1. Existing Under 13 Rule
You must be 13 or over (as defined by the age on January 1st in the season of the competition – 1st September to 31st August) to enter any event in which adults are allowed to compete. This applies to all events regardless of organisers or category and is a BFA Safety Rule.
New Under 13 Rule
The FIE rule requires a fencer to be 13 by 1st January (ie. before 1st Jan) in order to compete in any FIE events in that calendar year . (This includes the Cadet World Championships).
The International Youth Committee (IYC) and National Academy (NA) have agreed to change the BF rule to comply with the FIE rule for all events that can include adults ie all senior and junior (U20) competitions. So, for example, a fencer who was born in 1999 will not be able to enter any senior or junior events until 2013.
This does not apply to any UK cadet events but see 2 below.
2 New Minimum Age for Cadet events
The European Fencing Confederation requires a fencer to be 11 on 1st January in order to compete in any EFC Cadet Circuit events in that calendar year. It was agreed to apply the same rule to all UK cadet events and this will comply better with our long term athlete development programme.
This rule will come into force from 1.9.12