Calculating Points for Cadets.
There are three national ranking schemes in operation in the UK applicable to cadets. They are ADULT, JUNIOR (under 20) and CADET (under 17)
These ranking schemes are used to select the fencers who represent Great Britain at a variety of foreign competitions, including the European and World Championships for Adults and Juniors, and the World Cadet Championships.
Many cadet fencers appear on all three ranking lists, because the competitions which earn points in each system often overlap.
Cadet fencers can score ADULT ranking points at ANY UK OPEN competitions assuming that they meet two conditions:
1) They finish in the top 64 of those competing.
2) They finish in the top 75% of those competing. This figure is rounded DOWN so if there are 77 competitors 75% of 77 is 57.75, rounded down = 57.
The number of ADULT points they score is calculated as follows:
NIF is an index of the strength of the competition, for more details click here
The Position Multiplier is number between 20 and 1.38, depending on the final position of the fencer in the competition. A multiplier of 20 is assigned to the winner, 1.38 to the fencer finishing 64th, and a range of values in between for the other places. Note that the steps which mark a fencer progressing through another round of Direct Elimination see big jumps in the multiplier. For example 33rd has a multiplier of 2, but 32nd (who must have won an extra DE) has a multiplier of 5. For a full list of Position Multipliers, click here
The NIF and Position multiplier system is common to all the ranking systems, but for age restricted and some foreign competitions the NIF may be calculated by a different formula, or simply assigned a fixed value by the weapons committee.
Not all Open Competitions qualify for CADET points. Those competitions that do qualify are nominated by the various weapon committees and vary between the weapons and the sexes. In some cases (for example in Sabre in 2006/7) NO ADULT competitions count for cadet points at all whereas in Foil, most of the available cadet points will be from Opens. Usually there is an additional multiplier, so the number of Cadet Points earned at a nominated Open may be up to 6 times greater than the number of adult points. Some adult competitions (A Nominated) may have larger additional multipliers than others (B nominated)
For more details of which adult competitions are nominated in the current year - click here
There are some domestic competitions that are limited to Juniors (under 20's) in which cadets are also allowed to fight and are nominated for cadet ranking points. This always includes the British Junior Championships and in sabre may include other events. Cadet Points can be earned at Junior Competitions, although usually with a smaller additional multipliers than at A nominated adult competitions.
Cadet Competitions include the British Cadet Championships, and the Manchester Cadet tournament, which are always nominated for Cadet points. However, they do not normally carry additional multipliers, although their NIF may be artificially inflated by the Weapons Committees.
Selection for Cadet and Junior Foreign competitions are usually made a few weeks before each event. The events are normally between October and mid February, when the Cadet World Championships team is selected - marking the end of the cadet season. (Except for the selected fencers who go on to the Cadet Worlds in April). Cadet foreign competitions are a very high standard, usually have very high NIF and a very high multiple. As a result, fencers who do well on foreign trips usually score so many points that it is difficult for fencers who are not selected to catch them.