General

The Southwest Section calendar on the Web site is an official calendar for only one tournament each fencing year -- the sectional qualifying tournament for Summer Nationals ("Sectionals").

Other than Sectionals, the Section calendar on the Web site is maintained as a courtesy for the fencers in and near the Southwest Section. It is not an official calendar. It is a collection of information gathered from other sources, including official calendars of the seven divisions within the Southwest Section.

Tournament information is gathered from secondary sources besides official calendars and official communications. This can include, but is not limited to, askFRED, unofficial division calendars, and communications received from tournament organizers. Appearance in the Section calendar does not constitute USFA sanction for a tournament. Appearance in the Section calendar only means that information about the tournament was delivered to the Southwest Section or information about the tournament was being distributed in the public domain.

If there is any question about details or about USFA sanction for a tournament, consult the calendar of the division where it is being held, or the officers of that division. The calendars of the divisions can be reached directly from the "Archives" page. The officers of the divisions are listed on the "Officers" page.

Host/Location column

The "Host/Location" column contains some combination of information about the host organization (usually a club but sometimes an entire division) and/or the venue. Not all tournaments have both kinds of information publicized well in advance, and exactly what sort of information appears in this column varies from tournament to tournament.

Information column

The "Information" column contains (if available) information about some contact for learning more about the specific tournament.

WWW

When the characters "WWW" appear, they are a link to more information about the single tournament or a group of tournaments, on the World Wide Web

FRED

When the characters "FRED" appear, they are a link to a page at askfred.net with more information about the tournament

Flier

When the word "Flier" appears, it is a link to more information about the tournament someplace else on the Southwest Section Web site.

(other)

Otherwise, text information (typically the name of a person and an e-mail address) will appear, indicating how to get more information.

Division column: Division name

The "Division" column contains information about the division where the tournament is being held, or other analogous information. The exact meaning varies with the type of tournament. (Some "tournaments" are not actually tournaments, but camps, or important dates for planning purposes.)

The codes appearing in this column are ALM, BTX, FIE, GC, HOLI, LA, NCAA, nonSWS, NTX, OK, RYC, STX, SWIFA, SWS, USFA, and USFCA.

Division -- Ordinary Division-Level and Unsanctioned Tournaments

ALM

The tournament is an ordinary division-level tournament being held under the auspices of, or unsanctioned tournament being held within, the Ark-La-Miss Division.

BTX

The tournament is an ordinary division-level tournament being held under the auspices of, or unsanctioned tournament being held within, the Border Texas Division.

GC

The tournament is an ordinary division-level tournament being held under the auspices of, or unsanctioned tournament being held within, the Gulf Coast TX Division.

LA

The tournament is an ordinary division-level tournament being held under the auspices of, or unsanctioned tournament being held within, the Louisiana Division.

nonSWS

The tournament is an ordinary division-level or unsanctioned tournament being held outside the Southwest Section, but it is important enough and/or close enough to be of interest to the fencers of the Southwest Sectoion.

NTX

The tournament is an ordinary division-level tournament being held under the auspices of, or unsanctioned tournament being held within, the North Texas Division.

OK

The tournament is an ordinary division-level tournament being held under the auspices of, or unsanctioned tournament being held within, the Oklahoma Division.

STX

The tournament is an ordinary division-level tournament being held under the auspices of, or unsanctioned tournament being held within, the South Texas Division.

Sectional

SWS

The tournament is a section-level tournament being held by the Southwest Section (i.e., it is "Sectionals", the sectional qualifier for Summer Nationals).

National

RYC

The tournament is one of the Regional Youth Circuit (RYC) tournaments. RYC tournaments have not traditionally been considered "national" tournaments, but they would be better considered national than considered divisional, sectional, or non-USFA.

USFA

The tournament is one of the national tournaments (North American Cup, Junior Olympics, Summer Nationals, Division I Championships) held by the USFA. Also used for entry deadlines and information submission deadlines associated with some USFA tournaments.

Unsanctioned Tournaments

SWIFA

The tournament is a non-USFA tournament open to and held by the Southwest Intercollegiate Fencing Association (SWIFA).

Other

FIE

The tournament is an international tournament, held by the Federation International d'Escrime (FIE), which has FIE rather than USFA sanction, and is included on the calendar for planning purposess.

HOLI

The "tournament" is a holiday date or other such consideration (e.g., start of Daylight Saving time), and is included on the calendar for planning purposes.

NCAA

The tournament is an NCAA collegiate tournament, which may or may not have USFA sanction, limited to NCAA collegiate fencers, and is included on the calendar for planning purposes.

USFCA

The "tournament" (typically a seminar rather than a competition) is being held under the auspices of the United States Fencing Coaches Association (USFCA).

Division column: USFA sanction status

When the "Division" column shows an actual geographical division within the Section, it only indicates that the tournament is occurring within the boundaries of that division. Underneath the division name is the USFA sanction status. The presence of the division name does not necessarily mean that the tournament is being held by that division, under the auspices of that division, with the consent of that division, or even with the knowledge of that division. But, the USFA sanction status does indicate what is known to the Southwest Section about whether the tournament is USFA-sanctioned by being a tournament officially recignized by that DIvision.

USFA

An official calendar or announcement from that division lists the tournament, and there is no indication that the tournament will not be non-USFA. Note that having USFA sanction does mean that all participants must be USFA members, but it does not necessarily mean that it is possible to earn a USFA classification at the tournament (a divisional E and under youth tournament could never produce classifications; a team competition can never produce classifications).

non-USFA

Information from the division or the tournament reports that it will be non-USFA. Note that even if a tournament is not USFA-sanctioned, it is still possible that the organizers could require USFA membership (perhaps for reasons relating to insurance).

to be determined

The tournament information does not come from the division, and there has been no information from the division about USFA sanction. The tournament may or may not have sanction, but the Southwest Section does not have this information.