Sent you the names in a PM, but here are links in case you want to check my work.
2021: https://escrimeresults.com/NCAA/ncaa2021.html
2020: https://www.ncaa.com/news/fencing/article/2020-03-10/ncaa-mens-and-womens-fencing-committee-selects-championships
2019: https://escrimeresults.com/NCAA/ncaa2019.html
Thank you @saharafrog 
. Yes, I stand corrected. I’m not familiar with 3 of the ladies. 2 of the of 5 names you provided are the 2 I referred to.
Thank you @saharafrog for your excellent, thoughtful response.
There was an NCAA season this year. Many schools participated in the season. Those athletes worked just as hard as any other year, and they deserved the honor of a championship for their efforts.
There are over 40 Women’s NCAA fencing schools. Every team works hard, and every person who joins and competes on ANY NCAA fencing team should be celebrated for the benefit of the sport. An elitist attitude of what schools are “worthy” and which aren’t is not healthy for the sport. Without all of these schools, there wouldn’t be a viable NCAA fencing program. And… the best fencers in any given year should be given the opportunity to compete in the championship.
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@stencils I don’t think elitist was a fair adjective. I respect your opinion. Mine obviously differs. The Championships this year will absolutely have an asterisk attached to it. That’s just reality. NCAA Division 1 sports aren’t youth sports. It’s the highest level of competition other than professional leagues. Champions aren’t crowned, nor awards given, purely on the basis of hard work. Hard work has it’s inherent reward, as does participating in a sport one is passionate about. But, champions at this level are lodged in posterity, and crowned as the best of the best. Not the best among those who were allowed to participate due to a truncated season. Not competing this season wasn’t a choice made by the individual fencers who also worked hard and sacrificed to reach this level of competition. It was made by the institutions they attend, and/or the conferences those programs are members of, in response to a global health crisis. This is the basis of my opinion.
There was no possibility to have a normal season, due to the pandemic. So if you are going to argue that there should not be championship for the schools that did participate, whose interests are you advancing? You are not helping the fencers from schools that did not have a fencing season – they don’t get to compete either way. You are not helping the fencers who did compete, as you would be taking away their season-ending tournaments.
Of course you are missing many top fencers – just looking at the names of people who fenced shows that. But having a full fencing tournament was not an option. If the choice is between no NCAAs, and having the tournament with the schools that did have a fencing season, to name a champion for that subset of schools, then the latter does seem like the best option.
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I didn’t see it as advancing anyone’s interest. I don’t think the winners will have the same recognition or sense of accomplishment as other NCAA Champions. I know my daughter wouldn’t want to compete under such circumstances. Winning and not being recognized as former or future champions seems a bit unfair to the participants in my opinion.
Having the tournament gave each fencer the choice to participate or not. If you don’t have the tournament, you take away that choice. And just because it doesn’t carry the same cachet as in most years does not mean it is not a real accomplishment. Winning a Div I-A or a Div II NAC may not be as hard as winning a Div I NAC, but it still is a meaningful result.
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Should I meet an individual champion from 2021, my first action will be to congratulate them on their accomplishment, not nit-pick about the trying circumstances of their season. None of this year’s champions had any control over who they faced, nor who they didn’t. They stepped on the piste and fenced the person across from them.
I am truly sorry your daughter (and the rest of her team) were not able to compete this season. But even without the Ivy League teams and the others who chose to sit out the season and/or championships, there were still many very good fencers competing. And believe it or not, the quality of fencers at the championships does vary from year to year and decade to decade - even outside of pandemics.
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I wouldn’t compare Div Ia or II to NCAA championship in regards to accomplishment. The accomplishment in the NAC is personal. But, it wouldn’t have the same impact in recruiting as placing in a Div 1 NAC. That shows the level of importance. I do agree with the student athlete being allowed the opportunity to choose. You raise a good point there.
It was just a bad situation, with no best answer once the pandemic messed up the season. So it is a choice between second-best options. Having the NCAA tournament, and giving athletes the choice as to whether to compete or stay home, seems like the best second-best option.
My guess is that everyone or virtually everyone who went through a fencing season and qualified to compete in fact did go, unless there was some extraneous reason like an injury that prevented it.
Great perspective. I agree with you.
Anyone know if DIv I fencing recruiting will be back to normal this fall or what the rules will be for rising juniors and/or seniors?
For HS parents and fencers new to this thread and looking for information about what it’s like to be on a collegiate fencing team and the recruiting process, or have been lurking for a while, welcome! Let me re-introduce this thread and its purpose.
