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After fencing at Halberstadt in the San Francisco Bay area, Iain went on to coach part time at CSU Chico. On arriving in Arizona with his wife Shawna, Iain continued to fence competitively (AZ State Foil Champion ‘02,’03) and coach (ASU) before helping to increase fencing’s profile in the Valley. “I helped lay the floor at Arizona Fencing Center and ran the first foil classes there.” In 2004 Iain joined forces with Coach Ra’ad Rabieh and the City of Mesa to run an affordable program out of the Webster Gym in Mesa, AZ (International Fencing Academy). “Ra’ad came up with the name and I thought it sounded pretentious at first, but with him being from Jordan, me from England, I was then reminded of the number of people from different countries that we’ve competed against and also become friends with. When you try fencing, you’re really part of an International experience that began in earnest at the 1896 Olympic Games.” In 2007 Coach Ra’ad left Arizona to be closer to his family and is currently coaching with the California Fencing Academy in Mountain View, CA. Coach Iain and his wife Shawna recently welcomed their son, Liam (5/4/07) to the fencing world and Iain is looking forward to getting a foil in his hand as soon as possible… |
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Iain
Shovelin (from age 12) was coached in Great Britain by Olympic foil
coach Dave Hanrahan. Competitively, Iain has fenced at both the national
and international level in Europe and came to the US 17 years ago to
teach fencing at a summer camp in Santa Cruz, CA.
