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 private lesson Epee Coach and teaching Foil & Epee and 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 Stephen Khinoy 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! Evan is currently training to master Saber Fencing.
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 Head Coach Danny Assad, Brian Pan, John LaSorsa & 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 45 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 - Armorer
David Godovich, David is our 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.
Brian Pan- Foil Coach
Brian began fencing at Tottenville High School in 2016 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 the Tottenville fencing team as foil captain. Brian has been a regular at Friday night Open Fencing. Brian gives
private lessons on Fridays and Saturdays and now Coaches our Cavaliere Group classes on Saturdays and assists with our other Group classes.
Outside of fencing , Brian graduated from Macauay Honors
College at CUNY Baruch, he majored in Finance with a minor in
Data Analytics. Brian is now a financial analyst at Ocean Road Advisors.
John LaSorsa- Foil Coach
John LaSorsa is the SIFC Foil Coach for both Private Lessons and our group classes. John is one of the Fencing coaches at Tottenville High School as well as a teacher of history. John also coaches fencing at St. Joseph by-the-Sea High School. John is the Coach of our Musketeer Saturday morning class and our Dueler class on Sundays.
Jadon Osorio - Assistant Jr Coach
Jadon born on Staten Island and was a student at New Dorp Christian Academy from 2012 to 2021and now attends Gaynor McCown Expeditionary High School and will graduate 2015. Jadon had interest in sword fighting, martial arts, learned Taekwondo, Kung Fu, Karate, katana & kick boxing and has been fencing for the last 4 years.
Jadon joins our staff as a Jr Coach to assist our coaching staff. Outside of fencing Jadon has interest in theology, philosophy, politics & psychology.