There are a number of parents of current and former NCAA fencers that regularly monitor this thread. There is parental experience here that covers a wide variety of Div 1 and Div 3 teams. The goal is to try to provide helpful information and feedback and information to prospective collegiate fencers.
There are HS fencers and parents that come here regularly to ask about the possibility of fencing on a team in college that have a diversity of background, USA fencing ratings, and competitive fencing experience. For just about any fencer with some experience, there are options to be a collegiate fencer. We get questions ranging from “Can I be an Ivy League recruit?” to “I’m a HS sophomore and have been fencing for 6 months and just started competing, and I love it! How do I do this in college?” All questions are welcome and will be answered honestly and respectfully.
If you’ve been lurking in this group for a while and not seen a lot of recruiting talk, that’s just because last year was an unusual year with COVID. I’d suggest going back to the first dozen or so posts in this long thread compiled by @SevenDad – they are a great intro! Use CC’s search tool to search this thread for mentions of specific schools.
Most of all, please introduce yourself and ask questions. You’ll find positive, honest advice and feedback here!
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I know recruiting last year was all remote at my Ds school – there were no “official visits” even though the team was one of the Div 1 teams that was still competing. Not sure what the policy will be yet for this season, but I’m sure everyone hopes prospects will get to come to campus and meet the team etc.
Nice summary.
It would be nice if the crowd-sourced list of fencers/schools came back, anyone know if that is in the works? I suppose it was a lot of work, so maybe it is gone for good.
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Yes, the college recruit list was a nice resource.
For a very long time, it was done by a tireless volunteer and hosted on the now defunct fencing(dot)net forums. When those forums went away, the person that was doing it “retired.” It was hosted here briefly, but was a lot of work to maintain, so unless someone new is interested in that project, I don’t think it will continue.
Now the class of 2023 recruiting seems to start in full swing, although there is still a lot of uncertainty. Just wondering how the discussion goes for the class 2023 with the college coaches. It appeared that no “official visits” could be arranged due to Covid restriction. Thanks.
By now, most of the fencing community is aware that legendary foil coach, Bucky Leach, was tragically killed in a motorcycle accident this past Saturday. Leach almost singlehandedly vaulted the US women’s foil program to world prominence, culminating in Lee Kiefer winning the Gold Medal at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
From his days as a fencer, a pioneering coach at Rochester, to his time at Empire United and at Fencer’s Club in NYC, culminating in his work at Notre Dame and the 2020 Olympics as the US National Women’s Foil Coach, Buckie was the paragon of coaching excellence. He was what used to be referred to as “a man of the people”. He could be irascible, particularly when he was younger, and had a biting wit. But he cared. He really cared.
Personally, I interacted with Buckie at nearly every NAC, World Cup, World Championship, and NCAA Championship that I attended. He always took time to talk, to ask questions beyond the superficial, and was always up for a good laugh. Buckie never formally coached my child, but when I asked what Buckie meant to him on a scale of 1-10, my child said, “There is no scale.” At one of the highlights of my child’s fencing career, Buckie was the first person I saw after a miraculous victory. He hugged me and said, “The best is yet to come.”
Out to dinner in a remote former Soviet-bloc country, my dinner companion and I did not have enough local currency to pay the bill. It was a small amount. Maybe $5-10 in US Dollars. Buckie was at another table, celebrating with a group of Russian coaches. He was the only non-Russian, included, as one coach put it, because “he is Buckie Leach, the legend.” I asked Buckie to loan us the money. He reached into his pocket and gave me the foreign currency. Months later, at a NAC, I tried to repay him. He laughed and said, “Not only don’t I remember loaning you the money, but if my dad knew that I had $5 in my pocket to lend you, he would be so f-n’ proud!”
As you can tell from that last story, Buckie was not a saver. A GoFundMe was set up to raise $30,000 for a funeral and expenses. In less than 2 hours, more than half the money was pledged. As of this posting, more than $40,000 has been raised.
US Fencing lost a visionary. More, it lost a true man of the people. Check out Facebook. The posts of praise, vignettes, and genuine emotion are overwhelming testaments to the man.
RIP Buckie.
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Has anybody heard anything about the upcoming european fencing season? Ie. is the European Cadet Circuits schedule coming up soon?
Not released yet for the Cadet circuits. FIE does post the schedule for Junior world cups. But two of them – the event in London and Bangkok, have been already cancelled. Both used to be assigned as the USAFencing designated events before Covid time.
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