Edwin Hurst, Fencing Master

Coach Hurst is accredited a Maitre d’Armes (Master of Arms) by the Academie d’Armes Internationale and as a Fencing Master by the U.S. Fencing Coaches Association (USFCA). He is a former president of that organization as well as serving for several years on its nine-member Certification & Accreditation Board, the body that examines and certifies fencing coaches in the United States. He is currently the Chair of the USFCA Awards Committee, the body that recognizes the best fencing coaches in the country and also names the annual Collegiate Varsity All-American Team.

He has been a private fencing coach since 1987, teaching in both Los Angeles and San Diego, and also coaching the University of California at Santa Barbara club team. Previous to that he was Men’s and Women’s Varsity Fencing Coach for 8 years at Stanford University and the Assistant Fencing Coach at California State University, Northridge for another 3. While at Northridge he obtained Master’s and Bachelor’s degrees in Physical Education. He is a 1962 graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy, where he was a First Team All-American in sabre and a member of Navy’s NCAA Champion fencing team. After his graduation from Annapolis he served as a Navy carrier pilot during the Vietnam War. He studied theatrical fencing under Maestro Ralph Faulkner of Hollywood, CA and taught an accredited course in stage fencing at Stanford.

He numbers among his current and former students four All-Americans, one World Veterans’ Championship gold plus two silver & one bronze medalists, five U.S. National Champions, three members of Junior World Teams, several Pacific Coast Championship and California State Games medalists, and San Diego Division champions in all three men’s events and women’s foil & sabre.

In 1984 he served as the Competition Manager for Fencing for the XXIII Olympic Games in Los Angeles. In 1988 he was named the “Coach of the Year” of the Western Region by the U.S. Fencing Coaches Association. He served as Vice-President of the U.S. Fencing Association from 1996 to 2000, and as a top-rated official, refereed the gold medal bouts in several national championships.

DAVID BURGESS, Associate Coach & Armorer

Coach Burgess is a 1981 graduate of San Diego State University, where he was a member of that school’s varsity fencing team. He was a silver medallist at the 1981 Western Intercollegiate Championships, and then moved to Alaska where he helped found the Anchorage Fencing Club and served as its coach. Not only did he win many state titles in all three weapons, but one of his students won the 1991 National Division II Epee Championship, while another took the silver medal at the 1997 National Division II Foil Championship. During that time, his students won seven individual Alaska State Championships as well. In 2001, he won the bronze medal in Sabre at the U.S. National Veterans’ Championship. He teaches fencing classes at Cabrillo and serves as the club’s senior armorer. In that speciality he has a national reputation, is regularly invited to work at major U.S.tournaments, and was selected to be the Head Armorer for the USFA’s 2008 Division I National Championships. He also serves as the Armorer of the UC San Diego varsity fencing team.

ANTIGONE BRICKMAN, Assistant Coach

Andie began fencing at Cabrillo as a high school student and, over the years, became adept at both Foil and Sabre. She began assisting in our classes, and handled those duties well enough that Maestro Hurst developed her ability to give individual lessons in sabre and foil, which she now does here. She is certified as an Assistant Moniteur by the U.S. Fencing Coaches Association and recently graduated from San Diego State with a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science specializing in CyberSecurity.

CHRIS GETSLA, Assistant Coach

Chris is a long-time member who started out as a foil fencer but switched to epee and enjoyed success. He currently has a “B” competitor’s rating in that weapon and is available to give individual lessons to our younger and beginning fencers. He also assists in our classes, and, as a computer expert in his professional life he maintains the San Diego Unified School District’s computers and other electronic systems, and does the same for Cabrillo’s.