ready for regular season competition. These events typically do not count toward individual or team record.
- Regular Season Events – Typically called dual meets or invitationals, these events will feature anywhere from 4-5 teams to 15-16 teams competing against each other over the course of a weekend. The number of events that a team attends varies drastically from team to team, but the maximum number of dates a team is allowed to compete in collegiate competition is 11.
- Conference Championship Events – Many teams are members of conference which allows them to compete in a conference championship event. A few that you may have heard of: ACC, Ivy League, CCFC, Mountain Pacific Sport Federation, etc.
- NCAA Regionals and Championship – The NCAA breaks the postseason into two parts:
- Regionals – is the qualification event to the Finals site, also called the NCAA Fencing Championship.
- Four regions: Northeast, Mid-Atlantic/South, Midwest, and West
- Athletes qualify for each region based on their results during the season up to 12 per school, per gender.
- Championship –
- takes place over four days with two day assigned for . Team champion is determined based on total bouts won by members of each team.
- Athletes qualify from each region based on their finish at the regional qualifier and their regular season performance
- Regionals – is the qualification event to the Finals site, also called the NCAA Fencing Championship.