Please note that all Y8 changes for the 2024-25 season were rescinded by the Board of Directors. The following no longer applies.
Blade Size Maximum
Effective August 1, all Y8 fencers will be required to compete using only a Size 0 blade. This means a maximum blade length of 775 mm for Foil and Epee, and 765mm for Saber.
Shortened Strip Length for Y8 Events
For Y8 events only, the strip length will be reduced to 10 meters. Effectively, this means the warning lines at the end of the strip for all other age categories become the end lines for Y8, reducing the size of the "field of play".
The warning area for Y8 events will be kept the same length of two meters, as it is for all other age categories. To minimize the necessary changes to existing equipment, the passed proposal recommends that non-permanent markings be applied directly on or to the sides of all strips being used for Y8 competition. These markings can then be removed after use or when the strip is put in use for other age categories during the course of a tournament.
Examples of acceptable ways to mark a fencing strip with these adjusted warning areas and end lines include: brightly colored painters or gaffers tape, applied directly to the strip at the appropriate distances and/or cone markers or tape applied on the sides of the fencing strip at the appropriate distances.
Competition Format (Recommended for 2024-25)
The proposal approved by the Board of Directors also entailed a new competition format that was recommended by the YDRT for Y8 only.
This format will be recommended for use by all Y8 competition organizers for the 2024-25 season, with it becoming a required format beginning in 2025-26.The format will be referred to as the Youth Developmental Format and will be ran as follows:
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Fencers will compete in two rounds of pools with no direct elimination.
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The first round of pools will be seeded using fencer's rating/year (pools sizes of 7 should be used whenever possible)
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For fencers with the same rating/year, birth year and month will be used to determine order, with the older fencer being seeded ahead of the younger. All unrated fencers will be seeded randomly as normal
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After the first round, the second set of pools will be constructed based on results from the first round, with the top N fencers in the first pool. The next group is placed in the second pool, and the third in the pool after that (if applicable), until all pools have been constructed.
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Athletes then fence against the other fencers in their pool to determine final placement.
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Athletes in the top pool will fence off for places 1-N.
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Athletes in the second pool will fence off for places N+1 through (2N).
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Please reference the chart and graphic below for a helpful visual!
NOTE: In cases where there are 8 entrants, there should be a single pool of 8, and organizers may choose to run each round with double stripping. It is critically important that the organizer enforce the rest period in between each bout for the competitors and ensure the event referees apply it without fail.