Coaches

Currently coaching at the club: Dumi (epee, foil, sabre), Oxana (foil), Virgile (foil, epee, sabre), Alex (sabre), Natalia (epee, foil), Tomy (foil, epee). All available for private lessons.

Club manager: Tim Gadaski.

Below are some biographical data and style pointers.

Are You a fencing coach? We are always looking for great fencing instructors in all three weapons. Please have a look at the current coaching vacancies available at our club.

Oxana Babaeva

Fencing is one of few sports open to the women of Uzbekistan: the fencing mask protects the face from the harsh beams of the sun and strangers' eyes. Born in this traditional country famous for its pilaf and melons Oxana did not choose fencing - her mother and grandmother were practising it well before she came into the world. They insisted on the continuation of the family custom. The young blue eyed girl soon became the champion of Uzbek Socialist Republic, the champion of Kara-Kum desert and the finalist of All Middle Asian Games. After one of the hottest fencing careers in history Oxana turned to coaching and currently is the head coach of the junior Uzbek fencing team. She is a visiting coach here and upon return to her country will be required to deliver a detailed report on the state of the British defence systems to President Karimov.

2005 till present

Dumi

Manifold champion of Romania and the Balkans, Dumi came to the UK trying to escape the celebrity spotlight. He keeps a low profile and his public appearances here are very rare. He instructed the club to decline - politely but firmly - any media enquiries about his private life.

2003 - till present

Anna

Anna is responsible for the technical and the psychological development of our athletes. Her never waning attention to detail, ability to see through the thick and the thin of a fencer's life generate positive energy during every training session (some of which could be quite physically demanding). "Keep smiling", says Anna, "even from under the fencing mask!"

2019 - till present

Alex Bela

A very well reputed sabre coach, Alex generously contributed to the rise of the new wave of cut-and-thrust enthusiasts at the club.

2011 - 2018

Laurent Harper

2 times British Champion, Commonwealth Silver medalist. Laurent was born in 1968 and started fencing at the tender age of 7. He ceased to compete 20 years later to became a full time fencing coach and, recently, a black cab capitain. Hobbies include listening to music and having a laugh.

2003 - 2014

Andre Andreev

"As a child I tried different sports but eventually I made choose fencing. Loved by everyone Romantic movie Three Musketeers had helped in swaying me to say Da to swordplay!", - explains Andre.

Former Champion of the Ukraine, Master of Sport of the USSR, today Andre puts all his energy into passing the fencing skills to the new generation of romantics.

2006 - 2008

Phil Carson

Artist, musician, philanthropist and secret agent, Phil is the 21st century embodiment of the Renaissance Man - Homo Universalis. With years of coaching experience behind his back, he can answer all reasonable psychological and physical needs of his students. Personal approach, understanding and never failing 'do it with me, do it like me, do it better then me' style of coaching make Phil one of the most sought after mentors in the Square Mile. He is now doing an important job of preparing the new generation of female sabreurs. They could not only cut things off your body but also glue them back into place after the fight.

2004 - 2006

Lance Larsen

I was born in nineteen sixty-seven in Spokane Washington, USA. At the age of six my father took out a home improvement loan and instead purchased a motorcycle for me, which he taught me to ride. At sixteen I soloed my first aircraft, a piper tomahawk. At the same age I started fencing at West Central Community Center under Jack Warner. I learned sabre under the tutelage of David Lewis (an air force captain) and got regular instruction from my eventual coach Leon Auriol. At nineteen I started teaching fencing classes at Eastern Washington University under Jerry Krause. At twenty I enrolled at a school for fencing coaches in Dinard, France with a club mate of mine, Randall Griffiths. We were the first two Americans enrolled there. I moved to Los Angeles after coming back to the United States and started teaching at the now defunct Westside Fencing Center. I gave individual lessons to Angelina Jolie, Holly Hunter and Sinead O'Connor. I became a member of Screen Actors Guild and appeared in movies as a "specialty extra"; my total on-screen time is roughly ten minutes worth. The majority of my scenes are deaths; many times the production company killed me off more than once in the same film. I met my ex-wife in Los Angeles and we were married in Wales. We divorced a few years back and now I live in Twickenham. I enjoy computer games, heavy metal music and dancing. When I'm not teaching I play drums with a fifties style band called the Heartbreakers.

2004 - 2006