Our Coaches
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​Haverstock has two full-time coaches (with World and European Championship experience) and two part-time coaches, who take care of all newcomers, giving them a solid grounding in the basic skills required, teaching in a fun but challenging way.

One of the club's founding principles is that individual lessons from qualified coaches are included for everyone as part of their club membership.

We aim to ensure that all of our members get at least one lesson per week in addition to the group practice available in training sessions.

This egalitarian approach ensures that the coaches can divide their time and attention equally between all fencers, regardless of their development level or financial situation.

All of Haverstock Fencing Club's coaches are affiliated to British Fencing, and appear on British Fencing's Coaching Register, which means they are appropriately qualified, have been DBS checked, trained in First Aid and anti-doping regulations.

Alex Agrenich

Alex Agrenich has been coaching at HFC since 1999.

Alex Agrenich began fencing at the age of ten in his home town of Moscow. He immediately loved the sport and his youthful hard work, determination and commitment soon paid off.

When, three years later, he moved to Israel he quickly became its top-ranked Cadet. In 1994, he ranked 5th in the Moscow Junior Olympics. From 1995, he continued to fence in numerous international events. During this time, Alex also began his training as a coach. In 1996 he gained a ranking of 11th in the Junior World Championships.

When Alex emigrated to Britain he quickly discovered Haverstock Fencing Club and began training there.

Through his coaching, Alex aims to provide fencers with an opportunity to achieve consistency and better results – especially internationally. He encourages fencers to gain skills through systematic, structured training and is active in trying to build a network of support for fencers who wish to work towards an elite status. Alex works with Cadet, Junior and Senior fencers in a quiet, forceful manner that brings their individual strengths to the fore.

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Adam M. Steiner

Adam Steiner has been Coaching at HFC since 2020.

Inspired by a love of history and the romance of swordplay, Adam started fencing as a teenager in the 1980s at City of London School. Like many fencers of his generation, he was forced to begin with a foil. Luckily, in the late 1990s, he joined Haverstock Fencing Club and discovered the joys of epee along with his future wife, Christine.

Adam has 37 years of experience as a senior competitor and coach at multiple clubs in the United Kingdom and Hong Kong and achieved a national rank of 38th in UK Senior fencers.

Having coached on an informal basis for many years, Adam achieving his Coaching qualification in 2021.

Adam is focused on development coaching of the club's younger fencers. He seeks to encourage students to develop a lasting love of the practice and theory of fencing in a safe, enjoyable and respectful environment.

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David Shevelew

David Shevelew has been coaching at Haverstock since 2012.

He started fencing in 2003 at 13 at Brentwood School. It was an ex Haverstock fencer who first suggested Epee and David has never looked back since.

Competing from a young age he was a ranked Cadet and Junior and fenced internationally on the Under 20 A-Grade circuit and achieved a national rank of 26th in UK Seniors fencers.

David started his coaching career in 2009 in Wales, at a coaching course run by the then Hungarian Olympic pentathlon coach Gabor Bognor and collected the first Level of the Hungarian coaching qualification. Following this, David obtained his Second level of the BFA coaching qualification in 2012 and is on the path to complete level 3.

David’s time at Haverstock is split between training and coaching where he works with a range of fencers, especially growing the quality and talent of our junior fencers as well as working with senior fencers at the club. Through his coaching, David hopes to develop confidence within a fencer and to show that good fencing is not complicated but is the use of the right action at the right time.

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