Which Fencing Tournaments am I Eligible For? (2025-26 Edition)

Understanding which fencing tournaments you or your child are eligible for can be complicated, to say the least. There are a lot of different tournament categories for different ages and skill levels of fencers, which is great in terms of the variety that it offers. It means that every fencer can find events that are right for them… and it also means that figuring out what the right events are can be overwhelming. In this post, we’re going to break down how to figure out which tournaments you’re eligible for and which tournaments fit your skill level. All the information here applies to the 2025-26 season, which runs from now until July 31, 2026.  

If all you’re looking for is an eligibility chart, scroll down to the bottom of the post (or click here). If you want a more in depth explanation of how to decipher tournament eligibility, read on!

There are three factors that determine which events you can enter: weapon, age, and competitive rating. (Unfamiliar with fencing’s rating system? Check out our post, Competitive Ratings Explained, for a rundown on competitive ratings.)

Weapon

Weapon is really simple. If you fence at MoDuel, you fence epee. All of the tournaments we hold here are epee tournaments, so no need to check. If you’re signing up for an event at another club, make sure it specifies epee. If it says something like “3-weapon” or “all weapons,” that’s good too! That means that the tournament has events for all of the weapons, including epee. 

Age Categories

Age categories are the most complicated part of tournament eligibility, so we’ll get those out of the way next. In fencing, you’ll find these terms all used to describe different age categories (from youngest to oldest):

• Y10 (“Y” as in “youth”) 
• Y12*
• Y14*
• Cadet*
• Junior*
• Senior*
• Adult combined/adult*
• Veteran combined/veteran*
• Vet-40 (“vet” short for “veteran”)
• Vet-50
• Vet-60
• Vet-70
• Vet-80

(The starred * categories are ones that MoDuel is having events in this year.) 

One important thing to know before we go into detail on each age category: eligibility is determined by birth year, not exact age. A category might be described as something like “ages 11–14,” but depending on a fencer’s birthday, they might actually be eligible starting at age 10 or extending until age 15. So just remember that “ages X through Y” or “ages X+” is more of a general description of the category, while the birth years listed are what actually determines eligibility.

Alright, let’s get into the categories.

Youth Age Categories (Y10, Y12 & Y14)

All of the age categories that start with “Y” are youth events: Y10, Y12, and Y14. You can translate these roughly as “10 & under,” “12 & under,” and “14 & under, although each category also has a minimum age.

Y10 is open to fencers ages 7–10. This season, that’s fencers born 2015–2018.
Y12 is open to fencers ages 9–12. This season, that’s fencers born 2013–2016.
Y14 is open to ages 11–14. This season, that’s fencers born 2011–2014. (Easy to remember!)

Most, but not all, fencers will be eligible for two youth events at a time.

9 and 10-year-olds (born 2015–2016) are eligible for both Y10 and Y12.
11 and 12-year-olds (born 2013–2014) are eligible for both Y12 and Y14.

When trying to decide which event(s) to enter, know that the younger age category is typically considered a fencer’s “main” category. The older category is considered more of a bonus, “stretch” category that will be more challenging.

Teenage Age Categories (Cadet & Junior)

Cadet and junior are both teenage age categories. Fencers become eligible for these starting at 13-years-old. Cadet is limited to younger teenagers, while junior also includes older teenagers. Just like with the youth events, the older category is harder.

Cadet is open to fencers ages 13–16. This season, that’s fencers born 2009–2012.
Junior is open to fencers ages 13–19. This season, that’s fencers born 2006–2012.

13 and 14-year-olds (born 2011–2012) are eligible for Y14, cadet, junior, and senior.

Senior

Senior is considered the “main” age category in fencing. Because of this, senior events aren’t usually labeled as such. If an event doesn’t specify an age category, that means it’s a senior event. Fencers become eligible at 13-years-old and remain eligible forever. There is no maximum age.

Senior is open to fencers ages 13+. This season, that’s fencers born 2012 or earlier.

Adult Age Categories (Adult, Veteran, and Vet-Age)

Fencing has a variety of age categories limited to just adults. Fencers become eligible for adult/adult combined events beginning at 21. At age 39, fencers become eligible for veteran/veteran combined events. At the local and regional level, almost all veteran events are open to all fencers 40+. However, at the national and international levels, there are additional categories broken down by decade.

Adult/adult combined is open to fencers ages 21+. This season, that’s fencers born 2004 or earlier.
Veteran/veteran combined is open to fencers ages 39+. This season, that’s fencers born 1986 or earlier.
Vet-40 is open to fencers ages 39–48. This season, that’s fencers born 1977–1986.
Vet-50 is open to fencers ages 49–58. This season, that’s fencers born 1967–1976.
Vet-60 is open to fencers ages 59–68. This season, that’s fencers born 1957-1966.
Vet-70 is open to fencers ages 69+. This season, that’s fencers born 1956 or earlier.
Vet-80 is open to fencers ages 79+. This season, that’s fencers born 1946 or earlier.

