Coaches

Mission's coaches have experience working with fencers of all ages, skill levels, and levels of education. From teaching young squire fencers to coaching high school and collegiate teams and even coaching international champions, our experience and expertise allow us to help all our students reach their goals.

Our Founders

Jeff Salmon
Co-Founder & Coach

Coach Jeff started fencing at Comsewogue High School in Long Island where he was a County Champion and Empire State Games Gold medalist. He went on to win a scholarship to Penn State University where he trained under Emmanuil Kaidanov, five time U.S. National Team Coach and Wes Glon, Olympic and World Championship Coach.
     Jeff placed in the top 12 as an individual in the NCAA Championships and was one of two sabre fencers chosen for NCAA training at German Olympic Center in 1987.  Jeff was an Assistant coach for the Penn State Fencing Team during Two National Championship seasons. He brought his expertise to Ward Melville High School by starting a Fencing Club in 1995. In 1999, by popular demand, the club became a varsity team. As coach, Jeff went on to win Suffolk County Coach of the Year honors 7 times as well as USFA Long Island HS Coach of the year 3 times. His athletes are consistently among the top on Long Island and his team has won 13 County, League and Long Island titles. He co-founded Mission Fencing Center in 2001 where he has coached students to many honors including Divisional and regional Champions, national rankings, National Champions and National team status.
     He has coached as part of Team USA at World Championships. He has prepared many students to fence at prestigious Universities including Penn State, MIT, Stanford, Notre Dame, University of Pennsylvania, Columbia, Stanford and Harvard. His students have had success collegiately, nationally and internationally, earning All American and World Team status. Jeff also has extensive experience as a Fencing Official. He is a Nationally Rated Official in all three weapons and an Internationally Rated Official for Sabre, refereeing in numerous World Cups and World Championships. He served on the Board of Directors of USA Fencing for 6 years and is currently the Vice President.
    In 2017, Jeff was honored with the inaugural award as the National High School Coach of the Year by USA Fencing.  

Jennie Salmon
Co-Founder & Coach Emeritus

Coach Jennie has been coaching for over 20 years.  She is known for her differentiated approach to developing fencers by focusing on each athletes individual strengths. 
     Jennie began fencing in high school at Lakeland Regional in Wanaque, NJ where she won numerous individual titles and received multiple all-district and all-state honors and was a double individual gold medalist at the Garden State Games; winning both the junior and open events in the same year. While still in HS, she was a multiple national medalist at the Junior Olympics and Summer National Championships. These results garnered her a full athletic scholarship to Temple University where she trained under Nikki Franke, 1976 and 1980 United States Olympic Team Member. She was a starting member of the 1992 NCAA Championship Foil Team and captain from 1992-94. Jennie received All American honors twice during her years at Temple University. She also established new records for most wins in a season and in a career which remained for 24 years.  She was also a gold medalist at the US Olympic Festival in 1994.
     Jennie became the coach of the Ward Melville High School fencing team in 2000. In her tenure, she won Suffolk County Coach of the Year 9 times and was honored USA Fencing Long Island HS Coach of the year twice. After 13 undefeated League, County and Long Island Championships seasons and a Long Island record 176 consecutive wins, Jennie retired from coaching at Ward Melville to focus on family and training Mission athletes.
     She continued to train many of Long Islands top high school fencers including: 100+ All County Fencers, 50+ All Long Island Fencers and 25+ County Champions in every weapon. Jennie’s students in both epee and foil at Mission have won multiple divisional and regional championships, have earned national rankings at all levels from youth to Division 1 and have been National medalists and Champions. She has coached members of the US Cadet National team in foil and epee and at the Cadet World Foil Championships.
     Her students are consistently recruited to fence at prestigious Universities including Penn State, Tufts, MIT, Cornell, Temple, Brown, UCSD, Sacred Heart, Johns Hopkins, Notre Dame, Vassar, Brandeis, Boston College, UNC, Stanford and Princeton. Among them are All Americans and NCAA Team Championship winners.
     In 2018, Jennie was named the Head Coach of Men's and Women's Fencing at Brandeis University.  She is one of three female coaches who lead a men's and women's NCAA program in the country.  In only her second season at the helm, three athletes qualified to the NCAA Championships and two were named All-Americans. In 2022, Jennie was named the Head Coach of her alma mater, Temple University.
     In addition to her coaching, Jennie is certified in the areas of Early Childhood, Elementary and Special Education. She has her Masters Degree in Literacy. She was the Chair of the USA Fencing Youth Development Committee from 2012-2016 and has served on many volunteer committees in service of USA Fencing. She was the recipient of the Jack Baker Volunteer Service Award for USA Fencing in 2015.  She is also Vice Chair of the Long Island Division and currently does consultant work with USA Fencing concerning Regional Programs and tournaments.

