Ontario Fencing Association Announces Coaching Staff for Ontario Summer Games
OFA Nominates 65 Athletes to Participate in Mississauga Games, August 11 to 14
OFA, July 26, 2016: The Ontario Fencing Association (OFA), is pleased to announce the coaching staff for the upcoming Ontario Summer Games to be held in Mississauga, August 11 to 14.
“The OFA is planning a comprehensive program for our fencers during the Games”, declared OFA President, Lucie Hamelin. “We have an impressive coaching staff assembled for the event, whose goal it will be to help prepare and mentor our 65 qualified and registered athletes in their participation. We’re excited about what they can offer.”
Mississauga is ready to welcome more than 3,500 athletes, ages 12 to 18, along with 500 officials, 700 coaches and managers as well as spectators from across the province. There are a total of 34 sport events taking place over four days throughout Mississauga and surrounding municipalities such as Brampton, Caledon, Etobicoke, Innisfil and Welland.
The fencing competitions at the Summer Games include qualified male and female athletes in all three weapons (Epee, Foil and Sabre) in both the Cadet (U17) and Under 15 age categories.
The female team consists of 31 athletes and will be led by head coach Katya Belkina and assisted by Monique Kavelaars.
Katya Belkina Female Team Head Coach |
Monique Kavelaars Female Team Assistant Coach |
Belkina is owner and operator of My Fencing Club in Toronto, whose focus is on youth development, with a goal to raise high performance athletes to compete in Canadian and international competitions. A former high performance athlete, Belkina has trained and competed with Team Canada for World Cup events and coached a member of the Canadian Women’s foil team that won the first gold medal at a World Cup event (Poland 2012). For the past three years she has worked with high performance athletes and coaches at Provincial and National training camps as well as coached at the Canadian and US Nationals, Junior World Cups and previous Summer Games.
Kavelaars has a background in Sports Psychology and is a former fencer who competed for 15 years at an elite level representing Canada at Olympic and Pan Am Games. Since retiring from fencing, Kavelaars had been living in Sweden, working within the professional Sports environment as a High Performance Coordinator, developing new testing standards and working individually with athletes who were selected for the Swedish national team. Returning to Canada last year, Kavelaars has been working with Peter Ho at the Toronto Fencing Club, as a physical trainer with club athletes.
The male team consists of 34 athletes and will be led by head coach Jason Munro and assisted by Marc-André LeBlanc.
Jason Munro Male Team Head Coach |
Marc-André LeBlanc Male Team Assistant Coach |
Munro was last season’s OUA Coach of the Year, his first year as Head Coach at York University. He is also the current Head Coach and President of Bluffs Fencing Studio in Scarborough. Prior to coaching, he spent 16 years as a competitive fencer in Ontario.
LeBlanc is currently a Coach and the Assistant Director of Coaching at Vango Toronto Fencing Centre. Originally from New Brunswick, LeBlanc has also held various coaching roles with the University Ottawa, Ottawa Fencing, Moncton Fencing Club and Fencing Escrime New Brunswick. He has been coaching in Ontario for 10 years, working closely with athletes on technique, fitness, and written training plans.
The 2016 Ontario Summer Games in Mississauga is brought to you by the Province of Ontario, the City of Mississauga and Tourism Toronto. For a detailed list of competitions, locations, news and updates about the Games, visit: osgmississauga.ca. Follow the Ontario Summer Games on Twitter and use the hashtag #Bringithome.
For more information on the OFA, visit www.fencingontario.ca and follow all the fencing competitions at the Summer Games on our Facebook page: www.facebook.com/OntarioFencing
A full roster of fencing athletes is included below.
