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Tournament Info. for Parents
Before the tournament
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List of items Parents should consider bringing:

  • Cushion to sit on (the bleachers are pretty hard)

  • Medical Insurance card and emergency contacts (especially if the fencer is traveling without a parent)

  • Small bills, checkbook, and/or credit card/ATM debit card—there should be a concession stand. Usually the main fare is pizza, but there are all kinds of snacks and drinks. Some schools have more variety than others.

  • Snacks and drinks, if you prefer not to use concessions.

  • Books or other hobby/activity to pass the time while you are waiting.

  • Hair ties, if necessary

  • Cell phone, chargers, etc.

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If you are bringing small children, consider also adding the following:

  • Extra snacks and drinks, if you prefer not to use concessions.

  • Lots of activity/busy work to pass the time. Kids tend to get restless and board since the wait team could be long.

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List of fencing equipment students should bring:

  • Mask

  • Glove 

  • Plastron (underarm protector)

  • Jacket

  • Knickers

  • Long socks (school colors; wear the gold sock on your lead foot)

  • Fencing shoes or sneakers

  • Working weapon (usually, 2 are required, but you can borrow the second from the team bag)

  • Working body cord (usually, 2 are required, but you can borrow the second from the team bag)

  • Fencing bag (to carry your equipment in)

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The below information is also provided in the students Info section but just as a reminder:
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  1. Arrive at the time stated on the tournament information email. This can differ depending on whether you are competing in the men’s or women’s tournament. We recommend 45-60 minutes before check-in closes.

  2. There will be a table near the entrance labeled "Check in." Find your name on the list and sign in.

  3. There will be another table labeled "Equipment check" (usually near check in). Bring your mask and glove to get safety checked and stamped. (If you have equipment issues, find a coach or captain and they will fix the issue or direct you to the armorer’s table.)

  4. At this point, you can find the captain and they'll show you the ropes. The captains are usually roaming around keeping an eye out for team members, and the group mostly stays together.

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But if, for some reason, you can’t find the captain right away, here's what's next:

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  1. Find the team bags area to drop off your equipment—you can ask where this is at check in. Each school will have a labeled area where fencers can put their bags. The locations vary by school— sometimes in the gym, sometimes in classrooms, sometimes in various hallways.

  2. At this point, you will probably have found the other Lassiter fencers (if they have not found you already!)

  3. Help the coach set up Lassiter’s strip(s). (Each school is required to provide equipment and referees for a certain number of strips, depending on the number of fencers participating from that school.)

  4. Visit the armorer's table with your weapons and body cords to check that they are working properly. (Other fencers can help with this, if necessary.) If you have any equipment trouble during the tournament, bring it to the coach, captain, or directly to the armorer’s table.

  5. Captains will lead the fencers through warm up exercises and some warm up bouts.

  6. The tournament will start about 15-30 minutes after check in closes.

 
During the tournament
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First part consists of pools (takes about 2-3 hours, but can vary):

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  1. Fencers will be separated into pools of 5-7 fencers each.

  2. Each pool will be assigned a strip number, and fencers should go to their assigned strip. There will be a location where the strip numbers and results are posted (you just need to look around for it or ask someone—white papers will be taped to the wall). You can also go to fencingtimelive.com to get this information and keep up with tournament results (search on the day and the name of the school).

  3. All fencers in a pool will fence round robin (5-point bouts) until each fencer has fenced every other fencer in their pool. Throughout, the referee will call out who is next, so fencers should stay at their strip and keep an ear out. ("On deck" means your bout is after the current one. "In the hole" means your bout is after the "on deck" bout.)

  4. At the end of all your pool bouts, you are required to check your scores on the referee’s sheet and sign off that your scores are correct. (We recommend that you write down your score after each bout in a pool because it’s easy to forget.)

  5. Once the pools are done, the scoring folks will make some calculations and assign fencers a ranking based on their wins/losses and points scored. The lowest-ranked fencers may be eliminated after pools and will not move to the direct elimination round. Higher ranked fencers may get a BYE and not have to fence the first round of direct eliminations.

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The second part of the tournament consists of the direct elimination rounds: 

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  1. The top fencer will fence the bottom ranked fencer. Second best fencer will fence the second from the bottom, etc. in a 15-point bout.

  2. The winner moves on to the next round, and the loser is eliminated from the tournament.

  3. From there the brackets get smaller and smaller until we reach semi-finals and finals.

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Traditionally, all Lassiter fencers stay and support each other until Lassiter is done competing, but this is not mandatory.

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After the tournament

Afterwards, we gather for a team dinner. The details are usually announced in the tournament information email, or announced on the fencer group chat near the end of the tournament.

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