Edinburgh Fencing Club has coaches with a wealth of experience, coaching fencers in all weapons, all ages, and all levels.

All coaches are fully trained and registered with our governing body, British Fencing, and are therefore required to have valid PVG, Emergency First Aid and Safeguarding and Protecting Children certification in addition to their coaching qualification. You can access the current register of coaches on the British Fencing website.

  • The Youth Classes are coached by Don McKenzie and Gav McMenemy.
  • Solution Riposte classes, for women recovering from breast cancer, are coached by Brent Myers.
  • All the above coaches as well as Stan Stoodley are also available for private lessons.

For any questions or to book private lessons, please get in touch with the individual coaches.

Don McKenzie

Don is a former international fencer who represented Great Britain in two Olympics and was Commonwealth Gold medallist and British Champion.

Don completed his International Fencing Master’s Diploma in 2004 and has Coached successful Foilists up to Senior GB International standard. A current GB Athlete Development Programme Coach and Head of Performance (Women’s Fencing) for Edinburgh University, he continues to travel internationally to develop his Coaching skills.

Since Coaching his Daughter, a former GB International, Don has concentrated most of his efforts on Women’s Foil, and has pupils in numerous age-groups.

Gavin McMenemy

Gavin is a multi-award-winning coach who has been involved in fencing for around 25 years. He coaches a wide range of fencers from youth to veteran level who have represented Scotland and Great Britain. His fencers have won numerous medals and he coaches members of the Great British Cadet and Junior teams.
He’s also worked with pentathletes, one of whom was selected to join TeamGB last year. He co-hosts a popular fencing podcast and provides audio commentary on fencing for the French Fencing Federation.

Gavin was the recipient of the Scottish Fencing Crosnier Quaich for coaching in 2019.

Stan Stoodley

Stan has been coaching for over 20 years and enjoys teaching a wide range of ages and all gender identities. In 2019 he successfully completed his International FIE Coaching Diploma in Budapest Hungary.

A former Scottish Senior Foil Champion and Commonwealth Games Team Member Stan currently coaches the Scottish Youth Pathways Squad and is a Coach Educator for Scottish Fencing.

Stan is president of Scottish Fencing, Scotland’s governing body for this sport.