Our Coaches
Who We Are
Rylan Delap
Executive Director/Head Coach
Coach Rylan is one of the highest rated referee officials for United States Fencing and officiates internationally as well. He is one of the few Certified Referee Instructors (CRI) for US Fencing and is able to certify new US Fencing referees.
Rylan competed on the Varsity Fencing Team at Penn State where he fenced with members of the National and Olympic Team for the USA and his Penn State team earned the NCAA Championship title in 2014. Rylan was originally taught fencing in Birmingham under Yuanjing Wang and Hongyun Sun, both national team and olympic level fencers/coaches from China. He also trained under Maestro Walid Mahran. He was later coached by Gia Abashidze at Penn State and has proceeded to work with coaches all around the world to continuously pursue stronger abilities as a teacher. Rylan has already coached multiple national medalists and champions in his coaching career.
334-497-4027
Tatiana Gitcevich
Program Director & Head Coach
Coach Tatiana has an advanced degree in Sports Education for Fencing from University in St. Petersburg, Russia. She has coached at the St. Petersburg Olympic Sports School for over 5 years and has produced championship fencers for the Russian Federation. Tatiana was also champion and finalist of many national competitions of the Russian Federation. She is also recognized as a Provost of Fleuret by the United States Coaching Association.
Reis Gordon
Epee Coach
Coach Reis competed for NYU on the varsity squad, practicing and competing with olympians and national teams members. While training in New York he was coached by Kornel Udvarhelyi, Olympian Ben Bratton, and Guillermo Madrigal. Reis began fencing with Maestro Les Stawicki at Louisville fencing center, he moved to Denver Fencing Center and learned from Nathan Anderson and Olympian Maciej Czyowicz, then to Tampa Fencing Academy training under Boyko Krastevich. Reis has competed locally, regionally, nationally, and internationally.
Yuanjing Wang
Emeritus Foil Coach
Coach Yuanjing Wang holds an advanced degree in fencing and has coached fencing for over 25 years. He served as a Chinese National Fencing Team Coach and Head Coach for the Tianjin Fencing Club before coming to Birmingham in 1998. As a competitor in foil, he earned a long list of national medals, including Chinese National Foil Champion.
Coach Wang is also an internationally rated referee and refereed in the 1992 and 1996 Olympic Games.
Rebecca Sun
Emeritus Foil Coach
As a competitor in foil and epee, Coach Hongyun Sun has earned a long list of national and international medals including a 7th individual and a 5th team place in the 1988 Seoul Olympic Games.
Hongyun holds a degree in fencing and has coached fencing for over 20 years. In addition, Coach Sun is a highly ranked national referee and USA Veteran Champion.