Referee Clinic w/ Patrick Webster (Zoom & In Person)

This seminar is free for attendees, as it is being sponsored by the St. Louis Fencing Club.

This is a Certified Referee Seminar and meets one of the requirements for becoming a certified fencing referee for USA Fencing. This is a virtual and in-person clinic, and will be conducted in person and via Zoom.

The seminar will begin at 10:00am CST. (A roundtable discussion on actions and rules will be conducted the following day, and participants are encouraged to participate either in person or via Zoom) https://www.askfred.net/clinics/f9253d23-b8ea-4e95-b523-687a68faaae6 

A Zoom link will be emailed to all participants the night before, and a link to the dropbox where the seminar materials are stored will be sent a few days before before.

Seminar Instructor Patrick Webster - Mr. Webster is currently the Referee's Commission Vice-Chair for Domestic Referee Development. He has consistently reffed foil and epee at the national level and often serves as a national-level assigner and referee coordinator. He has been involved in the sport for over 25 years. 

What To Expect For those looking to become referees, this clinic will prepare the attendees for taking the test and for observation as a referee. For parents and fencers, this clinic will give a better understanding of calls and the rules of the game.

Topics Will Include: - Role, Responsibilities, and Duties of the Referee - Rules of the Sport - Analyzing the Action - Exam Preparation - Improving Referee Rating Attendees intending to take the exam and be observed should make themselves familiar with the rules of fencing and plan on taking the exam online.

A copy of the rulebook and penalty chart can be found here. https://www.usafencing.org/usa-fencing-rule-book 

Attendees intending to take the exam should review the National Referee Examination Study Guide The referee examination is a three-step process.

Steps 1 and 2 may be completed in any order and must both be completed before step 3.

Step 1 is taking the official referee clinic from a Certified Referee Instructor (like this course!)

Step 2 is passing the written referee exam online with a score of 90% in the general section and 90% on at least one of the three weapon-specific sections

Step 3 is passing a referee practical observation. Referee practical exams are available from CRIs and CRO's at Regional and Local events in and around Region 2 throughout the season.

Frequently Asked Questions 

I am not interested in refereeing just yet, but I want to know more about the rules. Should I attend this clinic? Absolutely! The official referee clinic is one of the best ways to get up-to-date rules interpretations from an experience national/international level referee instructor. 

Can parents attend? Yes. Parents are more than welcome to attend and in fact, are encouraged.