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For further information, please contact:
Laurence Bishop, OFA Executive Director
(519) 496-0613 or l.bishop@fencingontario.ca
Ontario Summer Games Rosters
Female Team
Katya Belkina | Toronto | Head Coach |
Monique Kavelaars | Burlington | Assistant Coach |
Rachel Gilham | Milton | Cadet Epee |
Evelyn Zheng | Toronto | Cadet Epee |
Olga Nova | Mississauga | Cadet Epee |
Linda Liu | North York | Cadet Epee |
Kira Belaoussoff | Toronto | Cadet Epee |
Anna Maria Mucsi | Toronto | Cadet Epee |
Cindy Ma | Toronto | U15 Epee |
Hannah Draper | Ottawa | U15 Epee |
Sarah Nolasque | Oakville | U15 Epee |
Laura Mykhalchenko | Georgetown | U15 Epee |
Evangeline Dryburgh | Marmra | Cadet Foil |
Erika Dominguez | Oakville | Cadet Foil |
Annie Lin | Richmond Hill | Cadet Foil |
Serena Fang | Toronto | Cadet Foil |
Isabella Ravenne Sabatini | Stratford | Cadet Foil |
Corinne Balot | Toronto | Cadet Foil |
Miriam Tam | Toronto | U15 Foil |
Yiling Yang | North York | U15 Foil |
Caroline Placko | Toronto | U15 Foil |
Genevieve Bessette | Navan | U15 Foil |
Catherine Koziarz | Fonthill | U15 Foil |
Stefania Haase | Toronto | Cadet Sabre |
Esther Falkson | Kingston | Cadet Sabre |
Nandana Parakh | Niagara Falls | Cadet Sabre |
Nadia Fernandez | Mississauga | Cadet Sabre |
Astrid Chandler | Toronto | Cadet Sabre |
Chloe Cyr | Hamilton | U15 Sabre |
Lizzie Alam | Toronto | U15 Sabre |
Ariane Mayrand Nicol | Inverary | U15 Sabre |
Caroline Whitehead | Kingston | U15 Sabre |
Gorczyca-Rancourt | Kingston | U15 Sabre |
Male Team
Jason Munro | Scarborough | Head Coach |
Marc-André LeBlanc | Markham | Assistant Coach |
Nathaniel Stokan | London | Cadet Epee |
Jon Costa | Woodbridge | Cadet Epee |
Alexander Zwegers | Mississauga | Cadet Epee |
D.J. Holtz | Kingston | Cadet Epee |
Jake Gouchie-Provencher | Markham | Cadet Epee |
Chengming Jacky Jia | Richmond Hill | Cadet Epee |
Colin McCurdy | Oshawa | U15 Epee |
Benedek Szabo | Toronto | U15 Epee |
Jason Li | Markham | U15 Epee |
Alexander Androsyuk | Etobicoke | U15 Epee |
Ted Vinnitchouk | Thornhill | U15 Epee |
Aidan Macro | Reaboro | Cadet Foil |
Gareth Marks | Stratford | Cadet Foil |
Jiaqi Cheng | Thornhill | Cadet Foil |
Craig Humphrey | Baden | Cadet Foil |
Darren Dong | Mississauga | Cadet Foil |
Kingsley Guo | Markham | Cadet Foil |
Michael Sun | Richmond Hill | U15 Foil |
Ethan Haines | Oakville | U15 Foil |
Matthew Sun | Richmond Hill | U15 Foil |
Niki Holland | Exeter | U15 Foil |
Finn Gilchrist | Orleans | U15 Foil |
Burke Willson | Milton | Cadet Sabre |
Aaron Olmstead | Kingston | Cadet Sabre |
Drake Johnson | Lansdowne | Cadet Sabre |
Hugo Clements | Belleville | Cadet Sabre |
Ben Hueglin | Kingston | Cadet Sabre |
Angus McFadden | Belleville | Cadet Sabre |
Fabian van der Merwe | Kingston | U15 Sabre |
Noah Jewell | Granton | U15 Sabre |
Pranav Parakh | Niagara Falls | U15 Sabre |
James Kasunic | Acton | U15 Sabre |
Chase Helpard | Kingston | U15 Sabre |
Karl Stang | St Catharines | U15 Sabre |