Meester Paul Corteyn
International sabre fencer, then club coach, then national coach, then an academy of his own. Belgium's most successful sabre coach of recent decades. What remains is the same idea: teach a fencer to feel what is about to happen, not what is happening.
“Action is always faster than reaction.”
Sabre since 1981. Coaching only added in 1997. In between, an active competitive career: twenty-eight Belgian titles across age groups. Between 2006 and 2010 he held the ARAB world title for Maître d'Armes, the highest international recognition for a sabre master.
Fourteen years as national sabre coach of the Royal Belgian Fencing Federation. In that period Belgian sabre fencers put down results at major championships and World Cup events. In Rio he coached the Belgian fencing team at the Olympics. As director of high-performance for the Flemish Fencing Federation, he co-built a talent-detection system that is still in use today.
Seppe Van Holsbeke qualified for the Rio Olympics under his guidance. Jules-Emile De Visscher took bronze at the Junior World Championships sabre in Tashkent. His daughter Jolien became European Champion U23 in Antalya in 2024, after earlier representing Belgium at the Youth Olympic Games in Buenos Aires. A whole generation of fencers from his stable filled out Belgian junior and senior squads.
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Three years full-time in the United States. Just over two years at Globus Fencing Academy in Dallas, then a year at Capital Fencing Academy in Washington D.C. Under his guidance Silas Choi grew into a Pan-American champion and U20 world champion. Fencers like Chris Guffey, Taylor Chon, Audrey Lin and Elijah Kim took medals at national and international competitions, with appearances and podium finishes up to zonal and world championships. As a coach he travelled with Team USA to World Cups and World Championships. At the Veteran World Championships there were several medals too: gold, individual and team, for Chris Matt and Pietro Ferrara, and bronze for Garik Gutmann.
Today he focuses on individual athletes. An approach that starts from the strength and the talent of the fencer themselves. Those who work with Meester Paul get training and planning built to measure, targeted feedback and a clear analysis. Because winning doesn't happen out of nowhere. You prepare for it, physically and mentally, and together you look at how your strengths can shine on the strip.
