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AskFred page for the 2024 Okawa Open.

Click here to preregister.

Register now on AskFred.

Link to PDF of poster.

Who was Fred Linkmeyer?

On Sunday, June 25, 2023, the Kern Athletic Fencing Foundation (KAFF) held its inaugural Bakersfield Walk-&-Roll 2-weapon Open Tournament. This USFA-sanctioned tournament format offered the exciting opportunity for able-bodied fencers to compete along with parafencers in a traditional pools-through-direct-elimination format.

When one or both of the competitors in a bout is a parafencer, the bout takes place with both fencers fully seated in wheelchair fencing frames. When both fencers are able-bodied the bout is conducted on a conventional fencing strip.

The Kern Athletic Fencing Foundation is developing a successful parafencing program and KAFF is proud to present the first tournament of this style in Southern California and maybe the West Coast!

If you have any questions please contact Lucas Dobrzanski.

Fifty-nine SoCal fencers fought their way to the top at this year’s Summer Nationals Qualifier in Calabasas on Saturday to earn the right to compete in the 2023 Summer Nationals to be held later this year. Fencers qualified by finishing in the top 25% in their events (Veterans qualified regardless of results).

The Summer Nationals (technically known as the National Championships & July Challenge) are held annually in various cities across the country where more than 4,000 fencers vie for medals and titles in dozens of events, making it the world’s largest fencing tournament. This year’s competition will be held in Phoenix, Arizona from June 30 to July 9, 2023.

Congratulations to all of our qualified fencers and good luck in Phoenix!

Qualified fencers are listed below. Full results can be found here.

Qualified Fencers

On the evening of Monday, November 13, 1922, on the campus of USC, eight foil fencers gathered before a “good sized, and very enthusiastic crowd” to compete in the first tournament of the first season of the newly-formed Southern California Division of the Amateur Fencers’ League of America (now USA Fencing). First place went to Reginald Leslie ‘Snowy’ Baker, a multi-talented athlete who had come to Hollywood from Australia in 1920 to make movies. The Los Angeles Times reported the event like this:

On Sunday, November 13, 2022, the Southern California Division will be celebrating its 100th birthday with a tournament on the campus of Pasadena City College. Events include Y-14 (born 2008-2001), Senior (born 2009 or earlier) and Parafencing.

Sign up now on AskFred. Preregistration closes on Thursday, Nov. 10.

The Southern California Division’s qualifier for this year’s Summer Nationals was held at the spacious Beverly HIlls Fencers’ Club on Saturday, March 26, 2022. Fifty-seven of the approximately 100 fencers present qualified for Div. II, Div. III, Y-14 and/or Vet. events to be contested at the USA Fencing National Championships and July Challenge which will be held from July 2-11 at the Minneapolis Convention Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Qualified fencers are listed below. For full results, see here.

Qualified Fencers - Men

Qualified Fencers - Women

Ninety fencers from across Southern California made their way to the tennis courts at Calabasas High School on Saturday for this year’s combined Junior Olympic and Summer National Qualifier Tournament. Sixty-five fencers qualified for Junior, Cadet, Division II and Division III events at the Junior Olympics and Summer Nationals to be held in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania from July 3-12, 2021. In addition, 13 fencers earned new ratings.

Congratulations to all our qualified fencers and good luck in Philadelphia!

Qualified fencers are listed below. Full results can be found, here.

Qualified Fencers (updated 5/25/2021)

The Junior Olympic Qualifiers and Summer National Qualifiers for the Southern California Division will be combined this year into a single tournament held in the great outdoors on the pristine tennis courts of Calabasas High School, 22855 West Mulholland Hwy., Calabasas, California on Saturday, May, 15.

Men’s and women’s events will be held for Junior, Cadet, and Division II/III fencers in each weapon. No Y14 events are included in this year’s qualifier tournament because USA Fencing is not recognizing any qualifier results for Y14 fencers in its pathways this season.

For more information about qualifying paths, see USA Fencing.

The USA Fencing National Championships, Junior Olympic Championships and July North American Cup will be held at the Pennsylvania Convention Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on July 3-12, 2021.

You can sign up for the SoCal Junior Olympic Qualifiers and Summer National Qualifiers on AskFred. But you’d better hurry. Registration closes at midnight on Monday, May 3.

