The coaches and staff at Empire United Fencing are Olympic caliber, having been represented in the eternal games for the past twelve years: Atlanta ’96, Sydney ’00, Athens ’04, and have a combined 60 years of coaching expertise.

Head Coaches

Sean McClain
Sean’s twenty years of competitive fencing experience garnered him recognition as an elite international athlete. As a member of the United States National Team he earned a scholarship to Stanford University where he produced an individual NCAA title while majoring in Industrial Engineering. He went on to become a two time national champion and win a silver medal for the US at the Pan American Championships.Transitioning from competition to coaching, Sean’s students are consistently placing in the medal rounds of national competitions. His students have been recruited by some of the premier universities in the country. McClain’s students are currently on the fencing teams at Stanford, Columbia, and the University of Pennsylvania.

Jed Dupree
Jed has been a member of the US National Team for seven years. An Olympian in 2004, he helped the team earn the highest men’s foil team result in the history of US fencing. He attended Columbia University where he won an NCAA individual title and became a two time national champion. In 2001 he won a gold medal at the Pan American Championships. In addition to continuing his quest for a second Olympic birth, Jed is a coach at Columbia University where he helped them win both the men’s and women’s Ivy League titles. In addition to his coaching he is completing a Doctoral program in applied physiology at Columbia University.

Alexey Cheremsky
Prior to becoming a highly successful fencing coach, Alexey was a world renowned epee fencer who had competed in numerous national, World Cup and international competitions. After joining the USSR national team in 1990, Alexey became the Ukraine National Epee Champion (1992). He immigrated to Israel in 1998 and achieved significant results, including capturing the Israeli National Championships (2002-2003) as well as Bronze medals in World Cup events in 2002 and 2003. After his competitive career, Alexey became the head coach of the Israeli National Team. His students achieved top international results including a top 4 ranking in the FIE Junior point standings. Since arriving in the US his students have won NCAA Championships as well as National and Junior Olympic titles.

Assistant Coaches

Clinton Kershaw
Clinton believes that fencing is a great, modern, up and coming sport. Even at a young age of 21, Clinton has had tremendous fencing experience. He started fencing when he was just 5 years old and has been a 3-time National Champion for the Junior and Cadet level. He represented the US in both Junior and Cadet World Championship Teams. He is also EUF’s talented armorer and manager of the EUF store.

Henry Kennard
Henry has been a great addition to the EUF family. He is from Concord, Massachusetts and has been fencing for 9 years. He holds a degree in Sociology from St. John’s University and was a 3-time NCAA All-American. Henry enjoys the structured training environment and the family atmosphere of the club. He is also a nationally rated referee.

Sam Wunderlich
Sam is from Louisville, Kentucky and has a degree in Environmental Studies from St. John’s University. He started fencing in 1996 and hasn’t stopped ever since. He was an All American at the 2005 NCAA Championhips and a 2008 Finalist for Division 1 at the Elite National Championship. Sam is passionate about fencing and is very excited to see the sport grow.