Our Team
The coaching team has numerous national and international medalists. It is arguably the most experienced, talented coaching staff ever assembled to run a camp. With the addition of extra NCAA coaches this year it is just getting better and better.
Camp Director
David Sach
David Sach started his fencing career in the UK where he won numerous cadet, junior and senior national titles including a run of 5 back to back Junior national championships. He also fenced at 8 World Championships between 1995 and 1998 Junior, Cadet and Senior. David also represented Wales at 3 Commonwealth Games winning 2 individual Silver medals and a team Gold. David moved into coaching at a relatively young age but since then has coached numerous national champions at all age groups, international world cup medallists at both Junior and Senior level, a Cadet World Champion and Olympians. Before moving to the USA, he served as a British Fencing World Class Performance Pathway sabre coach - a position in which he coached and monitored members of the British Olympic Sabre Team. David is also an FIE rated referee, earning appointments at the 2005, 2007 Senior World Championships and 2008 Olympic Games.
Camp Director
CJ Callahan
CJ Callahan has a diverse, long history in Human Health and Sport Nutrition counseling, Academic advising, and various management platforms. One of her primary missions is to support as many student athletes as possible in achieving both their collegiate and sport dreams. As a US Air Force veteran and a former high school and college athlete with multiple degrees, CJ has routinely witnessed the transformative attributes of scholarly athletics translating into launching successful and fulfilling adulthoods. She is very excited to work with all of the camp families!
COACHING TEAM
Gaspare Faugiana
Gaspare joined South Bay Fencing Academy in 2024 after a five-year tenure as Assistant Coach at Champ Napoli ASD in Italy, one of the most prestigious and successful clubs in the world, which produced several Olympians, World Champions, European Champions, Grand Prix and World Cup medalists.
Throughout his career, his personal students have won medals at Junior and Cadet World Championships, European U23 Championships, Junior and Cadet European Championships, Junior World Cups, Cadet World Cups, and 10 Italian National Championships.
Samet Arslan
Samet Arslan is an internationally recognized sabre coach, Olympic-level fencing referee, and former national team fencer for Türkiye. With a Master’s Degree in Physical Education from one of Türkiye’s leading universities, he brings both academic excellence and world-class competitive experience to the fencing community.
As a coach in Türkiye, Samet developed numerous national champions and international medalists in sabre, many of whom have gone on to compete in World Cup events and major international competitions representing Türkiye.
His commitment to athlete development is matched only by his own impressive fencing career, where he claimed multiple national titles and competed successfully on the World Cup circuit.
Balazs Kurucz
Balazs comes to Penn State from Great Britain where he has served as one of the nation’s most successful club coaches. He also served as the lead coach for the Great Britain Junior Women’s Saber Team. Prior to heading to the U.K. in 2012, Balazs coached in Hungary at across all age levels, from U11 to seniors.
During his coaching career, Balazs’ athletes achieved the highest levels of success, from Junior World Gold Medals to Cadet and Junior European medal finishes. He helped guide fencers to multiple medals at Cadet European Circuit and Cadet World Championship events.
Balazs began fencing in Godollo, Hungary,. He went on to earn European gold medals at the U17 level in 1995 and 1996.
Brendan
Doris-Pierce
Brendan Doris-Pierce was named the head coach of fencing in May 2018.
Doris-Pierce had served as assistant coach for the Eagles since 2011, producing two NCAA Championship qualifiers and nine All-Northeast honorees. He served as the team's recruiting director for the previous five years, increasing the visibility and reach of the program on the national circuit.
Since 2002, Doris-Pierce has served as the sabre coach with the Boston Fencing Club in Brighton, responsible for the technical and tactical development of athletes of all ages. In 2016, Doris-Pierce coached the national championship men's sabre team.
Tasia Ford
Ford is a former competitive sabre fencer who has been involved in the sport for 21 years. She gained her start in fencing at Beaches Sabre Club (Troy, N.Y.) where she was coached by Carolyn Washburn-Lapham, the former Canadian National Team member.
