Birmingham Fencing Club

We have a great group of BFC families traveling to Orlando for the October North American Cup (NAC) tournament this week. These large NAC events are held five times per year in locations across the US. They offer high levels of competition for athletes and great travel opportunities for families - we’re always thrilled to send groups from Birmingham to participate! Please join us in wishing everyone safe travels, competitive success, and fun on their journeys!

What Juniors and Cadets Should Know About Qualifying for the 2024 Junior Olympics With the 2024 Junior Olympics coming soon, it’s the perfect time to review exactly how cadets and juniors can qualify for the pinnacle domestic tournament for these two classifications of fencers.

BFC athletes continue seeing their hard work in classes and lessons pay off in tournaments! Please join us in celebrating a few recent exciting podium finishes. Great work, Adam, Hannah, and Lily! We’re proud of you.

Our next free community fencing class will take place on Saturday, November 4 and we would love for you to join us and experience our wonderful sport for yourself! Fencing offers a great physical and mental workout, along with a fantastic and supportive community for athletes of all ages. RSVP today at the link below!

https://www.fencingclub.org/free-fencing

Our October Featured Fencer is Liam Robertson!

We love watching how hard Liam works in practices and lessons and how diligently he applies what he learns during tournaments. Liam fences in our Intermediate Foil program and competes in local, regional, and national events.

Thank you for being a part of the BFC family, Liam!

Birmingham Fencing Club offers programs for youth and adults. Visit us online to learn more at fencingclub.org.

Please join us in congratulating BFC fencer Colin Cordova on his 5th place finish in the Div III Mixed Epee event at the 2023 OFC Grand Prix in Georgia today.

Liam, Colin, and Joscelyn kept the BFC fencing fun going in Richmond this afternoon with gritty bouts in Y12 Men’s Foil, Y14 Men’s Epee, and Y12 Women’s Epee. Through both wins and losses our athletes learn valuable lessons during each and every tournament!

Great work to all who competed this weekend!

It’s another great day for fencing at the River City Regional Rumble in Richmond! BFC fencer Isabella is pictured here (left) getting the competition day going in Y14 Women’s Foil. We have athletes competing all day in Foil and Epee events and we look forward to watching them all learn and grow as they face off against athletes from around our region.

Congratulations to BFC fencer Adam Zhao, who tied for third in Y14 Men’s Foil at the River City Regional Rumble this weekend, his second podium finish of the tournament and the day! ‘Weekend warrior’ seems like a great description of this accomplishment 😁

Good job, Adam! We’re all proud of you.

Congratulations to BFC fencer Adam Zhao on his podium finish at the River City Regional Rumble in Richmond, Virginia! It takes hard work and dedication to succeed in this way and we love celebrating Adam’s accomplishment. Please join us in wishing him a job well done!

It’s a great day for BFC fencing in Richmond, Virginia! Adam is getting us started with some great points in Men’s Foil.

Best of luck to all our fencers traveling to Virginia for the 2023 River City Rumble!
Follow along at https://fencingtimelive.com/tournaments/eventSchedule/CE5D9DBB6BA644868213262329544891

Fencing is an individual sport but one that constantly builds community! Whether we fence with teammates in practice, or connect with competitor friends during tournaments, fencing creates many opportunities to develop relationships that can last a lifetime.

We would love to have you join us for a free class or lesson - come experience our warm and welcoming athletic community for yourself! More information is available on our website: fencingclub.org

The Alabama Division has called a special meeting of the membership on Saturday, September 23rd from 5:00PM-7:00PM to hold elections for the Division Board of Directors. Any one who meets the following criteria is eligible to run and vote:

Must be:
-18 or older
-USA Fencing Member with Access Membership or Higher
-Member of the Alabama Division
-In good standing with both the Division and USA Fencing

To maintain letter ratings, fencers must renew every four competition season years. We’re always excited to see BFC athletes achieve renewal goals - particularly at home tournaments!

Congratulations to BFC fencers who earned new ratings today. We’re excited to celebrate your achievements with you!

