USA FENCING MEMBER CLUB
Olympic Sport Fencing Since 1980
Danny Assad - Head Coach
As a long-time student of fencing Danny enjoys teaching and
watching his students succeed. Danny started fencing at age 5 and
learned how to fence from the previous coach of SIFC Steve Khinoy.
Once he became older Danny began taking fencing more seriously
and started to train and take lesions at the Fencers Club in Manhattan
over 5 years. Danny has competed in numerous fencing events all
across the country including summer nationals and junior Olympics.
Danny's family would plan and take vacations that would coincide
with many of these events. Danny was also a Staten Island Advance
All Star as a Tottenville High School fencer. Danny was named
Head Coach of the SIFC in December of 2018.
In Danny's professional life he has a Bachelors of Science in Mathematics and currently works as a Project Manager for a telecommunication company. Danny has found that fencing has helped in his life, enabling him to develop life skills to a higher level. For example, fencing has helped him learn to focus and listen as well and taught him to be careful but decisive. Fencing overall is a great sport and Danny enjoys teaching it to people.
Evan Arbeitman - Epee Coach
Evan Arbeitman is our guest Coach teaching Epee to our advance students
in the Knights class. Coach Evan is an accomplished Epee fencers with
a great resume that includes top finishes in PSAL tournaments in 2010 &
2011. PSAL Boys Fencing Invitational 2010-11 Second Place finish. PSAL
Boys Fencing Individuals 2010-2011 Second Place Finish. PSAL Boys
Fencing Season Opener 2010-11 Bronze Finish. Rutgers University fencing
team 2011 to 2015 and was the Rutgers University Epee team Captain in
2015. USACFC top 4 finish team Epee in 2012. Evan was USACFC individual
qualifier in Epee in 2015. Evan was a fencing student of the Staten Island
Fencing Centers Coach StephenKhinoy and was a frequent participant in
open fencing here at the SIFC.In 2022 Evan has joined our club doing
special training in Epee to our students of the Knights!
David Setlow - Club President & Manager
David has been a member of the Staten Island Fencing Center since 2004
when he and daughter Corinne began with an 8-week introduction course.
His wife, Deborah, knowing David's fascination with sword fighting in
movies, found out about the club and signed them up. David was 48 at the
time and Corinne was 13. Both David and Corinne enjoyed it so much they
became club members and took regular classes every week. Corinne joined
her high school fencing team at the High School of Art & Design in
Manhattan and became the team Captain and assistant Coach and led the
team to its first PSAL playoffs in years.
David soon became a board member, working along with Club President
& Coach Susan Monardo and Founder and Head Coach Stephan Khinoy.
He helped in several areas including the move to some of the different locations that the club called home, even helping to build the new facilities. Utilizing his skills as an artist and designer, David created posters, promotional flyers and ads and other graphics for the SIFC including several logos the club still uses. He spearheaded important marketing initiatives to promote the club including having the SIFC host a vendor table at the Richmond County Fair and the Back to the Beach Festival.
When Club President Stephan Khinoy decided to retire in 2018, David was named the new President and ran the SIFC along with fellow board members Ed Shaughnessy and Alan Miller. Ed Shaughnessy passed away in 2019 and management of the SIFC is done by David who oversees the clubs’ finances, promotion, website, and equipment purchases and repairs. He oversees Friday night Open Fencing while the teaching of all club classes and private lessons is handled by Coach Danny Assad, Michael Dote, David Godovich & Evan Arbitman.
Outside of fencing, David has been a professional designer and Art Director of high-end carpet for one of New York’s most prestigious interior design carpet and fabric companies for over 43 years. He is currently a freelance carpet designer and illustrator. David is a graduate of the High School of Art & Design and has a BFA from the School of Visual Arts, both schools are in Manhattan.
David Godovich - Assistant Coach/Armorer
We are excited to add to our staff David Godovich, David will be acting as
an assistant coach to Head Coach Danny Assad on our Musketeer class on
Saturday mornings. In addition to assisting Coach Danny David will also be
our new armorer taking care of repairs to your damaged weapons.
David started fencing at Hunter College High School in 2015. He had a
successful record with Hunter's PSAL team, including 4th place at Boy's
Fencing Individuals 2017-2018, and leading the team as Foil Captain to a
third place finish in the city playoff. Continuing fencing during college, David
became the armorer of the Binghamton University Fencing Club. As armorer
for two years he maintained and repaired all the club equipment as needed.
During his senior year David was the president of the BUFC and brought the
club to it's first ever showing at the USACFC Nationals.
Michael Dote - Foil Coach
Michael Dote is a private lesson Foil Coach for our newer students who
wish to do mostly private lessons in Foil. Michael has been a fencing coach at
the Brooklyn Fencing Club from 2004 to 2008 and coached at the New
Amsterdam Fencing Academy from 2016 to 2019.Many of Michael's students
have gone on to great success on the local, regional and national levels.
Professionally Michael is the Founder and CEO of Foxing Productions and the
owner of Mike Dote Photography. He has done photography for the U.S.
Olympic Fencing Team.
Brian Pan- Foil Coach
Brian began fencing at Tottenville High School in 2006 during his
sophomore year. He started taking lessons at the Staten Island Fencing
Center from Coach Stephan Khinoy. During his senior year of high school,
he co-captained theTottenville fencing team as foil captain. Brian has been
a regular at Friday night Open Fencing and has occasionally helped with
group classes on Saturdays. Brian will be giving private lessons on
Fridays and Saturdays and will be assisting Coach Danny on group
classes on Saturdays.
Outside of fencing , Brian is currently a senior at Macauay Honors
College at CUNY Baruch in his final semester. He is majoring in
Finance with a minor in Data Analytics.
