USA Fencing · 2025-26 season
Age Categories
Understanding USA Fencing age classifications for the 2025-26 season.
Everything is based on birth year — not birthday.
USA Fencing age categories for 2026-27 are not yet posted.
Find my categoryHow age works
Your birthday
Does not decide your category, and never moves you mid-season.
Your birth year
Decides it, for the whole season, however old you turn.
August to July
The season runs across the school year, not the calendar year.
Fencing up
A fencer may enter the next older category than their own if they are listed in the national age-group point standings at the entry deadline. Fencing up is normal and often useful; fencing down is not possible.
Youth categories overlap deliberately — a fencer born in 2016 is eligible for both Y10 and Y12 — so there is usually a choice to be made, and it is a conversation to have with a coach rather than a rule to look up.
Detailed age categories
The ages shown are for the 2025-26 season. USA Fencing is working to update these very soon.
Y8
Born 2017–2019
Eligible events
- Local
Weapons
- Foil
- Épée
- Sabre
Y10
Born 2015–2018
Eligible events
- Local
- Regional
- National
Weapons
- Foil
- Épée
- Sabre
Y12
Born 2013–2016
Eligible events
- Local
- Regional
- National
Weapons
- Foil
- Épée
- Sabre
Y14
Born 2011–2014
Eligible events
- Local
- Regional
- National
Weapons
- Foil
- Épée
- Sabre
Cadet
Born 2009–2012
Eligible events
- Regional
- National
- International
Weapons
- Foil
- Épée
- Sabre
Junior
Born 2006–2012
Eligible events
- Regional
- National
- International
Weapons
- Foil
- Épée
- Sabre
Division I
Born 2012 or earlier
Eligible events
- Regional
- National
- International
Weapons
- Foil
- Épée
- Sabre
Division II
Born 2012 or earlier
Eligible events
- Local
- Regional
- National
Weapons
- Foil
- Épée
- Sabre
Division III
Born 2012 or earlier
Eligible events
- Local
- Regional
Weapons
- Foil
- Épée
- Sabre
Adult
Born 1986–2004
Eligible events
- Local
- Regional
- National
Weapons
- Foil
- Épée
- Sabre
Adult Combined
Born 2004 or earlier
Eligible events
- Local
- Regional
Weapons
- Foil
- Épée
- Sabre
Veteran
Born 1986 or earlier
Eligible events
- Local
- Regional
- National
- International
Weapons
- Foil
- Épée
- Sabre
Veteran 40–49
Born 1977–1986
Eligible events
- Regional
- National
- International
Weapons
- Foil
- Épée
- Sabre
Veteran 50–59
Born 1967–1976
Eligible events
- Regional
- National
- International
Weapons
- Foil
- Épée
- Sabre
Veteran 60–69
Born 1957–1966
Eligible events
- Regional
- National
- International
Weapons
- Foil
- Épée
- Sabre
Veteran 70+
Born 1956 or earlier
Eligible events
- Regional
- National
- International
Weapons
- Foil
- Épée
- Sabre
Veteran 80+
Born 1946 or earlier
Eligible events
- National
- International
Weapons
- Foil
- Épée
- Sabre
The authority on this
Age classification at USA Fencing ↗USA Fencing publishes the table each season and theirs is the version that decides an entry. If a date here disagrees with theirs, theirs is right — tell us and we will fix it.
“Patience is the first virtue of an épée fencer.”
Luigi BarbasettiThe Art of the Sabre and the Épée, 1936