Sean McGrath – Head Coach & Owner – Epee
Sean brings over two decades of fencing experience to Atlantic Fencing Academy as both a competitor and coach. He began his fencing journey in 2000, training under coach Yakov Danilenko at Medeo Fencing Club. His passion and skill earned him a place on the Penn State University fencing team for the 2004–2005 season, one of the nation’s top collegiate programs.
In 2008, Sean achieved his A rating in epee, marking a significant milestone in his competitive career. Transitioning into coaching, he joined Hub City Fencing Academy in 2010 until 2025 and served as assistant coach at The Lawrenceville School from 2012 to 2018. He continued to develop young talent as an assistant coach at Drew University during the 2020–2021 season.
In 2024, Sean began at Atlantic Fencing Academy as a student under former Olympian Coach Jim Carpenter. In 2025, he proudly became the owner and head coach of AFA. He is committed to growing the sport and fostering excellence in fencers of all ages and levels. Email: info@atlanticfencing.com
Rich Beischer – Sabre
Rich Beischer is proud to join the Atlantic Fencing Academy family! Since transitioning from fencer to coach in 2002, Rich has enjoyed time in the NJ high school space; coaching for North Hunterdon, Somerville, and he just finished up an 18 year career as head coach at The Lawrenceville School where he amassed 17 Prep State championship titles and countless weapon and individual championships. He currently serves as Head Coach for St. Benedict’s Preparatory School in Newark, NJ. In the broader competitive space, Rich has coached both nationally and internationally with his students, like Tristan Quinton who was 6th Div II – Dec 2012 NAC and 2nd Challenges Des Nations 2012 amongst numerous others. Anil Patel 7th Div III – April 2016 NAC. Outside of USA Fencing, he was invited to teach clinics in China and Puerto Rico and has trained fencers for the Cayman Islands, Hong Kong, and the Philippines. However, Rich’s proudest accomplishment is that several of his students have gone on to coaching themselves. Among them: Joseph Zanko (Drew University) and Justin Gonzalez (Atlantic Fencing/Kent Place).
Justin Gonzalez – Sabre, Epee, Foil
Justin Jay Gonzalez has been fencing since 2010 and coaches in all 3 weapons. He captained The Lawrenceville School Fencing Team to multiple Prep State titles before going D1 at NYU. He currently coaches at Hub City Fencing Academy and Atlantic Fencing Academy and has led the Kent Place School Dragons to back-to-back record breaking seasons. In his first year with the Dragons, they set the wins record and broke it again his second year. In his 2 years coaching the team, the sabre squad finished top 10 in the state and has won gold at Districts.
