With a self-assured swagger born of years of hard work, the coach circles the pistes of Payne Whitney Gymnasium’s fencing room, observing his athletes as they engage one another in practice actions and flurries of thrusts and jabs. Followed by his ever-faithful dog, Sebastian, he directs his team, offering encouragement and guidance to all of Yale’s fencers, immersing himself amongst his athletes.

This is head coach Marat Isrealian of Yale Fencing fame. Since 2022, he has led the Bulldogs to two consecutive winning seasons and top-ten finishes in the men’s and women’s 2022-23 season. His story begins years before that in 1991.

Originally born in the Soviet Union, Marat Israelian began his fencing journey in Israel. Like many others, his family left the fallen Russian state, starting a new life within the small coastal town of Ashkelon. While not well known for its fencing or sports, Israelian soon found himself amongst the small athletic community of Ashkelon as his school’s gym teacher and local fencing coach Boris Viener — a fellow immigrant from the USSR and an Olympic men’s coach himself — directed him towards the town’s fencing club.

“It was a unique situation with a high-level coach trying to develop a high-level club,” Israelian told the News. “In my town, historically, they were épée [fencers] and [the club] had been there for a while. It developed, became really strong on a national level, and that is how I started, from gym class to trying fencing at the local club.” 

It was not until Alexey Cheremskey — an Épée Fencer for the Ukrainian National Team — immigrated to Israel that things changed for Israelian. Coming under Cheremsky’s guidance, Israelian truly embraced the sport, dueling in the Junior Fencing World individually and with the Israeli Junior National Team in 2002.

Israelian thrived in this competitive environment, battling his way through numerous opponents and frequently placing within the top twenty at Junior world cups across the globe, with his highest results coming in 2004. 

Reaching second place in the Coupe de la Paix in his hometown of Ashkelon, along with third place finishes in the Coupe Heracles Junior in Budapest, Hungary and the Trophée Mannino in Catania, Italy, he finished the year ranked tenth overall, with a peak of third place.

Around this time Israelian began to battle injuries. In spite of this, he continued to fence and ultimately landed himself a spot on the St. John’s University Fencing Squad in 2009, transitioning from the Junior League to the NCAA. From the start, he solidified himself as a strong competitor for the St. John’s team, with an NCAA Épée championship, 76–20 record, and All-American honors in his first year. This was followed by another NCAA championship and All-American honors the following year, with a triumphant record of 50-17. 

Things were not to last.

“While at St. John’s, I kept getting injured,” Israelian told the News with a slight chuckle, “It was kind of early, as an athlete, to be done at 21, but with all the injuries, I knew I was done after graduation.” 

With his career cut short, Israelian prepared to focus his life beyond the sport. Armed with a bachelor’s degrees in accounting and finance, he was readying  to enter the world of Wall Street, but when faced with problems with his immigration papers he struggled to find a financial job. 

Immediately, he started giving private fencing lessons to the local crowd of New York City and fell in love with the sport even more, now from the role of coach as opposed to athlete.

Israelian found his calling in the realm of coaching, connecting with each generation of athletes he coached, whether they were young children just starting out or older athletes bettering themselves. Through his interactions with these developing athletes, he came to appreciate the effect the sport and his coaching had on people’s lives. Embracing this, he told the News he used his financial skills to navigate securing a serious coaching position beyond his private practice. 

“I was coaching privately in Long Island when the owner [of North Shore Fencing Club] Vladimir Gofman gave me the opportunity to coach there,” Israelian said to the News. “When I was looking for a job, he was looking for a coach, and I will forever be grateful to him for the opportunity. I was not a real coach; I was more of an athlete, and he gave me the chance to develop my coaching there [at North Shore]. We started winning, and I gained confidence in my own abilities with our students doing well nationally.”

Garnering a reputation for himself, it was not long until Yale came knocking in 2018. Seeking an épée coach for the team in preparation for the Ivies, the most competitive tournament of the fencing season, the Yale Fencing Team personally reached out to him. Sensing it was time to move on from North Shore and being specifically sought after by the Yale fencing squad, Israelian began working with the Yale team as a volunteer coach, helping the team earn a tenth-place finish in the 2018 NCAA Championship. During the following season, he was officially hired as an assistant coach, helping the team to a seventh-place finish in the 2019 NCAA championship. 

Now an official member of the Yale Athletics team, Israelian faced a new adjustment in coaching the collegiate fencers. Where before he had dealt with children and teenagers, now he handled young adults, preparing for their professional life beyond college and sports.

“You can’t treat them like kids; the attitude itself is different. You got to balance things,” Israelian said. “You have to encourage them to be excellent students because they are pursuing their professional lives, while at the same time, I am the fencing coach, and I need to push them to 100 percent with their fencing, keep them checked in.”

Firmly committed to this coaching style based on his previous experiences, Israelian established himself as a premier fencing coach, loved and respected by his athletes. 

“You can tell he cares so much about the team and is really dedicated to it,” Sabreuse Stephanie Cao ’25 told the News. “It is rare to have a coach you can respect and depend on. He’s the best.”

It did not take long for Yale to appreciate Coach Israelian’s effect on the team. After his third season with the team, he was promoted to Head Coach in 2021. From his athletes’ strong performances to the enjoyable environment he fostered during training and practice, he showed his qualifications for the top job and has continued to produce strong results.

“He is a very chill guy and very good at what he does,” Foilist Nick Kim ’27 told the News. “We are able to truthfully talk about the strengths and problems of the team with him and work on it. We have very good communication, and things are only going to continue to get better.”

Now in his fourth season at the helm of the Dueling Dans, Israelian looks to the next stage of Yale Fencing, beyond the current “transition period” from the previous leadership. 

Talking about the upcoming recruitments and the long-awaited recovery from the injuries that have plagued the team, he, like his fencers, is confident that the best is yet to come. 

“We are looking to attract more recruits, and we are getting stronger. We should have a fully stacked squad next year, and we’re looking to be one of the strongest Ivies next year,” Coach said. “We are going to try to win, but we are going to do it in a way that is beneficial to athletes both athletically and personally. We are going to show who we are.”

The Bulldogs’ next tournament is the NCAA regionals on Sunday, March 9.