Our head coach and manager, Agota Balot, is a former Hungarian Junior Team Champion with more than 50 years of fencing and personal training experience. Born in Budapest, Hungary, she is multilingual, trained in management, and is a certified personal trainer and former marathon runner. She has met fencers from all over the world and has been fortunate to have opportunities to bout with champions and fencing legends. The daughter of Magda Nyari, five-time World Champion and Olympic Silver Medalist, she has spent her entire life with fencing. She started the Academy in 1999 and trained hundreds of fencers in all three weapons. Her fencers reached numerous national finals and reached the top of the podium in foil and epee. Her students, Alexx Sowuleski finished 8th at the 2003 National Championship Youth-14 epee event; Nicole Vaiani was Youth-12 National Foil Champion in 2010; Sally Higgins finished 2nd in Veteran-70 epee in 2014. Agota had been the head coach of the Ranney School’s varsity fencing team for ten years. The team and their individual fencers reached top of the podium at NJSIAA and NJISAA championship events. Besides managing the club and coaching, Agota actively fencing nationally and internationally. At the Veteran World Fencing Championships in Livorno 2018 and in Cairo 2019, she earned bronze medals in the epee event. In May 2023 at the European Veteran Championships, she earned bronze in foil and also in saber. Email: Agota@atlanticfencing.com
James B. Carpenter
Jim competed in the 1996 Olympic games in Atlanta Georgia, narrowly missing winning a medal with a sudden death overtime loss to Italy in the team epee event. He won a Silver medal in the 1995 Pan American Games as well as a Bronze medal in the 1991 Pan American Games. He fenced in three World Championships for the United States and was ranked in the top 10 of the US Fencing Association point standing for over 10 years. During that time he won 5 Team National Championships and took the Silver Medal twice in the Individual National Championships. As a coach, he has trained numerous fencers who have attained high rankings in the USFA point standings including at one point having three Women’s Epee fencers in the top 10 of the standings. From 1990 until 1996, he was Chairman of the New York Athletic Club fencing program. He worked successfully in the position of the Director of High Performance of the US Fencing Association from March of 2007 through August of 2008. Jim is the head coach of the Stevens Institute of Technology Men’s & Women’s Fencing Teams. Email: Jim Carpenter
David Sierra
Involved in the sport of fencing since 1993 and coaching since 2004, Maestro David Sierra is certified as a Fencing Master by the United States Fencing Coaches Association and the International Academy of Arms. His students have won numerous medals at Regional and National level competitions, and he has trained athletes who attended strong NCAA programs. David became the head coach of the Wagner College Men’s Fencing Team in 2022. Before moving to New Jersey, he was the head coach at Cutting Edge Fencing in Fort Worth, Texas. He currently serves as the Vice-Chair of the Certification and Accreditation Board of the USFCA. Maestro Sierra also is a senior referee in USA Fencing, serving as a member of the Domestic Assignments Committee and a Certified Referee Instructor. A scientist by formal education, he brings an analytical and systematic approach to training athletes, while maintaining an athlete-centered philosophy that promotes development of the whole person. In his off time, he enjoys riding his motorcycle, traveling, reading good books, and watching science-fiction TV shows and movies. David is the head coach of the Wagner College Men’s & Women’s Fencing Teams. Email: sierra.sabre@gmail.com