(A quick note: adult and adult combined are technically two different events, with adult being 21–39 and adult combined being 21+. However, I’ve never seen an event in the 21–39 category, only the 21+.) 

Okay, and with that, we’re done with the age categories! Moving on to the rating categories. These are much easier.

Rating Categories

If you’re unfamiliar with competitive ratings, and you haven’t read Competitive Ratings Explained yet, here’s a quick overview of the rating system:

By doing well in competitions, fencers can win ratings almost like prizes. For example, a fencer who gets first place at very small competition might get an E rating, or a fencer who gets third place at a large open competition might get a C rating. All fencers start off as unrated (U) and stay that way until they earn a rating. E is the lowest rating you can earn, and A is the highest. As you go up the ratings, they get increasingly difficult to earn. 

Many tournaments, especially at the senior level, are limited to fencers of only certain ratings. These are the terms you’ll see to describe certain rating categories of tournaments (from lowest/easiest to highest/hardest):

• Unrated/unclassified/U
• E & under*
  
• D & under/division III
• C & under/division II*
  
• Open/division IA
• Division I (not the same as division IA)
  

(The starred * categories are ones that MoDuel is having events in this year.) 

With the exception of division I (which is only held at the national level) and open/division IA (which is open to everyone), all of these categories are limited to a certain rating and below. That means that the lower the rating you have, the more options you have available. Unrated fencers can compete in every category held at the local level.

Unrated/unclassified/U

Unrated (also sometimes called unclassified or just U) events are open only to unrated fencers. That makes them the easiest type of competition.

E & under

E & under events are open to unrated and E-rated fencers. They’re the easiest type of competition we hold at MoDuel, since we don’t typically hold unrated events.

D & under/division III

D & under events (also sometimes called division III), are open to unrated, E-rated, and D-rated fencers. They’re a somewhat small step up in difficulty from E & under competitions. This type of event isn’t held very often.

C & under/division II

C & under events (also sometimes called division II), are open to unrated, E-rated, D-rated, and C-rated fencers. They’re a much larger step up in difficulty, largely because C is typically considered to be the first of the “high-level” ratings (more on that in a bit).

Open/division IA

Open events (also sometimes called division IA) can be considered the “main” rating category. Open events are open to fencers of all ratings, including no rating: U, E, D, C, B, and A. If an event doesn’t specify a rating category, that means it’s an open event. Events in age categories other than senior are almost always open events.

Division I

Division I events are a special outlier in fencing. They’re generally held only at the national level, and they’re open to fencers rated C and higher (that’s C, B, and A). Division I national events are the only competitions where fencers can earn senior national points. Earning enough senior national points is how fencers qualify to be on Team USA and compete internationally.

In Summary…

And we’re done! We’ve covered all the categories of events. When you’re looking for tournaments, make sure you know the weapon, age category, and rating category of an event (usually they’re right there in the title). As long as those fit what you’re eligible for, you’re good to sign up!

Remember that if there’s no age category listed, it’s a senior event (ages 13+). If there’s no rating category listed, it’s an open event (all ratings).

Here are a few examples of how you might see events described (pulled from real events on AskFRED):

“FAoP-North 3-Weapon Unclassified”
“3-weapon” means that this event has an epee event (plus others), so good to go there. “Unclassified” means that it’s only open to unrated (U) fencers. There’s no age category listed, so that means it’s senior (13+). If you’re 13-or-older and you didn’t have a rating, you’d be eligible for this event. 

“EBFG Open Senior Mix Epee, Vet Mix Epee”
This tournament has two events, “Open Senior Mix Epee” and “Vet Mix Epee.” Both are epee. The first specifies “open,” so any ratings can enter, and “senior,” so it’s only ages 13+. The second event specifies “vet” (short for “veteran”), so it’s ages 39+; it doesn’t specify rating, so it’s also open to all ratings. Any fencer 13+ would be eligible for the first event, and any fencer 39+ would be eligible for both. (“Mix” means “mixed,” as in mixed gender.) 

“MoDuel Youth + Cadet Epee”
This tournament has at least two events, which are epee. We’ll start with the cadet event. Cadet means it’s ages 13–17, and no rating is specified, so it’s open to all ratings. The first part just says “youth” without listing a specific age category, which usually means there are multiple youth age categories offered. If you check the event details, it shows that there are both Y12 (ages 9–12) and Y14 (ages 11–14) events. Neither specifies a rating category, so they’re also open to all ratings. 

Eligibility Chart