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Twenty-three SoCal fencers qualified at the JO Qualifier on Saturday for the 2025 Junior Olympic Championships to be held on February 14-17 in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Congratulations to all our qualified fencers and good luck in North Carolina!

Qualified fencers are listed below. For full results, go here.

Qualified Fencers – Men

Qualified Fencers – Women

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Who was Fred Linkmeyer?

Tedd Padgitt (left) discusses the finer points of fencing with Referee Derek Cotton at a tournament in Rome, Italy.

On Sunday, September 24, internationally rated fencing referee Derek Cotton will be conducting one of his rare clinics for aspiring referees, and you could attend for FREE! See details below.

Qualified referees are an essential component at any fencing competition, and the SoCal Division is always looking for more. One of the requirements to become an official USA Fencing Referee is to attend a referee clinic taught by a certified instructor. So, if you are interested in contributing to the sport you love while earning money at the same time, or just want a better understanding of the rules of fencing, this is your opportunity to learn from one of the very best!

Derek Cotton is the most highly rated fencing referee in Southern California. He has an International Rating of B in all three weapons and has refereed many National Finals. His international experience includes the Pan American Games, the World University Games, the Junior World Championships and the Senior World Championships. In 1996, he was selected for the Paralympic Games in Atlanta. He was the only US referee selected to go to the Olympic Games in Sydney in 2000 and Athens in 2004. Derek is a member of the Fencing Officials Commission where he previously served as Chair of the Referee Development Committee and as a member of the FIE Arbitrage Commission.

This clinic is FREE to all members of the Southern California Division who are under 18.

This clinic is FREE to members of the Southern California Division over 18 if they have taken the following steps to becoming a referee (accessible through the USA Fencing member’s profile page):

• purchased the +CheckEd membership add-on
• completed the 90-minute, online SafeSport course
• applied for a background check

For everyone else the cost is just $60.

Attendees will benefit from studying the following material prior to attending the clinic:

• Referees’ Commission National Referee Examination Study Guide
• Rule Book
• Penalty Chart

When: Sunday, September 24, 2023 from 8 AM to 4 PM

Where: Fortune Fencing, 139 W Maple Ave, Monrovia, CA 91016

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On Sunday, June 25, 2023, the Kern Athletic Fencing Foundation (KAFF) held its inaugural Bakersfield Walk-&-Roll 2-weapon Open Tournament. This USFA-sanctioned tournament format offered the exciting opportunity for able-bodied fencers to compete along with parafencers in a traditional pools-through-direct-elimination format.

When one or both of the competitors in a bout is a parafencer, the bout takes place with both fencers fully seated in wheelchair fencing frames. When both fencers are able-bodied the bout is conducted on a conventional fencing strip.

The Kern Athletic Fencing Foundation is developing a successful parafencing program and KAFF is proud to present the first tournament of this style in Southern California and maybe the West Coast!

If you have any questions please contact Lucas Dobrzanski.