Editing Fencing (section)

===Universities and schools===
{{See also|Collegiate Fencing| High School Fencing}}

University students compete internationally at the [[Universiade|World University Games]]. The United States holds two national-level university tournaments (the [[National Collegiate Athletic Association|NCAA]] championship and the [[USACFC]] National Championships).<ref>[http://usacfc.org USACFC] Retrieved on 2012-05-16.</ref> The [[British Universities and Colleges Sport|BUCS]] holds fencing tournaments in the United Kingdom. Many universities in Ontario, Canada have fencing teams that participate in an annual inter-university competition called the OUA Finals.

National fencing organisations have set up programmes to encourage more students to fence. Examples include the Regional Youth Circuit program<ref>US Fencing Youth Development Website, [http://www.usfaryc.org/Welcome.html Regional Youth Circuit] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070712223939/http://www.usfaryc.org/Welcome.html |date=2007-07-12 }}.</ref> in the US and the Leon Paul Youth Development series in the UK.

The UK hosts two national competitions in which schools compete against each other directly: the [[Public School (UK)|Public Schools]] Fencing Championship, a competition only open to Independent Schools,<ref>[http://www.publicschoolsfencingchampionships.com/home.htm Home :: Public Schools Fencing Championships<!-- Bot generated title -->].</ref> and the Scottish Secondary Schools Championships, open to all secondary schools in Scotland. It contains both teams and individual events and is highly anticipated. Schools organise matches directly against one another and school age pupils can compete individually in the British Youth Championships.

In recent years, attempts have been made to introduce fencing to a wider and younger audience, by using foam and plastic swords, which require much less protective equipment. This makes it much less expensive to provide classes, and thus easier to take fencing to a wider range of schools than traditionally has been the case. There is even a competition series in Scotland – the Plastic-and-Foam Fencing FunLeague<ref>The [http://www.paff.org.uk/ Plastic-and-Foam Fencing FunLeague] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201003152521/http://www.paff.org.uk/ |date=2020-10-03 }} website.</ref> – specifically for Primary and early Secondary school-age children using this equipment.