About Us

Cleveland Fencing Academy’s roots began in 1988, when I, Eric Guth, was a freshman in college living on the 8th floor of Carmen Hall at Columbia University. The world was a much bigger place back then: I had never really been to New York before getting into college, so I was as wide-eyed as you get.

It was the weekend before the first day of classes and I was minding my own business. Being a native Clevelander, and with our beloved Cuyahoga River having spontaneously caught fire in the not so distant past, I had already absorbed many jokes from fellow students, and especially New Yorkers, about our mayor’s hair catching fire from the event: “Was it true? Did he have any hair left? Is Cleveland a real or make-believe place?” Etc, etc. So my guard was up!

Philosophy

There are many different ways to answer the question: “Why is fencing good for me?”

Love of competition aside, we would probably put it one of three ways: “Fencing makes you as healthy mentally as you are physically”, or perhaps just the opposite is true: “It makes you as healthy physically as you are mentally”. But usually the result of training to be the best fencer you can be is a perfect combination of the above: usually, the end result is that you become healthy and strong  BOTH mentally and physically. Period!  Our philosophy is to take you down the road to get to THAT point. You can even see great strides toward achieving these results after a month or two of training with us.