She started competing at the age of eight and always consistently made podiums in her age category. Once she was old enough, she fenced in Cadet and Junior World Cups, often placing in the team events. Her most notable finishes were placing third in women's junior sabre at the 2008 Montreal World Cup and leading the women's team to first place in the women’s cadet sabre team event at the Konin World Cup in 2008.
During her time at Temple, Tasia consistently qualified for regionals all four years (2010-14). Ford was the Sabre Squad Leader her junior year and the overall Team Captain her senior year. Her final record consisted of 123-96.
Chris Buxton
Chris has been coaching since 2008 having been a Great Britain Fencer since 1996. Chris was a five time national champion and former British number one sabre fencer. He represented Great Britain at European & World Champioships.
As a coach, Chris initially worked at Truro Fencing Club where he helped develop the youth programme which included many fencers who went on to become the mainstays of the British senior sabre team. Chris moved to Stratford with his family in September 2019 to take over as Head Coach.
He is focussed on building on the foundations and continuing the culture of excellence at Shakespeare’s Swords.
Ian Farr
Ian was an NCAA All-American in 2004 and in 2007 when Penn State won the NCAA National Championship. As a private coach in Chicago and Portland, he mentored youth fencers and coached at regional events, NACs, and international competitions. He has worked with many regional, national, and international medalists. Two athletes he has worked with qualified for the 2024 Olympic Games.
As a consultant, he is passionate about working with different athletes helping them maximize their skills and prepare themselves mentally for competition. His clients have seen increased confidence, focus, and resilience. This has helped them go on to win regional and national medals and feel increased fulfillment in their sport.
Matt Tucker
Matt Tucker is an internationally-licensed referee in both sabre and foil, having been involved in fencing since 2014. He has refereed nationally in all three weapons since 2016, and is a fixture at both USFA and NCAA events, having refereed over 70 finals at NACs and NCAA Championships in that time. Matt is a Certified Referee Instructor with US Fencing and a former award-winning university professor before he joined Amazon as a scientist in the Alexa division. Matt has been involved in referee development since his earliest days as an FIE official, regularly mentors Division 1 referees at National competitions, and recently won the USFA's "Best Referee Mentor in Sabre" award in the 2022-23 season. He also serves as a member of the USFA Referees' Commission Rules Committee and is a two-time member of the Nominating Committee for Referees' Commission elections.
PARTNER CLUBS & COACHES
Achicko Lortikipandze
Scarsdale Fencing Center
Archil Lortkipanidze (“Achiko”) is an Olympic-level fencer and internationally recognized fencing coach. He received his degree from the Tiblisi State University, Republic of Georgia.
As a fencer, Achiko is a five-time Georgian National Champion, a Soviet Union Cup Finalist, World Cup Finalist, and a member of the Georgian Olympic Fencing Team (1996 Atlanta Olympic Games). As a coach, he has over 25 years of experience as a Master Saber Coach for a variety of leading athletic Organizations and institutions, including the Georgian National Team, Lincoln Fencing Club, Fencing Academy of Westchester, Fencers Club, Tim Morehouse Fencing Club, and Yale University Fencing Team.
Achiko has raised and coached numerous students onto national and international success in fencing. Several of his students became members of the National Saber Fencing Team, winning numerous medals at international competitions, including Cadet and Junior World Championships and World Cups. His students have also gone on to win regional and national medals at the North American Cups, USA National Championships and Junior Olympics. Many of Achiko’s fencers have been placed to fence Division One at top universities, including Yale, Columbia, Cornell, Duke, Princeton, Notre Dame, Penn State, and the University of North Carolina.