We wrapped up a weekend of great fencing with Foil and Epee events today. Congratulations to all our podium finishers and thank you to all athletes, families, officials, and volunteers who made this successful tournament possible!

Congratulations to our BFC fencers who leveled up their ratings today! We always love seeing our athletes succeed in this way but it’s extra special when it happens at a home tournament 😍

We celebrated the end to National Week and today with a season opener tournament at home. Congratulations to everyone who participated and particularly our podium finishers! The fun continues tomorrow with Foil and Epee events!

On this National Week Friday we want to publicly thank the many volunteers who move BFC forward by contributing their time and talents to our community and our sport. They prepare for and run tournaments, support club activities and operations, and lend needed helping hands throughout the year. We could not do what we do without their willingness to jump in and help out!

As we keep moving through National Week we appreciate armorers like Mr. Murphy (pictured, left). In a sport like ours we need armorers to make sure our masks, gloves, and other gear are in good working condition every time we compete. We’re grateful for the armory teams who travel to our tournaments and work hard to keep our athletes safe!

National Week continues and today we celebrate the officials who run our sport’s tournaments with integrity, respect, and fairness. They help provide positive experiences for athletes, coaches, and spectators, and we’re grateful for the time and energy they commit to many events throughout the competition season!

On this second day of National Week we honor and celebrate our incredible BFC coaches!

Coach Wang holds an advanced degree in fencing and has coached fencing for over 25 years. He served as a Chinese National Fencing Team Coach and Head Coach for the Tianjin Fencing Club before coming to Birmingham in 1998. As a competitor in foil, he earned a long list of national medals, including Chinese National Foil Champion. Coach Wang is also an internationally rated referee and refereed in the 1992 and 1996 Olympic Games.

Coach Sun is a competitor in foil and epee and has earned a long list of national and international medals including a 7th individual and a 5th team place in the 1988 Seoul Olympic Games. She holds a degree in fencing and has coached fencing for over 20 years. In addition, Coach Sun is a highly ranked national referee and USA Veteran Champion.

Coach Will Curtis began fencing at the University of Tennessee Knoxville in the Fall of 2008. While at UTK, he began coaching the foil program in 2012 and continued on to become the Team’s Head Coach while continuing to live and work in Knoxville. He became a certified referee for USA Fencing in 2013 and is a regular face officiating at Regional and National events in all 3 weapons.

These three bring their coaching talents and positive approaches to our club every day and make a huge impact in the lives of our athletes and fencing families. We’re very grateful to have them in Birmingham!

It’s National Week and today we’re highlighting and appreciating our BFC athletes, past and present. Our youth and adult fencers work hard in classes, lessons, and tournaments, achieving their goals and serving as ambassadors of our sport in the Birmingham area and beyond. We’re grateful for each and every member of our BFC family and the ways they contribute to the legacy of this unique community!

LIMITED SPACE ALERT: our October community fencing class is filling up! We only have a few spots left and we'd love to have you with us to come experience this fun, engaging, and dynamic sport for yourself!

Register today for this free class on October 7 at 2:00 pm.

https://birminghamfencingclub.sites.zenplanner.com/freeTrial.cfm

Applications for the GRACE Program for the 2023-2024 season are now open. Fencers and their families can apply for a competition fee waiver (tournament fee, admin fee, event fee) for nationally sanctioned events. If you or an athlete you know needs financial support for an upcoming tournament please feel free to apply to the GRACE program.

🔗https://www.usafencing.org/news_article/show/1282015

It’s a common misconception that fencing isn’t as intense as other sports. You don’t have to get too far into one of our lessons, classes, or tournaments to find out this isn’t true 😁 Fencing offers a great workout that continuously challenges both beginner and advanced athletes.

If you’re looking for your next favorite sport, we invite you to come give fencing a try!

Our friends at Winter Garden Fencing Club and Stoccata Fencing Club have extended the regular registration deadline for the Daytona Duel ROC! The new deadline is August 19th! Sign up ASAP!

Details on the tournament are below:

2023 Daytona Duel ROC - USA Fencing It is across the street from the sand and surf of World Famous Daytona Beach! There are hundreds of restaurants and hotels within a short walk (2 to 3 minute walk) from our venue. Pick what you want to eat or drink and it is within reach! Spend some time walking on the beach and enjoying the breath-...

