New York, NY (Oct… 2021) — Tim Morehouse Fencing Club’s newest coach is also one of its OG members.
Kata Várhelyi trained with Tim Morehouse at TMFC in its early days, and now six years later, she’s returning as a coach to work with fencers of all ages, working to instill her love of the sport in them.
Várhelyi is an accomplished saber fencer-turned-coach. An eight-year member of the Hungarian National Team, she’s won an incredible amount of medals, including:
Gold, European Championship, Cadet WS team, 2009, 2010;
Gold, European Championship, Cadet WS team, 2010, 2011;
Gold, Cadet World Championship, 2008
Silver, Cadet World Championship, 2009
Gold, European Championship Junior WS, 2012
Gold, World Cup, Junior WS and many, many more.
Várhelyi started coaching in 2014 and quickly grew to appreciate the impact she could make on young fencers.
Born and raised in Budapest, she attended the Corvinus University of Budapest, graduating with a degree in international relations in 2015. Várhelyi started fencing at age six at the club BVSC in Budapest, then switched to "Honvéd" in Budapest in 2016, where she is still a member. In the US, she has trained at the Manhattan Fencing Center, but switched to Tim Morehouse Fencing Club upon its opening in 2015. In her spare time she enjoys dancing, reading and writing poetry and doing jigsaw puzzles which help her think.
Get to know Coach Kata in her own words:
How/when did you start fencing?
I started fencing at the age of six. I actually wanted to do water polo as a kid, which is a really popular sport in Hungary. My mom did not want me to — she didn’t want me to get too muscular. My sister had a trial lesson at her school and she fell in love with fencing, and since we did everything together back then, I followed her to the fencing club.
Is there something you learned from a coach or fellow fencer early on that has stuck with you?
A former coach of mine used to quote a line from the movie/book Peaceful Warrior: “A warrior does not give up what he loves, he finds the love in what he does.” I used to think you need results to be great. This coach taught me that greatness is achieved by loving what you do every day.
When did you start coaching? For you how are they related/separate?
I started coaching in 2014, and at first, I really did not like it. I felt like I didn't know enough to be teaching. I quickly realized the impact I am having on the kids and that scared me a lot. This eventually made me work harder at my own practice. The feeling of not knowing enough drove me to apply to philosophy school and take several other classes about how the human body and brain work.
What is your philosophy when it comes to coaching beginners? Coaching more experienced fencers?
Overall I think the most important part is to make the students love what they're doing. As a coach, I need to make sure a beginner falls in love with the sport. Sport is something that can turn anyone into a better, healthier person.
In my experience, the most common mistake for more experienced fencers is that they start to get burned out. Having too many or very similar practices and focusing on winning tournaments can take the fun out of the whole thing. I know this because it happened to me. My goal is for my students to always love what they're doing. What could be more important than that?
How are you different from other fencing coaches?
For me, the physical and mental well-being of a student will always come first. I saw a lot of cases (including myself for a long time) where results were more important than learning, growing, being healthy and having fun. Goals and results are important for people to learn a certain set of skills — like how to work towards something and how to fight for something — but it is not the reason we do sports. I think Tim and I have this in common which makes us a great team.
What do you think is your expertise within weapons?
I have always been a saber fencer — that's what I do best and it is what I teach.
Any cool, offbeat or fun hobbies?
I started dancing about half a year ago, and I am completely in love with it. Apart from this, I write a lot of poems, and I love jigsaw puzzles. I am also obsessed with huskies - I cannot wait to adopt one.
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Tim Morehouse Fencing Club is the premier fencing club in the area, offering fencing lessons in Manhattan, Westchester (Port Chester), and Connecticut (Stamford). With instruction available in saber, foil, and epee fencing, TMFC has programs for all levels of experience and competition.