Program Director and Head Coach

Maestro Greg Massialas is the current USA National Men’s Foil Coach and 2-time USA Olympic Coach (2012 London, 2008 Beijing). As an athlete, he was a 3-time USA Olympian (1980,’84,’88), former All-Ivy, NCAA All-American, and USA National Champion several times.

Since he started the MTEAM’s Youth Fencing Champions Program in 1998, he has helped put USA Foil on the World Fencing Map. In less than 10 years he developed the most successful fencing foil program in the USA. His students have currently won 30 World Championship Medals and have earned 11 World Championship tittles. For comparison, only one other USA foil fencer in California has won a World Championship medal (Sr., Jr. or Cadet) in the past 50 years.

In 2013, as the USA National Coach, he led the USA Men’s Foil Team to a historic accomplishment – finishing the season ranked #1 in the World.

One of the keys to the extraordinary success of the MTEAM program, is the pedagogical focus on the fundamentals at a young age. Where other fencing programs may put a major focus on youth results, the students in his program are able to have outstanding success in the youth age groups while they also develop all the fundamentals that allow them to reach the top tiers of fencing in the USA, the NCAA’s, in the World Championships, and the Olympic Games.

The focus on fundamentals allows the fencers in his program to be very complete fencers as they graduate high school and pursue college admission at many Ivy League and elite universities. College coaches at all the elite universities with NCAA Fencing programs, know that when they recruit an MTEAM fencer, they will have a strong fencer that can help their college program. As an example, at the 2014 NCAA Championships all the Final 4 Men’s Foil fencers were MTEAM fencers.

Another important element of the program is his understanding of developing and elite athletes in the USA. Our developing athletes do not have the time, nor should they need, to fence 5-6 days a week to become the best in the world. Being a parent himself, he understands the academic pressures, and time limitations that our kids have, prior to going off to college.

He designed the MTEAM’s Fencing Champions program in a way to get the best quality fencing from each workout, in a fun, yet very effective way. For example, 2 of his Olympians who were the youngest USA male athletes in both the London 2012 , and Beijing 2008 Olympic Games, were fencing on average 3 times a week while they were in high school and as they qualified for the Olympic Games.

He invites prospective students to try this exciting and creative sport in one of our state of the art Fencing Centers.