"Fencing is a sport of history and tradition, a European martial art. It consists of movement in form, style, grace, elegance and beauty. It is gentleman’s sport, a gift of joy and fitness"
My goal: is to make students reach their full potential and develop a lifetime love for fencing.
My method: varies with each individual and personality.
My teaching style: is focused on technique and enjoyment. Students should learn to feel what they fence, and not simply practice to fence. They learn and build on basic concepts, and gain an understanding of fencing theory. This is done by taking a fencing lesson, planning and discipline, commitment and consistency.
My approach: the classical technique has proven particularly effective in solving technical difficulties to improve performance.
My philosophy: everyone has the capacity to be a creative and wonderful fencer. I draw parallels of sensitivity, discipline and analytical thinking between fencing and everyday life.
My academic background: a degree in physical education and sports and fencing, from the prestigious Institut National des Sports et d'Education Physique in France and Finland. Other credentials are in judo, swimming, diving, riding, shooting, weightlifting, boxing and theatrical fencing under the direction of renowned coaches.
My coaching philosophy is stern, but necessary, and I do it out of love.
Fencing in the classical French style is strictly formal, and therefore difficult to learn. Though the basic guards, attacks, and defensive moves are few in number and structurally quite simple, it is in the subtleties of their proper execution that the challenge lies.
One could say that it takes nine hours to learn how to fence, and a life-time to learn how not to. In order for the forms to be effective, they must be precisely observed, and come automatically to the fencer. It takes patience and long hours of practice, but once the fundamentals are firmly rooted, the way is clear for students to develop their skills as far as they dare dream.
On the other hand, if students are allowed to compromise the great artistry of fencing, for small victories in the sport, they will find themselves swept down a treacherous path towards a dead end from which few return. Frustration and stagnation is the destiny of anyone who develops bad habits which become more difficult to break out of the longer one persists in them.
