The United States Fencing Association (USFA) is the national governing body for the sport of fencing in the United States. The USFA was founded on April 22, 1891, as the Amateur Fencers League of America (AFLA) by a group of 20 New York City fencers seeking independence from the Amateur Athletic Union, in a dispute over rules for national championships. The AFLA changed its name to the United States Fencing Association in 1981 and again in 2010 to USA Fencing. History The organization was founded on April 22, 1891, in New York City, initially as the Amateur Fencers League of America (AFLA). Graeme Hammond was its first president, from 1891 to 1925. It was incorporated as a non-profit corporation in Pennsylvania in 1964. The organization changed its name to the United States Fencing Association in 1981. It was incorporated in Colorado in 1993 in compliance with the Amateur Sports Act. It opened its national office at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colorado, in 1982. The national office moved from the Olympic Training Center to downtown Colorado Springs in 2002. The USFA's first full-time Executive Director was hired that year. The USFA is affiliated with the Fédération Internationale d'Escrime (FIE), the international federation for fencing founded in Paris in 1913. Early years Initially, officers of the Association were only White men, and the AFLA excluded women, Jews, Blacks, and others from membership. In 1938 Helene Mayer won the fencing Association's San Francisco Division men's title; two days later she was stripped of the title, as the Association adopted a rule banning competition between women and men, reasoning both that fencing involved physical contact, and that "a chivalrous man found it difficult to do his worst when he faced a woman." 21st century Two-time Olympian Nzingha Prescod was elected as an athlete director on the USA Fencing Board of Directors beginning on January 1, 2021, as the top vote-getter in a vote by athletes who represented the US at the Olympics or Paralympics, Pan American Games, or Senior World Championships. She said that in 2020 the organization's disciplinary decisions "reeked of lenience and favorability for the offender." In 2021, when fencer Alen Hadzic was permitted to go to the Tokyo Olympics after an arbitrator reduced his sanction of temporary suspension following an investigation prompted by rape and other sexual misconduct accusations against him, his Team USA teammates expressed concerns for