The people here
More Than a Fencing Club
When you join Marin Fencing Academy, you become part of something much larger than our club.
You become part of one of the world’s oldest and most respected sporting communities — one that stretches from local beginner classes to the Olympic Games. Whether you’re eight years old or eighty, every fencer shares the same values of respect, sportsmanship, discipline, and lifelong learning.
At MFA, those values create a community where friendships often last far longer than any single competition.
Connected to the Olympic fencing community
As a member club of USA Fencing, Marin Fencing Academy is part of the official governing body for Olympic fencing in the United States — and through it, of the international structure the sport is run under worldwide.
Throughout the year, our members train, compete, and build friendships with athletes from clubs across Northern California and beyond. Our monthly USA Fencing sanctioned tournaments regularly bring together fencers from dozens of clubs, creating opportunities to compete, learn from one another, and strengthen the regional fencing community.
Many visiting coaches, Olympians, referees, and athletes have trained, competed, or taught at MFA over the years, making our academy a gathering place for the sport throughout the Bay Area.
Beyond the fencing strip
Community doesn’t end when practice is over.
Marin Fencing Academy proudly partners with local schools by providing accredited physical education programs that introduce students to Olympic fencing in a safe, structured environment. For many children, their very first experience with fencing begins through one of these school partnerships.
Our academy also hosts community events throughout the year:
- Art exhibitions featuring local artists
- Wine and cheese socials
- Open houses and family events
- Club celebrations
- Visiting coaches and special clinics
- Community demonstrations and outreach programs
These gatherings bring together families, athletes, artists, educators, and neighbours — creating connections that extend well beyond the sport itself.
A place where everyone belongs
One of the most remarkable things about fencing is who you’ll meet.
On any given evening you’ll find children training beside grandparents, beginners learning from national champions, engineers fencing teachers, physicians fencing artists, and students sharing the strip with business leaders. Few sports bring together such a diverse group of people united by a common passion.
Friendships form across generations, professions, cultures, and backgrounds. On the fencing strip, everyone speaks the same language.
Part of Marin
For more than fifty years, Marin Fencing Academy has been proud to call San Rafael home. We believe a fencing club should also be a neighbourhood gathering place — a place where families feel welcome, students grow into mentors, visitors become friends, and the community comes together around something positive.
Whether you’re visiting for your first lesson, competing in a tournament, attending an art show, or simply stopping by to watch a practice, you’re always welcome at MFA.
One club. Hundreds of journeys. Thousands of friendships. A community built one touch at a time.
“[The épée] is a democratic weapon.”
Julio Martínez CastellóThe Theory and Practice of Fencing, 1933