I am a native Clevelander. Was a tennis player at University School, before going to Columbia University where I took up fencing. After college, I moved to Russia and lived there for 9 years. That is its own book. In the parameters of fencing though, I studied under 10 time world champion foil fencer Alexandra Ivanovna Zabelina, a true Soviet icon! She is the 6th most decorated women’s Olympic fencer – EVER! 3 Gold!

I came back to Cleveland to start a family in the early 2000’s. I fenced at the Alcazar’s Fencing Club under the instruction of Fencing Hall of Fame inductee Bill Reith.

One thing led to another, and my wife Polina and I have five kids. We love each one of them more than the other. And without my wife’s tenacity and laser beam ability to focus on detail, this Academy would have never become a reality. Thank you, honey!

I decided to start the Cleveland Fencing Academy as a place to fence for my kids and the community, and to continue on the legend of the Alcazar Fencing Club.

I enjoy fine wine, thick cigars, the Cleveland Museum of Art, my pescatarian diet, the jazz age, Art Deco, 60’s swagger, 80’s music, Grace Kelly, Dostoyevsky, yada yada yada..