Typical season
This schedule lists events that the club attends on a regular basis, along with approximate dates.
Contents |
Schedule
Publicity
- September, week 2: First Look Fair
- February, week 1: StampFest
Competitions
- October, week 2: Alumni Meet
- October, week 3: Chaos Invitational
- November, week 1: Temple Open
- November, week 2: BWCFC Fall Meet
- November, week 3: MACFA Meet 1
- December, week 1: NIWFA Christmas Invitational
- January, week 4 or February, week 1: MACFA Meet 2
- February, week 2 or 3: MACFA Meet 3
- February, week 4: BWCFC Spring Meet
- March, week 1: NIWFA Championships
- March, week 1: MACFA Championships
- April, week 1: Cherry Blossom Open
- April, week 2: USACFC National Championships
- April, week 3 or 4: BWCFC Championships
Traditions
- Around winter break: Winter Formal
- By April: Mike Brown Award
- Early May: Paintball
- Early May: Senior Barbeque
Event Summaries
Chaos
Chaos is an individual tournament targeted toward less experienced fencers. We host it in early fall, usually October, and it is attended mainly by colleges from Maryland, DC, Pennsylvania, and Virginia.
Alumni Meet
The Alumni Meet is an informal event that we host in early fall. Past fencers from UMD return to socialize and fence with the current members.
Temple Open
The Temple Open is an individual tournament hosted by Temple University, usually on the first weekend of November. It attracts strong collegiate fencers from all over the East Coast, and it lasts two days.
BWCFC
The Baltimore-Washington Collegiate Fencing Conference is a co-ed conference of club teams divided into two divisions, North and South. We are in the North Division. At the Fall Meet, each team fences a dual meet against all other teams in the same division. At the Spring Meet, each team fencers a dual meet against all teams in the other division. The team standings are determined by the results of these meets. At the Championships, any fencers who have fenced a BWCFC bout during the regular season can compete to determine the individual standings.
MACFA
The Mid-Atlantic Collegiate Fencing Association is our men's NCAA conference. The regular season consist of three meets, in which each team fences a dual meet against each of the other teams. Some meets have women's teams fence as well. To qualify for the championships, a team must have fenced all other teams in the conference during the regular season. The team standings, however, are determined exclusively by the championships, at which each team designates an A strip, B strip, and C strip in each weapon. All A strips fence each other, all B strips fence each other, and all C strips fence each other. The best-performing fencers can then compete for individual standings.
NIWFA
The National Intercollegiate Women's Fencing Association is our women-only conference. It holds the Christmas Invitational, which is an individual tournament, in December, and championships, at which teams compete in three-bout matches to determine team standings and fencers compete for individual standings, in March.
Cherry Blossom Open
The Cherry Blossom Open is a USFA tournament that we host, usually in early April. It is not limited to college students, and it attracts many strong fencers from throughout the region.
USACFC
The United States Association of Collegiate Fencing Clubs holds a national championship every year in April. The two-day event has separate men's and women's dual-meet-based events to determine team standings, as well as individual results.
