College Fencing Guide>Introduction
College Fencing
The sport of fencing has a long tradition with colleges and universities across the country. The first college trophy ever given was a fencing trophy that we call the ‘Iron Man’, which is given to top Men’s Fencing Team at the Intercollegiate Fencing Association's Championships. Fencing was one of the first sports that women performed at an intercollegiate basis.
Given this longstanding tradition, nearly all colleges and universities have either a NCAA program or a competitive club program. If you take the U.S. News and World Report top 20 Universities, 14 would have NCAA programs and the other six would have club programs.
If a college applicant has fencing experience, this would certainly be a plus on their college admissions. The colleges and universities need people who can fence to participate in their NCAA teams or in their club sports activities. Many fencers believe that fencing has made the difference between them going to a ‘good’ college or university and a ‘great’ college or university. If you talk to the Denver Fencing Center adult members, you will find that many of them went to top universities, i.e. Yale, Penn, NYU. Fencing could provide that edge that kids and parents’ seek in the world of ever more competitive college admissions.
Colleges with Fencing Programs:
The NCAA has set rules for athletes who wish to compete in college in any sport, fencing included. Here are the NCAA rules for High School Athletes from their web site:
http://www.ncaa.org/library/general/cbsa/2003-04/index.html
The NCAA also lists out schools that have NCAA division I, II, or III programs. As with any information, especially about colleges, you should check the accuracy with the college’s individual web site. The NCAA’s web site may not be up to date.
All NCAA fencing programs (Men’s):
http://web1.ncaa.org/ssLists/sportByInst.do?sport=MFE&division=ALL
All NCAA fencing programs (Women’s)
http://web1.ncaa.org/ssLists/sportByInst.do?sport=WFE&division=ALL
Articles:
Here is a good article about the addition of Women Saber to NCAA championships:
http://www.ncaa.org/news/1999/19990118/active/3602n09.html
Here is some good advice on Fencing and fencing recruiting prior to college enrollment:
http://www.columbia.edu/cu/fencing/Recruit_Article.htm