Matthew Zich
Boston Fencing Club
Matthew (Matt) Zich has been involved in sabre fencing for over 25 years, 11 years as an internationally-ranked competitor and for the last 15 years as a coach, with a proven record of developing elite fencers. Classically trained by Maestro Yury Gelman (five-time Olympic Fencing Coach and National Men's Sabre Coach) in New York City, Matthew was a member of the US National Fencing Team, 2003-2007, representing the United States at World Championships held in Korea, Italy, France and Austria. Matthew was ranked #1 USA and top 5 internationally as a Cadet; #1 USA and top 5 internationally as a Junior; and top 5 USA as a Senior.
Working with beginners through advanced fencers, Matthew's students have medaled at Youth Tournaments through Junior Olympics, Senior National Championships, and Cadet World Cups. At the request of USFA, he has worked with national team members for international competitions, including as the coach of the US Cadet National Team for the World Cup Events in Poland and Germany. Matthew is the coach of the 2022 and 2023 Junior Men's Sabre national champions, multiple NCAA All-American from Brandeis University, where he is currently the sabre coach, and a member of the 2023 cadet world team in women's sabre. Matthew has coached numerous students who have gone on to fence in leading college programs, including Oxford University, Harvard, Columbia, UPenn, Duke, Brandeis, St. John's, Northwestern, and Boston College.
Matteo Gallo
South Bay Fencing Academy
Matteo Gallo is the Head Coach, founder and CEO of South Bay Fencing Academy.
Since 2019, he has coached his students to highest level in fencing, including Cadet, Junior and Senior World Cups, Grand Prix, Zonal and World Championships, Olympic Games qualification events. Several of his individual students have won National Championship titles, World Cup individual and Team medals, Pan-American Championship Titles, NCAA Championships Titles.
In 2023, Coach Matteo led the SBFA Women's Team to its historic first National Championship Title in Division 1.
Matteo holds a degree of "Maestro di Scherma" (Maitre d'Escrime) from the Italian Fencing Federation and was nominated Developmental Coach of the Year by US Olympic Committee in 2021.
Coach M started his fencing career at the age of 14 with the Gemina Scherma Fencing Club. Over his career he won several Italian national medals and became a two-time Junior World Cup finalist which earned him a spot on the Italian Junior National Team. He retired from fencing in 2014 and devote himself to coaching and refereeing. Matteo is a licenced FIE sabre referee and he has refereed at Italian National Championships as well as several international events including Junior World Cups, European cadet circuits, and European Championships.
Prior to his tenure at SBFA, Matteo’s students have been medalists at the Italian Youth Championships, members of the Italian National Team, and have participated in European Cadet competitions, Junior and Senior World Cup, and World Championships.
Kris & Tsetsi Hristov
Premier Fencing Academy
Tsetsi was the FIRST EVER Bulgarian National Champion in saber, held in 1999. She has more than 30 years of combined competitive and coaching fencing experience. She was a National Champion in Juniors and Seniors. Tsetsi has competed in more than 5 World Cups and competed in the 2002 Cadet/Junior World Championship. Coach Tsvetelina has coached Youth, Cadet, and Junior National Champions as well as World Cup and Championships medalists. Tsvetelina is a USFA Professional member (background checked and SafeSport certified), Tsvetelina will be responsible for developing young athletes through Silver and Gold programs.
“Kristiyan was a National Champion on all levels”
Kristiyan has more than 25 years of combined competitive and coaching experience in Saber Fencing. Beginning in his native Bulgaria Kristiyan has been taught by his father Maestro Hristo Hristov (Former Bulgarian National Team Coach for more than 10 years, who is currently coaching at Princeton University).
Kristiyan was a National Champion on all levels claiming individual and team gold medals as a Cadet, Junior, and Senior Fencer. Kristiyan has competed in Four Cadet/Junior World Championships and competed in more than 30 World Cups.
Coach Kristiyan has coached students that become National champions on all levels, NCAA champions, and Junior and Cadet World Cup medalists. Kristiyan is a USFA Professional member (background checked and SafeSport certified), Kristiyan will be responsible for developing young athletes through Silver and Gold programs.