College Fencing Is Growing. Here's the Team Making It Happen.

Published May 11, 2026 · Updated September 21, 2026

USA Fencing added three new varsity fencing programs this season — Arcadia University, Fairleigh Dickinson University and Denison University — and said a fourth announcement was expected before the end of May.

Three programs in one season

New varsity programs do not appear often in any college sport, so three in a single season is a real change in direction. Per USA Fencing, the three additions this season are Arcadia University, Fairleigh Dickinson University and Denison University, with another announcement expected before the end of May.

USA Fencing puts the total number of schools offering varsity fencing at 47.

For families in a saber club, that number matters more than it looks. Every added program is another roster with slots to fill, another coach recruiting, and another route through which fencing can be part of a college decision rather than something a student sets aside at 18.

The work behind an announcement

The person doing much of this work is Brad Suchorski, USA Fencing's Director of Membership, Service and Growth. He discussed it on USA Fencing's First to 15 podcast with host Bryan Wendell.

The description of the job is less glamorous than the headlines it produces. Per USA Fencing, the work involves months and in some cases years of relationship-building, financial planning, and conversations with athletic directors before a program is announced.

That sequencing is worth understanding if you follow college fencing news. By the time a school issues a press release, the negotiation is long over. The public announcement is the last step of a process that started with someone making a case to an athletic department that fencing is worth a line in the budget.

Why athletic directors say yes

Athletic directors are not evaluating fencing the way a fencer does. They are evaluating roster size, facility needs, travel cost, and whether a sport helps the institution meet its own goals.

USA Fencing's growth work exists to answer those questions with numbers and a plan rather than enthusiasm. We are not going to speculate here about the specific financials of any of the four schools involved — USA Fencing described the general nature of the work, not the terms of each deal, and inventing details would not help anyone.

What this means for a saber athlete

If you fence saber and you are in middle or high school now, the practical takeaway is simple: the number of places to fence in college is moving in your favor, slowly, and it is moving because of work that happens years ahead of a signing decision.

That does not change what you should be doing today. College coaches recruit fencers who compete, who have a record they can read, and who have been in the sport long enough to be coachable at a high level. That is built in a club, over seasons, at ordinary practices.

It also means the pathway conversation should start earlier than most families expect. Not because a 12-year-old needs a college plan, but because the fencers who end up with options are usually the ones who were still fencing at 16 — which is mostly a question of whether the sport stayed enjoyable and local enough to continue.

Reading the growth news carefully

A few reminders when new program announcements land:

A new program may start with women's fencing, men's fencing, or both — the details differ by school, and it is worth reading the specific announcement.
A first season is often a year or more after the announcement.
"Varsity" has a specific institutional meaning that differs from a club team, and both are real ways to fence in college.

USA Fencing's collegiate development work is what produces this pipeline of announcements, and its pace is one of the more useful indicators of the sport's health in the United States.

Train with us in Bethesda

Saber Nation is a saber-only club at 4701 Sangamore Road, Suite LL2, Bethesda, MD 20816. If college fencing is somewhere on your family's horizon, the first step is consistent training — see our saber fencing classes in Bethesda or contact us.

Official USA Fencing source: College Fencing Is Growing. Here's the Team Making It Happen. — published May 11, 2026.

Training options

Continue with Trinity College adds varsity fencing or CCNY revives men's NCAA fencing or More USA Fencing news or Saber fencing classes in Bethesda, MD.