Essam Mohamad | Olympian and Coach

While Coach Mohamed Essam is one of the most recent coaches to join Tim Morehouse Fencing Club, he is a highly accomplished fencer and experienced coach. Fencing for 24 years, he has been a National Foil Team Member in his native Egypt for the last 10 years. He is a Rio 2016 Olympian, participating in the individual and team events. Since 2013, he has earned multiple Senior individual medals at the African Zonal Championships and the African Games. In 2011, he was the African Junior Individual Champion. He has earned more than 50 medals from Egypt’s National Championships for the Junior and Senior Competition. As a member of the Egyptian Team, he is a multi-time African and Arab Champion. He has a degree in BSC Logistics & Supply Chain Management from the Arab Academy for Science, Technology and Maritime. 

Before joining the TMFC team, Mohamed worked as a coach for 5 years in clubs located in Egypt as well as France. His previous students won 15 medals at Egypt’s National Championships for Cadet and Juniors. In his short time at TMFC, his students have already won numerous medals at Regional and National level competitions, including a North American Cup Cadet Boys gold medal. We look forward to more success in the future!

Eddie Grigoriev | Coach (Foil)

Coach Eddie has over 20 years of fencing experience. He hails from Briarcliff Manor, NY. He was the 2011 Asian Junior Foil Individual Champion representing Kazakhstan and has placed in the top 64 of the Senior World Championships. In the U.S., has placed in the top 8 of Division 1 foil.

He has been coaching for 7 years and joined Tim Morehouse Fencing Club in 2019. His students have found success at Regional, National and International competitions.

Carlos Ugalde Fernandez | Coach (Saber/Foil/Epee)

Carlos Fernandez Ugalde comes to the Tim Morehouse Fencing Club with a passion for fencing and loads of international experience.

Originally from Spain, Coach Carlos started fencing at age 12 and several years later, made the Spanish National Team. He has served as the National Coach of Argentina and also the National Coach of Spain.

It’s his passion to inspire young fencers to have a love for the sport. “I want my students to have fun,” he says. “At the same time they are getting ready for competitions.”

He adds: “My goal every day is to transmit the love and passion I have for fencing to them.”

Dan Bass | Coach (Foil/Epee)

Dan Bass boasts over twenty years of experience in the sport of fencing as an athlete and coach. Born and raised in St. Louis, Missouri, Bass was a member of The Ohio State University’s varsity fencing team which won the 2008 NCAA National Championship as well as four Midwest Conference Championship titles. Shortly after graduating, he relocated to New Jersey where he began his coaching career.

Since then, Bass has coached at several nationally recognized club programs as well as high school and collegiate varsity teams. Most recently, he served as the Head Coach of the NCAA Division-1 Fencing Team at Fairleigh Dickinson University’s Metropolitan Campus. His students have earned numerous medals and achievements at the regional, national, and international levels of competition, including #1 rankings in the US and FIE point standings, NCAA All-American honors, and selections to Cadet, Junior, Senior, and Veteran national teams.

While foil remains his primary weapon, Bass has significant coaching experience and is a certified referee in all three weapons. 

Babacar Keita | Coach (Saber)

Babacar Keita is a member of the National Team of Senegal. He coaches Youth fencers and leads Youth fencing classes.

Amer Mohammad | Olympian and Coach (Saber)

One of our newest coaches, Mohamed Amer brings his Olympic experience to the TMFC Saber coaching team. He competed in the 2016 Rio and 2020 Tokyo Games and is currently training for the 2024 Paris Games while continuing to work with students. 

Mohamed hails from Egypt, where he started fencing at 12 years old. Along with his Olympic credentials, he is a two-time African Zonal Champion and where he has also won multiple silver and bronze medals.  He is also a Junior World bronze medalist as well as the FIE number one ranked Cadet Saber fencer in 2014. In 2015 he became the first African to hold the FIE Junior number one ranking.

Coach Amer looks forward to passing his knowledge gained from training with one of the best Saber coaches in the world on to his students at Tim Morehouse Fencing Club.