Town Hall Meetings with US Fencing for 2019/2020
The 1st town hall meeting between parents and US Fencing leadership successfully took place on November 8, 2019 at the November NAC in Milwaukee. This will be the start of many more constructive dialogues between parents and US Fencing leadership to resolve issues that concern parents most.
US Fencing plans to host 3 more town hall meetings with parents in 2019/2020 including one at Junior Olympics and 2 at Summer Nationals, one at the beginning and one towards the end of Summer Nationals to accommodate parents of fencers across the age group ranges.
A great group of parents attended the meeting in Milwaukee with constructive points and suggestions. Though a relatively small group of parents made it (about 25+ parents), the meeting originally scheduled for an hour was extended by the moderator, Don Anthony, President of US Fencing, to give the very engaged group of parents an opportunity to speak during the town hall meeting. Several parents continued dialogue with US Fencing leadership after the end of the main session.
The topics brought up included weapon’s check times and event start times in the morning, earlier announcement of check-in times to enable parents to lock-in airfares earlier, event scheduling at NACs, the Y12/Y14 “cut” at Summer Nationals 2020, NAC location selection metrics, fluctuating numbers of regional events from year to year, suggestion for a youth regional championship as an interim step between regional events and NACs for youth fencers and more.
At the meeting, US Fencing indicated that Atlanta, Fort Worth, Phoenix and Denver are under consideration for the 2020/2021 fencing year. Due to multi-year contracts with cities, not all venues can be swapped out at the same time. But we look forward to better NAC locations over the next few years.
FP is very pleased that the town hall meetings first discussed with Board candidates during the May 2019 elections have been initiated and that they will now give parents a venue to address issues directly with US Fencing Board members and US Fencing senior management in a constructive way.
FP recognizes that the timing of the meetings will always be such that not all parents who want to attend can. But with multiple town hall meetings scheduled throughout the year, we hope that there will be one town hall meeting that works for you.