Tim Morehouse, Olympic Silver Medalist | Founder of Tim Morehouse Fencing Club

Tim is one of the most decorated US athletes coaching Saber in the USA today with an Olympic Silver Medal ('08) won in the men's saber team event and a quarter final individual finish at the London Olympics ('12). Tim is a three-time US Olympic Team Member ('04 '08 '12), 9-time senior world team member and two-time individual US National Champion ('10 '11).

Tim spent fifteen years as a student of 4-time Olympic and USA Fencing Hall of Fame Coach Yury Gelman. 

Tim also has extensive experience in education having served both as a teacher and teacher trainer in the prestigious Teach For America program. Tim holds a Masters Degree in Education and he was honored by the White House as a "Champion For Change" in 2012 because of his efforts in education through his non-profit Fencing In The Schools and his work with Teach For America.

His students have won national medals at every level and his students were recruited and attended elite schools including Yale, Johns Hopkins, Cornell and Princeton amongst others.

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!

Iba Keita | Elite Coach (Saber)

Tim Morehouse Fencing Club welcomed Coach Iba in 2022. Iba started fencing at 7 years old in his home country of Senegal. He was the Junior African Individual Saber Champion in 2008. In 2010, he was a member of the silver medal-winning team at the African Championships as well as a semi-finalist in the individual event. He obtained a License for Legal and Political Sciences in Public Law from the Digital University of Senegal. 

He began coaching in 2007 at the Senegalese International Fencing Academy before he started coaching in the United States in 2018. In 2016 he received a “Master of Arms” diploma from the FIE as the Valedictorian. In the United States, Iba has had multiple youth students medal in North American Cups as well as the Summer Nationals, including a Youth 12 National Champion. Coach Iba excels at motivating his students to do their best and keep a positive attitude. 

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.”

Irem Ulku | Coach (Saber/Epee/Foil)

Coach Irem comes to us all the way from Türkiye. She has 27 years of fencing experience and was on the Turkish National Team. In 2001, she was the bronze medal winner of the Balkan Individual Women’s Saber Championships and a member of the silver medal winning Team Women’s Saber in the same year. She has placed in the top 32 of the European Championships and top 16 of the team event at the Junior World Championships. Coach Irem is very involved in all aspects of the sport. She has Bachelor’s degree in Sports Management from Türkiye Ege University and a Master’s degree in Coaching Sports, and Health Sciences from the Türkiye Celal Bayar University. She currently researches and prepares articles on the sport of fencing in her field of Sports Biomechanics. 

Irem has been a fencing coach for 18 years and an International Fencing Referee for 11 years. She worked with the Cadet Men’s Saber National Team and the Veteran Men’s Saber National Team in Türkiye. There, her students won National and International medals, including the European Cadet Women’s Saber Championship. She also recently obtained a Maitre De Sabre certificate from the US Fencing Coaches Association. Tim Morehouse Fencing Club is already benefiting from her extensive knowledge and experience!

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.