Third Party Advocacy, Education, and and Networking in Fencing from Industry Experts

“My opponent hit me in the head with the bell guard of the saber. The referee gave them a yellow card, but I knew the rules said it was a red card. I tried to say something, but the referee wouldn’t listen to me and threatened to card me if I didn’t get on guard to fence. I didn’t have my coach there to help me, so I just kept fencing and eventually lost. What should I have done?”

“This happens every event”

“As a coach, I know how hard my kids work in training. I know how much their parents pay for this sport. What I don’t know is what to do when I watch my student lose over and over on bad calls. I see other coaches going crazy at the referees, but I don’t believe in that type of behavior. I also don’t know how to advocate for them or try to help improve the refereeing. How can I help improve the refereeing without yelling at the ref every time”?

“I gave a yellow card to a coach for yelling at me after I awarded a point he didn’t like. He kept yelling aggressively, even thanking me sarcastically for the card and telling me to black card him. I did, and he replied that it wouldn’t stick and just walked away. The head referee actually tried to get me to rescind the card and convince me it wasn’t that bad. I didn’t know what to do and I felt like I had done the wrong thing and that I had no support at all”

“I had the video, but they wouldn’t even look at it”

“There was only one light on the box, but the referee didn’t see it and gave a point to the opponent. I tried to tell them but they wouldn’t listen and threatened to card me. I didn’t know what to do so I kept fencing and my opponent won by 1 point. I felt terrible”

“My child always seems to get the same referee, and I feel like they don’t like them and penalize them by calling things against them. How do the referees get selected for certain bouts? What is the process for that, and what can I do to not have this same referee every time? I feel helpless”

“I just watched a referee change the last call to the the other person’s point aftter already awarding it during one of my friend’s bouts at my last regional event. There wasn’t video replay, and my friend’s coach wasn’t there to help her. Can the ref do that? What should she have done? Her dad tried to say something to the referee, but they ignored him and then threatened to card him if he kept talking. What should I do if that happens to me?”

“My referee told us that if we hit off target more than three times, he would give a yellow card for the next one, a red, and then a black card on the subsequent off target hits. We told him those weren’t the rules but he said that they were his rules. Of course he was joking, but he said it so seriously that it threw myself and the other girls in my pool off our games. During the pool he wouldn’t even use hand signals or call what happened. We didn’t know what to do!”

“How can I challenge it when a referee makes a bad rules call? I know that I can’t get a right of way touch changed, but I don’t know how to challenge it if they don’t penalize my opponent for breaking a rule, and just tell me to get on guard when I ask”

“I live in an area that doesn’t have much fencing, and our coach doesn’t go to competitions with us. Our club doesn’t spend much time explaining the rules or how refereeing works, the kids just practice fencing. That’s fine, but at events I feel lost at tournaments and have no clue how fencing works. I don’t even understand right of way let alone when my child should speak up about mistakes. I’ve asked the coach to help me, but he doesn’t seem to have time to talk about it. How can I learn?”