Qualifications
 Dirk
Moonen, Maître d’Armes, is a highly experienced fencing instructor in all
three weapons (foil, épée & saber) certified both here and in Europe. He
teaches throughout the Valley and has been involved with fencing instruction
at all levels in the United States and overseas for more than forty years.
In the late sixties he directed his club’s – Cercle Royal d’Escrime La
Concorde - youth program and was the University of Virginia
women's team head coach in the mid-seventies. He is a member of various
national and international fencing academies and associations.
Maître Moonen was trained
in the finest tradition that the French (École Française d’Escrime)
and Hungarian (Magyar Vívó Iskola) Fencing Schools have to
offer, by receiving his three weapons training from among the world’s finest
Maîtres d’Armes: Léon Uyttendaele, André Verhalle (Belgium); Yves &
Léon Auriol, Alex Beguinet, Guy Piedfer (France); Jean Coulon (Luxembourg);
Gábor Borgnár, Dr. István Nemere, Péter Fröhlich, Antal Solti, András Szabó
(Hungary); Ed Korfanty, Dr. Jerzy Wezowksi (Poland); Gary
Copeland, Michael Marx (USA).
He had a late start in
fencing, two weeks short of his 18th birthday, but soon enough he
represented Belgium as a junior sabreur and was to represent its colors
again in 1971 on the national foil team at the World Championships. He has
been Arizona’s State saber champion on five occasions and took second at the
1978 Rocky Mountain Sectionals in both saber and foil. Shortly after the
start of his fencing career, he was awarded the Certificat d'Escrime suma
cum laude by Belgium’s Royal Academy with congratulations from the jury,
for placing first out of more than 70 participants.
Dirk is a
graduate from ADEPS (Administration d’Éducation Physique et des
Sports) and the USFA Coaches College at Colorado Springs’
U.S. Olympic Training Center that certified him as Fencing Coach III in
all three weapons. He completed the American Red Cross requirements
for "Adult and Child CPR" and "Sports Safety Training; he is an Armorer II
certified by the USFA Armorers College, and a nationally ranked
referee.
He is qualified to teach stage combat, better know these days as Artistic Fencing (Escrime Artistique), choreographed medieval and Renaissance combat. In 2004 he started training with Maîtres Claude
Carliez, Jean Promard, Liliane Delavaquerie, Claude Duprez & Jean Van
Pevenage. He teaches stage combat rapier with or without dagger, and has
choreographed the swordplay in “Moon over Buffalo” for Desert
Foothills Theater. He has coauthored a book on the dueling sword, and is
currently doing research on 19th
century duels; his findings are to be published in a foreseeable future.
Even with his
extensive credentials, Dirk is continually seeking every opportunity to
upgrade his craft by attending coaches’ colleges and clinics in Europe and
the United States during the summer months.
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