Our Coaches

Brian Sirlin

Coach Brian fenced foil at Brandeis under Coach Bill Shipman. While at Brandeis, he qualified for the NCAA Championships three times. He was Empire State Games Foil Champion twice. In high school he was a student of Coach Jeff and since joining the coaching staff at Mission he has developed successful students at the local, regional and national level, including All County, All Long Island, County Champions and National Medalists. In addition to being an accomplished fencer and coach, Brian is also a nationally rated Director. You will often see him directing bouts and meets for the Long Island Division and the Suffolk and Nassau County high school teams.

Tommy Gerrity

Coach Tommy has been fencing for 14 years. He is a product of the Mission Fencing Sabre Program having trained under Coaches Jeff & Jennie Salmon. Tommy attended Saint Anthony’s High School where he was the Co-Founder and President of the SAHS Fencing Club.
     Tommy was recruited to Sacred Heart University on a fencing scholarship where he fenced for 4 years. After receiving his bachelor’s degree in Exercise Science, Tommy brings a knowledge of biomechanics, strength & conditioning, and sports performance to Mission and its athletes. During his tenure at Sacred Heart, Tommy lead the Pioneers as a 3-year Captain, winning 4 consecutive North East Conference Team Titles, and was a 3-time All-Conference selection.
     While representing Mission Fencing, Tommy competed at USFA Nationals, Junior Olympics, North American Cups, was a Cadet National point-holder, and a 2-time National Champion (2009 & 2010). In addition to coaching, he is also a nationally rated referee and you will often see him directing at Mission as well as Suffolk and Nassau high school tournaments and meets. Coach Tommy is also active in the Three Village Community as a First Responder-Firefighter/EMT of the Setauket Fire Department.

Chris Zebuth

Coach Chris has been fencing for over 44 years. He began fencing at Newfield HS, coached by Van Wolosin. He received a 4-year scholarship to fence for St. John’s University. While at SJU, he was a 4-year NCAA Championship participant. Chris’s highest placement was 2nd, earning him First Team All-American honors.
      Chris is a 3-time medalist at US Nationals (team), Silver medalist at U.S. Olympic Festival, and Alternate to the World University Games. He is a 4-time Empire State Games champion and 2-time North Atlantic Champion.
     Coach Chris started his coaching career as an assistant coach at St. John’s University. While at St. John’s, he coached one NCAA Champion and 11 All-Americans. The team won two combined IFA Championships and a second-place team finish at the NCAA Championships.
     After leaving St. John’s, Coach Chris was a member of the coaching staffs at the Fencing Center of Long Island (FCLI) and Long Island Fencing Center (LIFC), where his students went on to fence at Penn State, FDU, Sacred Heart, BC, NYU, and U Penn.
     Chris has been an active fencing referee for over 25 years, is nationally rated, and you will often see him refereeing at Mission as well as Suffolk and Nassau high school events.
     Coach Chris joined the Mission staff in the fall of 2018

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Guest Coaches (Past and Present)

Former Mission Coaches turned Guest Coach:
Peter Freiss
Dorian Cohen
Kevin Nadeau

Buckie Leach
Kornel Udvarhelyi
Alexander Panteleev
Vitali Nazlymov
Kasha Trotkpek

Luther Clement
Terrence Lasker
Brendan Baby
Mikhail Momtselidze
Stephanie Tam