Our coaches are from left to right: Neil Mittal, Gary van der Wege and Curtis Hardy. 



We are very fortunate to have all of our coaches well-versed in all three weapons.

 

 


Gary M. van der Wege
Gary is a certified Prevot d'Armes from the Academie d"armes Internationale/ US Fencing Coaches Association and upper-level coach by the US Fencing Coaches College (US Olympic Training Center, Colorado Springs, CO)

He has taught and coached at Austin Community College, Texas State University, and the Gary Jobs Corps Center. In addition, Gary developed chair fencing programs for the St. David's Rehab Center in Austin and the San Antonio Parks and Recreation Department. Currently, he is teaching at St. Edwards University in Austin, at the Genesis Academy in Seguin, and at Salle Pouj in the San Antonio Fencing Center.


In competition, Gary was a member of the 2004 US Paralympic Team in Athens, competing in individual foil and epee, and anchoring both the foil and epee teams. He was also a member of the 2002 US Team to the World Championships in Budapest. He was the 2002, 2003, 2004, and 2005 US National Chair Epee Champion and the 2006 Chair Foil Champion along with numerous gold medals from other North American Cup events. He was the first Category A fencer in the US to medal at a World Cup (Seville, Spain), and was at one time, ranked 8th in the world.  
Gary is also a 6 time National Champion wih hs laterst being the 2009 Wheelchair Sabre winner at summer Nationals.

Gary was the first person in the US to be certified as both Armorer and National Level Referee. He is also a Certified Referee Instructor, and has officiated gold medal bouts at the National level, as well as the Modern Pentathlon World Cups and the Pentathlon World Championships.

As a member of the Society of American Fight Directors, Gary has staged weapons combat and fights for several plays and operas.

   

Neil Mittal
Neil began fencing more than twenty years ago under the tutalege of Gerald Poujardieu. Pouj described him as one of his students who maintained the greatest understanding of fencing he'd ever seen. His fencing career has spanned numerous events including the Junior Olympics (1988-1994), USFA National Champoinships (1990-1993, 1996, 1998 and 2004), the 1993 Men's Foil South Texas Division II Champion and the 1993 Men's Epee Sectional Champion. In 2004, he obtained his 'A' rating at the 2004 DeGall Memorial Tournament.

His coaching credentials inlcude assistant at the 2002 RRFC Camp and assistanct coach at the 2003 UTEP sunner fencing camp. He served as Pouj's assistant coach from 1996 to 2004 at Salle Pouj and continues coaching for Salle Pouj and the San Antonio Fencing Center.

Neil has a degree in Art with a minor in Math and holds an MAT degree from TU. In addition to his coaching duties, he is a teacher at St. Mary's Hall.

 Curtis Hardy
His coaching career began early, when in 1985 he began the summer fencing program at St. Mary's Hall school. Today, he specializes in teaching beginning foil to adults and juniors.

An accomplished fencer and coach, he brings almost 25 years of experience to Salle Pouj. He began fencing in 1984 under Les Bleamaster and continued under Gerard Poujardieu Jr. Within two years he won back-to-back Southwest Collegiate Championships in foil and epee. He followed it with first place finishes in foil at the 1987 Southwest Divisionals and the 1988 Sectionals.
Curtis holds an impressive resume of wins, including the Bobcat Tournament, the Poujardieu Memoral and Texas A&M Heavy Metal. He was a member of the Junior Olympics Pentathlon Team. Curtis continues to fence at the National level while coaching and directing at fencing tournaments.

  Coach Leslie joins us at the SAFC specializing in youth development, offering both individual lessons and group classes.  Leslie began fencing at Trinity University her freshman year there under Coach Jose Sanchez. She graduated Dec 2008 from Trinity with a B.S. in Physics. She currently coaches for San Antonio Sports and St. Luke's Episcopal ENCORE programs. She also substitutes for NEISD and is working on her teaching certificate with hopes to teach middle school mathematics.