In certain cases, a member of USA Fencing in good standing may be permitted to qualify for National Championships or July Challenge by petition. No petition may contravene the results of a qualifying competition – a fencer who has fenced in a divisional qualifier cannot then petition to disregard or override those results.

The following criteria and procedures are applicable to filing a petition:

A petition may be filed by a fencer who qualified (by means of competition or petition) to that same competition in the prior season or whose competitive record during the current fencing season indicates a strong possibility that the athlete would have qualified had they been able to compete in qualifying regional or national competitions but was unable to compete due to injury, living abroad, or other outside circumstances.

 
The petition must be accompanied by:

• A non refundable fee of $100.00, payable to USA FENCING; this will be charged via PayPal at the completion of the online process.
• A written statement that gives the specific reason for not qualifying.
• A summary of the fencer's significant competitive results during the past year. In particular, results in previous National Championships and recent North American Cup (NAC) competitions should be noted. (Example: top 64 international, top 8 in a USFA NAC/Championship, top 16 at a ROC, top 24 at an SYC)
• A completed online entry for the Summer Nationals or July Challenge with a receipt indicating entry was submitted online (if registration is open for the Championship). If the petition is not approved, the event fees associated with the entry will be refunded.

Responses to the petition will be made via e-mail. Petitions that do not meet these requirements will not be considered.

Decisions on petitions will be based upon the validity of reasons given for absence or withdrawal and the probability that the fencer would have qualified had they competed in the qualifying competition to its conclusion, based on results achieved in other competitions in that season. If a fencer is permitted to enter the Summer Nationals or July Challenge competition by this petition procedure, the fencer’s entry will in no way affect the number of qualifiers from the Division involved.

Petitions are processed in 1 week after submission. The deadline to submit a petition is May 14.