About the Coach
Chris Spencer
Head Coach, Fencing
Haverford College
370 Lancaster Avenue
Haverford, PA 19041
610-896-1342 (phone)
610-896-4220 (fax)
cspencer@haverford.edu
Chris Spencer enters his third year as head coach of the Haverford College fencing programs. In his first season he directed the women's team to their best finish ever at the National Intercollegiate Women's Fencing Association (NIWFA) Championship and coached two fencers to the NCAA Championships.
During the 2008-09 season Spencer's women captured its first Eastern Women's Fencing Conference (EWFC) Championship. In addition, Emma Buckingham '10 was named EWFC Epeeist of the Year. On the men's side, Remy Olson '11 (epee) and Max Rosen-Long '09 (foil) won weapons titles at the New England Championships.
Prior to Haverford, Spencer was head coach at Mount Holyoke College. He is just the fourth mentor in the 75-year history of Haverford's varsity fencing program. Spencer inherits the Fords' successful tradition created by coaches Henri Gordon (1932-82), Jim Murray (1982-2001) and David Littell (2001-07).
A competitive fencer for more than 15 years, Spencer began fencing under coach Hank Powell at Hopkins High School in New Haven, Conn. He attended Brandeis University and obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree in politics with a minor in anthropology. A foil fencer for Judges coach Bill Shipman, he was an Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) finalist and a two-time qualifier to the all-divisions NCAA Championships. Spencer was also a Division II finalist in foil at the 1993 USFA National Championships.
Spencer was later an instructor at the Boston Fencing Club, where he studied under former Soviet guru Pavel Zelikman for four years. Spencer trained in Pisa, Italy, for two years before moving to Northampton, Mass., in the fall of 2002. He became interim director of the Northampton Fencing Center in 2003 and established a junior program there. Moving to Mount Holyoke in 2005, he built a successful club team involving 30 competitive fencers. Spencer has also served as an assistant to Wellesley College head fencing coach Gamil Kaliouby.
His students believe that Spencer is a terrific motivator and freely shares his joy of fencing. He says that "training and competition are important exercises in self-discovery and personal growth." In other pursuits, Spencer is an accomplished artist of murals and canvas paintings, and pen and ink illustrations; having studied at Scuola d'Arte Lorenzo de' Medici in Florence, Italy, and at the Art Institute of Boston.