Your club affiliation on AskFRED determines which club-restricted events you can register for and how your club is displayed in tournament results. This article explains how club affiliation works and how to update it.
How Club Affiliation Works
AskFRED supports up to two club affiliations: a primary club and a secondary club.
Your club affiliation comes from two sources, with your national governing body (NGB) membership taking priority:
Your NGB membership record (USA Fencing or Canadian Fencing) — This is the primary source. When you link your USFA or CFF membership number to your AskFRED account, your club affiliation is pulled directly from your membership record.
Your AskFRED fencer profile — If you don't have a linked NGB membership, AskFRED uses the clubs you've set manually on your profile.
If you have a linked USFA or CFF membership, that club data takes priority over anything set on your AskFRED profile.
Viewing Your Current Club Affiliations
Go to My Dashboard
Select your fencer
Click Fencer Settings to see your current self-selected primary and secondary clubs
Your USFA or CFF membership club affiliations are also visible on the respective settings pages (USFA Settings or CFF Settings).
Changing Your Club Affiliation
If You Have a USFA or CFF Membership
Because AskFRED defers to your national governing body's records, you need to update your club affiliation with USA Fencing or CFF first:
USA Fencing members: Update your club through your USA Fencing member profile at usafencing.org. Changes typically take effect when AskFRED next syncs your membership data.
CFF members: Contact the Canadian Fencing Federation to update your club affiliation.
After the change is reflected in your NGB records, go to your USFA Settings or CFF Settings on AskFRED and re-save your membership number. This triggers a fresh sync of your membership data, including your updated club.
If You Don't Have an NGB Membership Linked
If you haven't linked a USFA or CFF membership number, you can set your clubs directly:
Go to My Dashboard
Select your fencer
Click Fencer Settings
Use the Primary Club and Secondary Club dropdowns to search for and select your clubs
Save your changes
How Club Restrictions Affect Registration
Tournament organizers can restrict events to specific clubs in two ways:
Club allowlist — Only members of listed clubs can register
Club blocklist — Members of listed clubs cannot register
When you try to register for a club-restricted event, AskFRED checks all of your club affiliations (primary and secondary, from both your NGB membership and your AskFRED profile). If any of your clubs match an allowed club, you can register.
If you're blocked from registering due to a club restriction, you'll see one of these messages:
"This event is restricted to specific clubs, and this fencer is not a member of an allowed club." — Your clubs don't match the event's allowlist.
"This event has blocked registrations from your club." — One of your clubs is on the event's blocklist.
Club restrictions are displayed on the tournament page before you start the registration process.
Common Questions
Why does my club show differently than what I set on my profile?
If you have a linked USFA or CFF membership, the club from your NGB record takes priority over your profile settings. Update your club with your NGB to change it.
I just changed my club with USA Fencing but AskFRED still shows the old one.
Go to USFA Settings and re-save your membership number to trigger a fresh data sync.
Can I be affiliated with two clubs?
Yes. USA Fencing supports a primary and secondary club. Both are checked when you register for club-restricted events.
I can't find my club in the dropdown.
Use the search feature to look for your club by name or initials. If your club doesn't exist in AskFRED yet, click the Submit a new club link next to the dropdown to submit it for review. See our Club Records on AskFRED article for more details.
My club recently merged or changed names.
Club merges and name changes need to be reflected in USA Fencing or CFF records first. Once updated there, re-save your membership number on AskFRED to sync the change. If the old club record still appears in AskFRED, contact support and we can merge the records.
Need Help?
If you're having trouble with club-restricted registration and believe your affiliation is correct, contact the tournament organizer first — they set the club restrictions and can verify if your club should be included. For other club data issues, reach out to our support team.