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!

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. 

Mostafa El-Motaz | Coach (Saber)

Saber Coach | Manhattan + Westchester

Coach Mostafa joined Tim Morehouse Fencing Club in 2023 from Egypt. He holds a Bachelor's degree in Finance and Business Administration from Helwan University. After starting fencing at 10 years old, he went on to win several national medals in Egypt. As an FIE referee, Mostafa is also on the World Elite Referee Master List for Saber. 

Mostafa hopes to bring the success he has with his students in Egypt to TMFC. He coached both the Egyptian Junior Women’s National Saber Champion and the Junior Men’s National Saber bronze medalist. Internationally, his student won the Junior Men’s African Saber Championship. We look forward to his success with students in the United States!

Luka Oboladze | Saber Coach

Oboladze is a Saber fencing coach whose talent lies in developing fencers — youth, adults and parafencers — to go on to become champions. 

We were delighted to have Luka return to Tim Morehouse Fencing Club in 2022 after a four-year stint from 2016 to 2020. Previously, he worked with fencers of all ages, but really made his mark with the Veteran fencing program, growing it from nothing to 15 active members in a year. He has also led camps for both youths and adults.

Luka started coaching Saber while he was still fencing himself. He worked with youth fencers, wheelchair fencers and also served as the Assistant Coach for the National Team of Georgia.  

As a Saber fencer, he was a member of Georgia’s National Team from 2010 to 2016. He earned countless medals at the Kutaisi Cup and Championships, the Georgian Cup and Championships, the European Cup and Championnats d’Europe. In 2014, he was a member of the bronze medal winning U-23 European Championships team. He was also part of the Georgian team placing in the top 10 of the Senior European Championships multiple times. 

Luka attended the Akati Tsereteli State University in Kutaisi, graduating in 2014 with a degree in Oriental Studies.

Babacar Keita | Coach (Saber)

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

Mamadou Keita | Olympian and Elite Coach (Saber)

Coach Mamoudou qualified for the 2008 Beijing Olympics after just 6 years of fencing. In his now 20 years of fencing experience he is a two-time African Individual Saber Champion as well as a three-time silver and bronze medalist at the African Championships. He has a fencing master diploma in 6 weapons from the International School of Fencing Masters and is also an industrial electrical and building engineer. 

Before joining Tim Morehouse Fencing Club in 2022, Mamoudou coached in his native Senegal, Algeria and Saudi Arabia. With his 15 years of coaching experience, he was able to lead Algerian fencers to Gold, Silver, and Bronze medals in the African Junior Women’s Championships. He also coached two Algerian fencers to Olympic qualification for Tokyo 2021. We look forward to his similar achievements with our fencers at Tim Morehouse Fencing Club!

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.