I. Conference Membership

A. Current Great Lakes High School Fencing Conference Member Schools are:

New Trier
Glenbrook South
Maine West
Stevenson
Evanston
Culver Academies, IN
Catholic Memorial High School, WI
Marian Central Catholic
Marian Catholic
Deerfield-Highland Park
Homewood Flossmoor
University High School, Chicago
Brookfield Academy, Brookfield, WI
Lowell High School, IN
Libertyville-Vernon Hills

B. New schools may be considered for conference membership. Customarily, these programs are expected to have entered fencers in GLHSFC meets for at least one season proceeding their request for conference membership.

C. To be added as a member of the GLHSFC, schools must be able to enter at least three full three (3) person teams in the GLHSFC Dual Meets, which are held over three Saturdays. Once a school has met this requirement, and been approved for conference membership by a vote of GLHSFC member schools, it is considered a full member and may enter fencers in the GLHSFC Midwest Championships. All members of a school team must be in 9th - 12th grade, and must attend the high school represented by the team, and must be accompanied at meets and tournaments by an employee or designee of the high school.

D. GLHSFC teams must agree to follow all conference rules, participate in as many GLHSFC meets as possible, bring scoring equipment whenever possible, and need to be willing to host tournaments if open dates become available.

II. Conference Season

The GLHSFC season aligns with other high school winter sports. While there are no set dates regarding beginning or ending team practices, conference competition begins with the first Invitational (currently the Red Devil Invitational) on the second Saturday of November and ends with the GLHSFC Midwest Championship on the last Saturday of January or first Saturday of February.

III. Dual Meets

A. Teams may elect to fence additional dual meets outside of the Dual Conference Meets, held on thre Saturdays during the fencing season. Beginning in 2016-2017, conference dual meets are fenced with teams of 3 boys and girls in each weapon.

C. Schools may compete with incomplete teams or without fielding a team in some weapons. At the Dual Conference Meets, schools with fewer than three fencers forfeit bouts for which they do not have a fencer. For any additional dual meets, these bouts may or may not be counted as forfeits, based on coaches' agreement.

D. "B" team, Junior Varsity, or Novice dual meets may be arranged according to coaches' preferences.

IV. Individual Meets (Invitationals)

A. Invitationals may be hosted by conference schools. The schedule for the next season is set at the end of each season. If more than one school wishes to host a meet on a given date, preference will be given to those schools that have seniority in terms of hosting on the given date.

B. The format for Invitationals will be up to the host school, but every attempt should be made to give fencers, at the least, a 6-person pool and to promote 100% of fencers from pools to Direct Elimination. Fencers from the same high school may not be placed in the same pool, unless there are more fencers from a given school than pools.

C. The seeding method for Conference Invitationals is to seed students by their finishes in Invitationals during the season. In early season meets, results from the previous season's Championships or Individual Tournaments may be utilized. USFA ratings do not supercede Conference finishes, but may be used to seed fencers who have not participated in earlier tournaments. With the exception of the Conference Championship, final decisions regarding seeding are left to tournament hosts.

D. Standard Entry Fees
Invitational with Hired Adult Directors: $20
Invitational with Volunteer HS Directors: $10
Conference Championships: $25

E. Results from Conference Invitationals count towards a fencer's seed for the Conference Championships see Conference Championships, below) .

F. High School (grade 9-12) fencers are eligible to fence at Conference meets, as long as they are accompanied by a coach. If a fencer attends a school with a Conference fencing team, they may only represent their school team. Host schools may need to impose additional eligibility restrictions.

G. The following fencers may not fencing in the Junior Varsity/Novice Championsips: those who have finished in the top 4 of any of the other Conference Invitationals in any weapon, those who have "D" USFA rating or higher, and those who are in their third or fourth year of high school fencing competition.

H. Fencers may only fence in one event per tournament.

V. Conference Championship

A. In order to fence in the GLHSFC Championships, a fencer needs to be a student at a GLHSFC high school, have competed in three Conference Meets during the season, at least one of which must be a Dual Meet weekend . Each Saturday of competition during the season counts towards this requirement. If a fencer attends a school with a GLHSFC team, they may only represent their school team.

B. The initial seeding of fencers at GLHSFC Championships is figured by averaging an individual fencer's two best finishes from the season. Fencers without three finishes from the season may not compete in the Championships. In all cases, fencers will be seeded by this formula. USFA ratings only apply as tie-breakers for students with the same GLHSFC seeding.

C. Each high school team or club may enter up to four fencers in each weapon category (Mens' Foil, Womens' Foil, Mens' Epee, Womens' Epee, Mens' Sabre, Womens' Sabre).

D. Conference Championships will be awarded in each weapon category (see above), and in Overall Mens' Team and Overall Womens' Team. Individuals finishing in the top eight of each competition will be recognized with trophies or medals, and will be considered All-Conference athletes.

E. Team championships are calculated by adding the final placements of all fencers in the Conference Championship meet. The team with the lowest score wins. When teams enter less than four fencers in an event, they receive a score equivalent to the lowest finisher plus one for each missing fencer.

F. Pools at Conference Championships will have a minimum of six fencers. No pools of five or lower are allowed, except in case of withdrawal after pools have been distributed.

VI. Equipment

A. GLHSFC matches and tournaments will follow all USFA rules regarding individual equipment, with the exception of:

-Foil and Epee weights and shims need not be tested; event hosts may choose to use weights and shims for the entirety of the tournament

-Fencers will not receive yellow or red card warnings for faulty equipment. Coaches are encouraged to provide extra weapons and body cords for their fencers to bring to the strip.

B. Host schools may request that visiting schools bring scoring equipment (scoring machines and reels) appropriate to the number of athletes they bring to the meet.

VII. Conduct

A. USFA rules of conduct apply at all GLHSFC meets.

B. Fencers may be removed from GLHSFC tournaments for poor sportsmanship or dangerous behavior at the discretion of the event host and the bout committee.

C. GLHSFC coaches must display the highest standards of sportsmanship and integrity at all conference events. Coaches are to treat all officials and fencers with respect.

VIII. Bout Committee

GLHSFC bout committees are made up of a representative of the host school and at least two additional conference coaches. These bout committees may also include, at the discretion of the tournament host, highly-experienced officials.

IX. Officiating

A. It is the responsibility of the hosting team to provide officials for foil and sabre, and optionally for epee.

B. In the case of a serious shortage of available officials, hosts may use coaches to officiate, so long as they do not officiate for their own athletes.

Appendix A

Dual Meet Rules (updated Jan. 21, 2017)

Team Entries
Each school may enter 3-person teams in each area of competition (Men's Foil, Men's Epee, Men's Sabre, Women's Foil, Women's Epee, Women's Sabre).
Teams with full Men's or Women's teams may enter a second "B" team in that gender.

Individual Placement
No individual trophies are awarded for Dual Meet finishes, but final placements are used as a result when seeding for Conference Championships. Individuals will be ranked in the following order:
1. Total Wins, most to least

2. Total Losses, least to most

3. if still tied, head-to-head tiebreaker

4. if fencers did not fence each other, they remain tied

"B" Team Matches
Matches against B teams do not count towards an individual fencer's finish in the Dual Meets, or the resulting placement in the Dual Meets.

Substitution
Schools may bring substitutes to Dual Meets, and may move them between A or B matches, so long as they do not fence for their A and B team in the same round, or as part of two different weapon competitions in the same round, or against the same high school as an A and B fencer.

Record-Keeping
Host schools are responsible for recording all results that take place at their school, and providing these sheets for the Conference records which will be maintained by a Conference designee school.