Leon Auriol
Maitre d'armes (1927-2015)
Maître Leon Auriol, our club’s namesake, was a fencing master for almost 50 years. Leon was born and raised in Toulouse, France, and moved to the US in the early 1960s.
Leon coached all three weapons, and his students won many national and international medals, both individual and team. At various times, Leon was a US National coach, US Pentathlon coach, Pan American Team coach, and Canadian Olympic coach. Leon passed away in 2015, but he is remembered fondly, and many of his students continue to have success in fencing.
Marshall Hibnes
President, Head Coach
Marshall is a founding member, President and Head Coach of Salle Auriol Seattle.
Marshall started fencing in 1979 while attending college at the University of Fairbanks. He traveled to several Sectional and National tournaments in the "Lower 48" and decided to relocate to Seattle in 1989 so he could pursue competitive fencing more easily. Marshall experienced good success at the National level over the course of the next decade, accruing several National medals along the way.
Marshall's coaching career started early, as his first fencing master was a strong believer that teaching fencing made you a better fencer. Marshall has taught both classes and individual lessons since 1981.
Upon his arrival in Seattle, Marshall became a protege of Maitre Leon Auriol. Under the guidance of Maitre Auriol, Marshall has coached various Salle Auriol Seattle fencers to many World Championships. Marshall's students have earned more than 300 national and international medals, including several National Championships. In addition to managing the coaching programs at Salle Auriol Seattle, Marshall teaches foil and epee to Nationally competitive youth, junior, and adult fencers.
Russel Redding
Coach
Russ has over 35 years of fencing experience and is a member of the Salle Auriol Seattle Board of Directors. Russ coaches all 3 weapons but his primary focus is epee and he is certified as a level four coach by the USFA Fencing Coaches College. He has worked as an assistant NCAA coach and has taught a number of collegiate and community fencing classes. Russ works with both recreational and competitive fencers of all ages, from youth to adult.
Kundry Haberkern
General Manager
Kundry Haberkern has been the General Manager for Salle Auriol Seattle since 2017.
Kundry started fencing in 1991, at the age of eleven. She fenced on the Varsity team of Hackettstown High School for four years, then the Varsity team for Rutgers University from 1997-2001. She also started fencing at the National level in 1993, earning a number of National medals during this time.
Kundry became a member of Salle Auriol Seattle in 2004, where she has continued to compete Nationally, compiling more individual and team medals to this day. Kundry firmly believes that fencing is a sport that people can enjoy and be successful competitively in for their entire lifetime. She enjoys helping new and existing Salle members realize the fun and challenges that fencing provides.
Nikita Sakhanenko
Saber Coach
Nikita began fencing at the age of eight and was a member of the cadet sabre team of the Novosibirsk region of the Russian Federation. After attending university, Nikita continued to practice and compete locally, and he was assistant youth coach at his club in 1997. While attending graduate school in Albuquerque, New Mexico, Nikita coached several sabre fencers, although there was no fencing club. In 2005 Nikita coached at the newly established Duke City Fencing Club.
Nikita moved to Seattle in 2008 and began coaching at Salle Auriol Seattle. He is responsible for the youth, junior and adult saber programs and teaches group classes as well as private lessons.
Paul Englund
Foil Coach
Paul is from Washougal, WA, began fencing at age 14. Taking up coaching early on as a way to spend more time around the sport, he uncovered a parallel passion for teaching, which he developed locally by assisting David Cogley, Darius Wei (now at Duke University), and Justin Meehan.
In 2015 Paul set out for Montana, where he became the head coach of the Missoula Fencing Association. During his three years in that role, the small rural club produced its first A-rated fencer and received the 2017 Club of Excellence Award for Youth Development from USA Fencing.
In the spring of 2018 Paul took a break from fencing to hike the 2,660 mile Pacific Crest Trail, waking from Mexico to Canada in 5 ½ months.
Surviving that, he moved to Chicago to study closely with Eric Momberg (Lawrence University) and serve two seasons as the volunteer assistant coach in Northwestern University’s Div 1 NCAA program (led by Zach Moss).
Now back home in Washington, Coach Paul joined SAS in 2023 with a keen interest in developing joyful and inquisitive fencers across all ages, genders, and weapons.
In his own time Coach Paul likes to drink tea, play guitar, and study traditional Chinese martial arts.
Eric Piispanen
Saber Coach
Eric is a graduate of Oregon Fencing Alliance where he started fencing saber at the age of 13 and achieved the highest ("A") national saber rating under the tutelage of Jacek Huchwajda and Ed Korfanty. He started coaching saber while at OFA, and since then has held multiple coaching positions in the Portland area and was a full time instructor in Virginia. He joined SAS in 2019.
Eric has a passion and love for fencing, and passes his enthusiasm and knowledge on to each and every student. He coaches the youth, junior and adult saber programs and develops beginner and intermediate fencers in all 3 weapons. In addition to teaching group classes and training sessions, Eric teaches individual lessons in all 3 weapons.
Sarah Lippai
Assistant Manager, Coach
Sarah started fencing during her summers home from college. After a several-year hiatus and in need of a hobby during her graduate studies at UW, Sarah returned to the sport and became a member of Salle Auriol Seattle in 2010. She began assisting classes in 2017 and joined SAS as an assistant manager and coach in 2023.
Sarah leads the Adult Beginning program. She loves to introduce new fencers to the joys and challenges of fencing and watch them progress through the Salle’s intermediate and advanced classes. In addition, Sarah assists with the adult intermediate and youth classes and runs the club’s tournaments.
Chris Aher
Epee and Foil Coach
Chris has been fencing for over four decades and has been coaching since 1999. He originally fenced foil at the Fencers Club of NY but mainly fenced epee soon afterwards. There, he studied both foil and epee with Semyon Pinkasov.
In 1995, he was one of the founding members of Candlewood Fencing Center in Danbury CT and in 2014 he started an epee program at Fairfield Fencing Academy in Fairfield CT. He studied both epee and coaching under Ioseph Vitebsky Orest Stetsiv, and Aleks Ulanovskiy. His students have have achieved excellent results at the local, NCAA, national and international levels, including several national finalists, a national championship and membership on the US Veterans World Championship Teams.