Registration is now open for our 2023 Season Kick-Off Tournament! We hope you'll join us for two days of great competition and welcoming community here in the Birmingham area as we celebrate the start of another fencing season.

Events schedule (all times listed are CT) >>

Saturday, September 9th
Y12 Mixed Foil - 9:00 AM
Open Mixed Foil - 9:00 AM
Y10 Mixed Foil - 12:00 PM
Y14 Mixed Foil - 12:00 PM
Div2 Mixed Foil - 3:00 PM

Sunday, September 10th
Open Mixed Epee - 12:00 PM
Div2 Mixed Epee - 3:00 PM

Registration is open on AskFRED. Link in first comment!

We had a great BFC Family Meeting tonight as we prepare to kick off a new competition season! In fencing, our year starts in August and runs through July, with tournaments running all year. We’re excited to get to know new families as we also welcome back those who’ve been with us a while and we can’t wait to watch our athletes grow in the coming months!

BIG THANKS to Coach Will for all the helpful information and to all who brought food and drinks for dinner before the meeting.

REMINDER: 2023/2024 Season Meeting is tonight at 6:00PM! All BFC Fencers and Parents are encouraged to attend!

As our youth fencers head back to school we celebrate the fact that our sport provides great opportunities to compete and grow all the way through college! There are 46 NCAA programs in the US, many of which offer scholarships.

If you’re a student (or parent of a student), we invite you to come check out our club and our classes! Many BFC athletes have fenced in college programs and we’d love to share their pathways to success as we help you develop your own.

More information available online at fencingclub.org.

REMINDER: Today is the deadline to renew your USA Fencing Membership before the price increase starts tomorrow. Renew tonight to renew at last season's rates!

https://www.usafencing.org/membership

Membership USA Fencing is the official home of Olympic and Paralympic fencing in the United States.

We’ve been fencing in the Birmingham area since the ‘90s and we love the club and community we continue building here in the Magic City region! Fencing is a lifelong sport and we’d love to help you start your journey and get you plugged into our BFC family.

Learn more at fencingclub.org or give us a call at 205.823.4448 to schedule a time to come visit. Your first lesson is on us!

Fencing is a fantastic lifelong sport! It builds strength and stamina, and many tournaments and competitions are open to athletes of all ages and ability levels. We love welcoming new fencers to the strip for the first time and we happily host completely free lessons every month.

We would love for YOU to join us and we only have a few spots left in August! Register today: https://birminghamfencingclub.sites.zenplanner.com/freeTrial.cfm

Qualifying for USA Fencing's National Championship tournament (also known as Summer Nationals) requires focus, hard work, and dedication. Athletes earn points toward qualification by competing in tournaments throughout the competition year and we loved seeing these fencers listed below representing BFC in Phoenix this year.

Please join us in celebrating this group!

USA Fencing Makes Strategic Investment in AskFRED, Ensuring the Future of This Trusted Resource USA Fencing announces we have made a strategic investment in AskFRED designed to ensure the long-term stability of AskFRED while preserving its spirit and fencer-first focus.

We had a great time fencing with our friends from Girls, Inc. of Central Alabama! It’s always exciting to watch what happens when new athletes step onto a strip for the first time - we definitely had some natural athletes in the group this morning.

Girls, Inc. delivers life-changing programs and experiences that equip girls to overcome serious barriers to grow up strong, smart, and bold. Their mission aligns with what we see happen in fencing every single day and it was an honor to host such a great group. Learn more about Girls, Inc: https://girlsinccentral-al.org.

Please join us in congratulating BFC fencers Sophia Li and Hannah Brown, both of whom finished in the Top 16 of two of their events at Summer Nationals. We're very proud of how hard they both work in practice, their commitment to competing at very high levels, and the way they focus on their goals!

BIG congrats to BFC fencer Adam Zhao on his 6th place finish in Y12 Men’s Foil at Summer Nationals! Please join us in celebrating him for this accomplishment and the hard work and effort that led him to the podium this weekend.