As I reluctantly traded in my 2 sizes too small wasted pair, I moved on to my next fencing shoes, the Kobe NXT 360s. These were the most memorable of my shoes. Through every competition and through every practice, they stuck with me. Every scratch and every hole showed my perseverance and failure. It was my first pair of shoes to enter a tournament with me and the first to leave with a crushing near last place. I would go to tournaments for up to 5 hours and perform poorly then go to school the next day and get a B on a test as a result of the lack of studying. It seemed as though I wasn’t progressing in either education or the sport. If I didn’t excel at something I loved and if I didn’t excel at something I needed to be good at in order to become successful, then who was I? I often asked myself this question never quite finding an answer or at least a satisfying one. I felt lost and was given an ultimatum by my parents but more importantly by myself. At my last chance to earn a fencing rating, I laced up my Kobe’s and soared through each bout with built up eagerness for victory fueling my ascent. In one of the most defining 5 hours my life, I placed top 10, earning my first rating. It was a crucial moment for me that made me feel true self-worth for the first time.

There were definitely times when I have won but there have been far more times when I’ve fallen to the bottom with no hope for progression. Every loss, my shoes have been there to show how hard I’ve tried and how hard I’ve practiced since. They’ve taught me sportsmanship, acceptance of all outcomes of every bout, never giving up, and always adding new scars to the collection. They gave me tenacity and I always left a piece of the chewed-up rubber on the metal floors with no regret. Through my very first competitions, I could rely on them even earning my beginning ratings but as time went on, the once colorful fabric had begun to fade. The torn rubber soles had formed holes through the bottom and as my feet grew, so did my fighting spirit and level.

I outgrew my first pair of true fencing shoes that had for the first time traveled out of state for competitions and experienced all the ups and downs along with me. I then went on to my third and current pair of shoes, the Nike Metcon 5s. After just 6 months of usage, they had become my most beat up shoes by far showing how hard I trained and how much more serious I had become about my passion. I was always one of the last in the club and often chose practice instead of having fun with my friends or playing video games. In all the tournament stadiums I entered, I was always proud of my most destroyed shoes in the room and especially when I wore them on the podium of my very first 1^st place finish. As the prolonging bouts went from top 16 to semi-finals and eventually finals, every bone and muscle in my body told me to collapse to the floor. The only thing that stood firm was my will to win and my trusty Metcon 5s. My gold medal wasn’t the only thing that brought me joy that day but also the sign it gave me that all my extra hours and given-up Fridays had finally amounted to something.  By overcoming the temptation of instant gratification with my friends, I had invested in my future and accomplished one of my long-term goals. The level of damage done to my shoes became a measure of skill for me. No matter what happened in each bout, my shoes were there to hold me up. I laced them up with confidence and never took them off without taking a few bruises. I felt that I had finally become worthy enough to call myself a fencer and found a place in the fencing community. I had finally reached the expectations of my family and friends. Their undivided support played a big part in my improvement but what gave me the most backing were my remarkable Metcons. Attached to me as if they were my very own feet, these Metcons never gave up, shaping me to become more ambitious with each point I scored. These Metcons propelled me forward, teaching me rewards of hard work and allowing me to reap the fruits of my labor. These Metcons supported my heavy feet, lightening each step and each advance furthering my journey.

My path through fencing and life has been reflected through my shoes, outgrowing my previous ones as I grew physically and beating them up as I grew mentally. New fencing shoes are unbeaten and have never encountered any battle. They are just a part of millions of other shoes in their unopened boxes with no stories or experiences. All the ripped threads, torn cloths, tattered holes signify something to me and the work I have put into this amazing sport. They are unique to my experiences as a fencer and my troubles as a person. I don’t know what my next pair will be, but I believe in having the most beat up shoes on the strip; I believe in my fencing shoes.

Pasadena City College’s spacious Hutto-Patterson Gymnasium was the venue for this year’s Summer Nationals Qualifier where seventy-seven fencers vied for coveted spots in the Div. 2, Div. 3, and Y14 events at the Summer Nationals. In addition, five fencers earned new ratings. Congratulations to all our qualified fencers and good luck in Louisville!

Qualified fencers are listed below. Full results can be found, here.

Qualified Fencers