Meet Coach Matt
Coach
Bay Area Fencing Club is proud to feature Coach Matt, a decorated U.S. National Champion, collegiate powerhouse, and Hall of Fame inductee. Fencing for decades at the absolute highest levels, Coach Matt brings an extraordinary breadth of international competition experience and collegiate leadership to our coaching team.
A Legacy of Championship Success
Coach Matt started fencing at age 11 after seeing a demonstration in his fifth-grade class, beginning a lifelong trajectory of elite athletic achievement:
- U.S. National Champion: Won the 1989 U.S. National Championship in Team Men's Epee and achieved a #10 overall national ranking in epee.
- Olympic Sports Festival Silver Medalist: Captured silver in Team Men's Epee at the Olympic Sports Festival.
- Penn State Team Captain & All-American: Earned four varsity letters under Hall of Fame Coach Maxwell Garret, took consecutive gold medals in foil and epee at the North Atlantic Fencing Championships, became an NCAA finalist and All-American, and was named Penn State's Most Valuable Fencer.
- Hall of Fame Inductee: Formally inducted into the Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame for his outstanding athletic record.
- International & Dual-Weapon Legend: Fenced internationally in Europe, training at world-famous German centers like Fecht-Club Tauberbischofsheim and competing in World Cups with the Bonn foil team. At the 1974 U.S. Junior Olympics, he famously became the only competitor to reach the finals in both foil and epee simultaneously, wearing both body cords and running between bouts to finish 4th in foil and 8th in epee.
Coaching Pedigree & Philosophy
Coach Matt credits fencing—and the wonderful people he met while training and competing—for paving his way to success in life, and he is proud to pass that success on to the newest generation of fencers. His elite coaching credentials include:
NCAA Championship Leadership
Spent three years on the coaching staff at the University of Notre Dame, where he guided the Fighting Irish to two NCAA National Championship titles as well as victory at the Great Lakes Fencing Championships.
Dual-Weapon Mastery
Teaching high-level execution across both foil and epee disciplines.
Relentless Tenacity
Instilling a competitive mindset that emphasizes adaptability, endurance, and strategic versatility under pressure.
Academic & Legal Distinction
Embodying our club's commitment to building intelligent scholar-athletes, Coach Matt graduated from Notre Dame Law School and has been engaged in law and the legal system for 35 years, spending much of that time as an active trial lawyer. Coach Matt has another identity other than a fencing coach: Honorable Judge at Superior Court of California, County of Santa Clara.
"Being a trial lawyer is a lot like fencing—it just moves a bit slower and isn't quite as tiring! Fencing paves the way for success in every aspect of life, and my goal is to give our fencers the tools to win both on the strip and far beyond it."— Coach Matt