Two Ravens Coaching Staff
Meet the instructors shaping the next generation of fencers and historical martial artists.
Head Coach, Brian Stone
Coach Brian Stone hails from New Jersey, one of the most competitive environments for modern fencing in the United States. Brian fenced epee on the University of Notre Dame’s Division I fencing team from 1994-1998, served as men’s epee team captain, and earned 1st Team All-American and team MVP honors. Ever a student of swords and sword history, Coach Brian utilizes his 35 years of fencing and coaching experience, research, and knowledge to teach an array of strategies and techniques to anyone interested in learning.
Coach Brian brings his passion and high fencing excellence to competitions, earning top ratings at local, regional, and national events. Ranked in the top 2% of rapier fighters worldwide by HEMA Ratings, he is widely recognized as Northeast Ohio’s foremost authority on the art of rapier. Brian also shares his expertise by teaching seminars at schools and tournaments across the Greater Cleveland area.
Coach Brian brings his passion and high fencing excellence to competitions, earning top ratings at local, regional, and national events. He teaches seminars at schools and tournaments throughout the area. Brian’s greatest enjoyment is seeing his students learn and compete well. A number of his students in both sport fencing and HEMA have earned top finishes in local, regional, national, and international competitions.
Instructor, Jeff Rodachy
Born and raised in the area of Cleveland, Ohio, Jeff discovered fencing in 1998 while he was looking for a hobby after college. Like many a nerd, the prospect of stabbing people immediately appealed to him, and he has been an active epee fencer ever since. Along the way, he has spent years overseeing Northern Ohio Division events as the Bout Committee Chair, and worked for 15 years or so as a Local/Regional/National fencing referee, earning his “5” rating in both epee and foil under the old referee rating system.
Now Jeff is focused on refining his own fencing so he can be a scourge on the Regional and National Veteran circuit, as well as bringing the fencing concepts he has learned to the newer epee fencers so that they may develop further in the sport.
Instructor, John Dunn
John became a lifelong Star Wars fan when he found an R2-D2 trading card in a Wonder Bread package before the movie came out in 1977. In the years since, he has written for the licensed line of Star Wars Tabletop Roleplaying Games. He has trained in lightsaber combat for several years and served as a member of The Saber Legion council. He sees the sport as a fun path to improving fitness.
Instructor, AJ Trefney
AJ is an eclectic martial artist. He first started sword fighting as a teenager using boken in the woods with friends. Many broken fingers later, he moved on to such diverse arts as high school wrestling, jiu jitsu, boffer fighting, soo bahk do, escrima, kick boxing, and eventually Olympic saber fencing.
After three years of saber fencing, AJ transitioned into HEMA in 2018. He mostly trains longsword, but also studies dagger, messer, side sword, mounted combat (swords, spears, and bows), archery, and saber. Basically, if he can hit you with it, he’s interested. AJ has had success competing in HEMA tournaments at the local and national level, but his favorite part is watching his students win.