Wildlife Fencing
Veteran Foil National Champion Team 2022, 2021, 2019, 2018, and 2015; Silver in 2023, 2017, and 2016 (no event in 2020). Wildlife Fencing is composed of coaches from all over the country:
Nathan Anderson, (2023) head coach and owner of the Denver Fencing Center, camp coach in Ouray, teaches all three weapons, and DFC members regularly win gold medals at national tournaments. The DFC Vet foil team, consisting of Nathan, Henri and two of Henri's students, defeated Wildlife Fencing in 2016 to capture the team national championship. Nathan began fencing in 1989, was captain of the University of Pennsylvania varsity team and an NCAA All-American foil fencer, and continues to fence competitively. He won the gold medal in Pre-Vet men's foil at the PanAm Games in Aruba, 2014, and has won several US national championships in Veteran foil. Nathan served as Secretary on the USA Fencing Board of Directors from 2013-2015, and is very active in promoting the sport of fencing at the local and national levels.
Juan Ignacio Calderon, 2015- 2016, coach and general manager at the San Diego Fencing Center, now head coach at UCSD, earned the degree of Fencing Prévôt in Foil and Epee, certified by the Spanish Master Academy. An international referee, he has extensive fencing experience in Spain, Germany and the US. An "A" rated foil fencer, he has earned numerous national gold medals, including his team championship with Wildlife Fencing.
Kristian Anderson, 2015 - 2018, coaches at the Lincoln Fencing Club in Nebraska, and served as head coach from 2004 to 2008. An A rated foil fencer, a B in epee, and a C in saber, Kristian is also a rated director in all three weapons. Coach Kristian started fencing in 1992 when the University of Nebraska offered fencing as a club sport. He trained under Damon Scaggs, Kit Boesch, Janos Gasparin, Archil Lortkipanidze, and Rosa Vinas-Racionero. “I love to fence” has been Kristian’s motto from the day he began fencing. Kristian earned silver medals in both foil and sabre while representing the USA at the pre-Vet Pan American championships, has won gold in plenty of national, regional, and local tournaments, and anchored Wildlife Fencing to its national championship in 2015.
John Kissingford, Wildlife Fencing captain and Ouray Swordplay head coach, has fenced since high school. He studied with Maitre Michel Sebastiani, a French Olympian and US Olympic coach, for four years at Princeton University, where he was varsity team captain. He has coached at Harvard University, Choate Rosemary Hall, Mesa State College, Denver Fencing Center, and various other clubs. John has won gold in US national tournaments in Veteran, Vet-40, and Vet Team events. John has represented USA in international competition, placing 14th at the 2017 Veteran World Fencing Championships in Maribor, Slovenia, and helping the US vet foil team to a 4th place finish; in 2018 he fenced at the Vet Worlds in Italy. He fences a little epee as well. In his spare time, he teaches English at Ouray High School.
Peter Habala,(2016-22) ,a graduate of National Academy of Physical Training and Sports in Romania, has over 35 years of competitive fencing experience. He is a 5-time national champion, representing Team Romania from 1989-1999. The Habala family legacy includes his mother, a 2-time national champion, and his father, Dr. Peter Pal Habala, who coached the Romanian National Team. Peter is the Head Coach and co-founder of RedStar Fencing Club Chicago, where he develops competitive and recreational fencers. He continues to compete both locally and nationally at the Division 1 and Veteran levels. In addition to English, Coach Habala speaks Hungarian and Romanian.
Marek Wyszynsk, 2018, is a national fencing champion of Poland and a fencing master. Now based in New York, he fences nationally and internationally. He anchored Wildlife Fencing to its 2018 national championship. He and John represented the United States at the veteran world championships in Livorno Italy, 2018, and Marek returned to the Vet Worlds in Cairo 2019, earning a silver medal with the US veteran foil team.
Kwangsuk Chung, 2019-23, coaches at Tacoma Fencing Center. He graduated with a bachelor’s degree in physical education from the Korea National Sport University in 1996. While on the Korean National Foil Team from 1993-1999, he earned gold in a number of international events and a bronze medal with South Korea’s 1998 world championship team. He was ranked 1st in veteran (40 years old and older) men's foil on the USA Fencing national points list for the 2017-2018 season. He was certified as a Level 2 coach by the Korean Fencing Federation in 2013 and earned his Master in Foil from the United States Fencing Coaches Association (USFCA) in 2018. He is among the 2% of USA Fencing competitive members who hold a rating in all three weapons. His MTFC students have earned a number of national medals, achieved national rankings, and represented the United States internationally.
Matt Cameron, 2019-22, earned his USFCA/AAI certified Prévôt d’Armes in foil in 2019 at Duke University under the direction of Christophe Duclos and Alex Beguinet. Originally hailing from Chicagoland, Matt began fencing at Illinois Fencers Club at the age of 11 and in 1995, he transitioned to Fencing 2000 to work with Bakhyt Abdikulov. Matt is a 12x national medalist and was a member of the 1996 USA Fencing Junior PanAm Team where he competed in foil and sabre. Matt served as Head Fencing Coach at the Culver Academies in Culver, Indiana from 2014-2019. Matt’s students have gone on to fence at Notre Dame, UPenn, NYU, United States Naval Academy, Cleveland State, Indiana University, William & Mary, among others. Matt coaches all three weapons and has had students medal at national competitions in foil and sabre. Matt is a national-level referee in all 3 weapons and has reffed extensively in USA Fencing, NCAA, and USACFC events.