About US
Our Philosophy
We welcome you to Elite Zone Fencing Academy at the start of our journey. Though the team is experienced you will feel our special attention towards your success, and inspiration. We hold the complete person as valuable and grow the young fencer as well as develop the experienced player. There are so many concepts to learn in this journey, where once the fencer qualifies based on age, they can expect to have a fairly good shot of competing in a Junior Olympics. This is what good coaching, inspired thinking, and consistent hard work accomplish.
Lessons such as Delayed gratification, Learning as a goal, Cultivating a positive mindset, Hard work and its payoff are best learnt in a sport that is both intellectual and physical.
Our founders have decades of experience in non-profit work developing and growing children grades 1-12, as well as in running fencing clubs to success.
ELITE Staff and Founders
Ritaank Tiwari
CEO
Ritaank earned his A rating in Epee in 2017 while a junior in High School. He fenced for his university team (MIT) for nearly 4 years (interrupted by Covid) and was the captain of the Fencing Team (three weapons) in 2022. During graduation he was recognized and honored with a Sports Excellence award. He now works as an engineer at a high-tech company in the bay area. You can come to the club and find him and his brother Vedaank fencing or helping other fencers enjoy the sport.
Sandeep Tiwari
President and Cofounder
Sandeep has run several organizations and was the president of TFC for around 10 years taking them from near bankruptcy to an 8 coach club with impressive results and one of finest fencing environments till 2021, you can now find him at ELITE. He also ran a non-profit Language teaching organization with over 1,000 students (at its peak) and 110 teachers. He authored 2 books. His passion for fencing started in 1996 with Foil. During high school he represented his school in 4 sports, 3 competitively. Sandeep has learnt five languages, including Hindi, French and Japanese. He teaches Meditation and Yoga.
Yamini Mitter
Club Manager and Cofounder
Yamini was the front office manager at TFC working for Sandeep for 3 years. She is a champion of the student fencers and loves to learn and grow organizations. She works selflessly and brings a cheerful and loving kindness to the room. She runs the operations and the client management at ELITE. Yamini also runs a boutique clothing business and is the co-host of a podcast called The Online Samosa.