Former British Olympic Coach and now National Coach for Northern Ireland, this guy takes a lot to keep up with.

He is based mainly in Derry / Londonderry but comes to our Wednesday sessions to train both seniors and beginners. Since he has been training our club, we have enjoyed success at both local and regional levels, with club members being selected to represent Northern Ireland, sometimes even within a year of joining the club.

Mike coaches all three weapons and can help direct new fencers to which weapon may be the best choice for them. His energy is infectious and we hope he will continue to help our club progress over the next few years.

Dr Chris Gill is a Stage 2 coach and specialises mainly in Foil coaching.

After being a dedicated Foilist himself for many years, he now enjoys competition as an epeeist, having been selected to fence for Northern Ireland in the Regional Winton Cup in 2001 and selected Team Manager for the Winton Team in 2002, as well as competing in the sabre event at the same competition.

Chris is a Biomedical Researcher for UU, working in the field of diet and cancer, and was Club President for seven years before leaving university and so is invaluable in providing advice and guidance to the current committee.

Alistair Davidson is a long-standing member of UUC Fencing Club; he is a Stage 2 coach and fences both Foil and Epee himself in competition.

Alistair and Chris have a long relationship of co-coaching, and often demonstrate techniques to the club as opponents. Alistair has been coaching at UUC for about 6 years and gives his time freely to teach beginners on Wednesdays.

He also enjoys success in Epee having been selected to fence for the Winton Team of 2001. Alistair is now a Biology teacher at Secondary level.

Mark McEvoy has recently passed his Stage 1 Foil Coach exam and dedicates much time to training beginners that arrive throughout the Academic year.

We have recently had local school students join our club over the summer and these pupils have had dedicated individual coaching from Mark to improve their technique. Mark also runs the warm up session that is very comprehensive!

We may sadly be losing Mark as he has just completed his MRes. We would like to wish him luck with whatever path he chooses.