Coaching

Head Coach: George Clovis, 626-395-3251, GeorgeClovis@email.msn.com

Coach George Clovis, at Westerns

[Official line on the coach, from the Athletics Department]

George Clovis enters his 21st season as head men's and women's fencing coach at Caltech.  This is actually Clovis' second stint in Pasadena.  He served as head coach from 1976-89 before taking a few years off.  He returned to Caltech as a volunteer assistant coach in 1991 and reassumed control of the Beavers fencing program in 1995.

An accomplished fencer, Clovis earned many accolades during his competitive days.  In 1971, he was a finalist in sabre at the U.S. National Championships.  During his collegiate days, Clovis won the Western Intercollegiate epee title as well as USFA individual titles in the state of Arizona in all three weapons.  In addition, he captained five Pacific Coast champion sabre squads as well as several other foil and epee medalists.  Clovis earned his B.S. in Physical Education from Arizona in 1961.  He also received his M.S. in Physical Education from Arizona in 1962.

Coach Clovis on Caltech: The education at Caltech is top class and there is an opportunity to learn a new dimension to life that most of our fencers have never experienced before. They learn to take personal and group responsibility and find that with work and commitment, they can succeed.  There is an opportunity for some to achieve at the regional and national level.  Coaching at Caltech is rewarding because I am able to help students with little or no athletic experience blossom into successful athletes, thereby gaining tremendously in self-esteem and confidence. Above all I am proud of the behavior and sportsmanship shown by our athletes through the years that I have been coaching here.

Coach Clovis on competing at Caltech as a student-athlete in fencing: Many of my fencers have stated that the best part of life at Caltech is the fencing team and that they regret not having more time to devote to it.  I have always stressed that academics come first, but fencing should be second in the student's agenda.  Caltech has won more successive saber team championships (eight) than any other school in the history of the conference, as well as one women's foil team championship. The fencing teams over the last nine years have taken great pride in these and many other notable accomplishments.
 

[Unofficial line on the coach]

George is an excellent coach for Caltech, often taking complete beginners and turning them into mid-level fencers in two to three years.  Of the seven All-Conference fencers which he's had on the team over the last two years, only one (Sara Quan) has had any prior fencing experience before college.  His mens saber squads have won ten of the last twelve conference championships, taking second the two years which they didn't win.  His women's saber squad has taken second place every year since they've started.  George realizes the limitations of student-athlete when 'student' is the prominent part of the phrase (namely, that he's training a team of geeks), and adapts his coaching style to get what he can out of each fencer.