The Salle · Our lineage

Fencing is taught by someone, not by something.

For centuries a fencer learned inside a salle d'armes — a hall of arms — under a master, who had learned from his own master before him. The technique, the discipline and the manners of the sport passed hand to hand down that line. In The Woodlands, that line is unbroken, and it runs three generations deep.

Three generations of the blade

Our head coach did not learn fencing from a manual. He learned it from an Olympic medalist — who happened to be his father.

The first master

Klavdiy Yadlovsky

A Soviet fencing master and coach, and the teacher of Georgi Zazhitskiy. The beginning of the line that reaches our strip today.

Olympian · World Champion

Georgi Zazhitskiy

Soviet épée fencer for Dynamo. World Champion with the USSR team in Havana, 1969. Olympic bronze medalist in the team event, Munich 1972. Three-time European Cup winner. Later head coach of the Estonian épée team.

Our head coach

Khariton Zazhitskiy

Took up the blade in 1978 under his father's instruction. National champion, international competitor, and for more than fifteen years the master of this salle in The Woodlands.

Every child who takes a first lesson here is handed something that began long before this building existed.

Khariton Zazhitskiy

As a fencer

Member of the Estonian and Soviet Union national teams · 1982–1993
National Champion of the USSR · team épée
National Champion of Estonia
World Cup finalist
Master of Sport of the USSR · awarded 1983
Began fencing in 1978, in Tallinn, under his father

As a coach, before Texas

Coached to national and international success in Estonia and the USSR
Trained national team members who represented their countries at World Championships and the Olympic Games

In The Woodlands, since 2009

Students selected to the USA Junior National Team
NCAA champions
North American Cup medalists
Junior Olympic medalists

Khariton Zazhitskiy fencing in a USA jacket at the salle — Coach Zazhitskiy with a national-team fencer at the salle.

A young fencer taking an individual lesson from the coach — The individual lesson — where fencing is actually taught.

How we teach here

The classical method begins with the feet. Before a beginner is allowed to think about scoring, they learn to stand, to advance, to retreat, and to hold the blade correctly — because everything a fencer will ever do rests on those first weeks. It is unglamorous, and it is why our fencers still look like fencers ten years later.

Then comes the individual lesson: coach and student alone on the strip, blade against blade. This is the heart of the European tradition and it cannot be delivered to a crowded room. It is where a coach learns what a particular child is made of, and where a child learns that someone is paying complete attention.

And the salute. Every bout begins and ends with it — to the opponent, to the referee, to the room. We are strict about it, because a sport practiced with a blade in hand should teach respect before anything else.

[Coach's own words on what he looks for in a young fencer — to be captured in his voice.] — Khariton Zazhitskiy

What our fencers have done

Since 2009, fencers trained in this salle have reached the levels below. Some came to us as complete beginners at seven years old.

USA Junior Team

Students selected to represent the United States at junior international level.

NCAA champions

Fencers who went on to compete — and win — in collegiate fencing.

North American Cup

Medalists at the national circuit that determines U.S. rankings.

Junior Olympics

Medalists at the USA Fencing Junior Olympic Championships.

Training at the salle, with college pennants along the wall — Training at the salle. [Alumni names and universities to be added]

Meet the coach on the strip

The best way to understand any salle is to stand in it. An assessment lesson is forty-five minutes with the coach — and an honest conversation afterwards about your child.

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