Fencing in Baltimore

Coach Austin Young

Austin Young is the head coach of the Johns Hopkins University fencing program. He has coached the Blue Jays to 307 wins and seven MACFA Championships (as of August 2021). Prior to his JHIU career, he served as the owner and head coach of the Clinton Fencing Club in Lebanon, NJ, for six years. His duties included planning and leading group practices for all skill levels and giving individual lessons in all three weapons.

Additionally, Coach Austin was an assistant men’s fencing coach at Rutgers University during the 1997 through 1999 seasons. He is a 1996 graduate of Rutgers University, with a degree in finance.

Coach Austin also heads Homewood Fencing Club, the “civilian” branch of fencing at the JHU venue. While dormant during the first 18 months of the pandemic, the club now again offers instruction to beginners, novices, and highly competitive fencers.

Coach Austin will be resuming youth classes as soon as current COVID considerations allow for predictable and regular practice again.

Coach J. Christoph Amberger 

A Baltimore City prosecutor by day, a fencing coach at night, Coach Chris started fencing in 1984 at the University of Aberdeen in Scotland. He’s competed in Germany, Britain, and the United States in all three weapons, but has been focusing on epee for the past 15 years.

As a student at the Freie Universität Berlin and Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, he fought seven “Mensuren” with the Schläger — a uniquely German cutting sword. Chris also has dabbled in escrima (Filipino stick fighting), aiki-bokken (Japanese wooden sword) and aiki-jo (Japanese short staff), as well as in various European and Japanese martial arts.  He is an avid collector of fencing weapons and books and has written the one or other piece on historical fencing. If you want to have a peek at his collection, visit his FencingClassics.

Coach Chris taught the Epee program for both youth and adult fencers at the now-defunct Baltimore Fencing Center since 2009 and at Baltimore MidAtlantic Fencing Academy from 2018-2020. During the pandemic, he spear-headed the Baltimore Epee Nomads’ efforts to keep epee fencing alive in the Baltimore area.