Amazing club Coach Tony is definitely the best. His knowledge is excellent.. great club to be a part of

I started with HFC when I was around 15. At the time there may have been one other club in existence. I have gone to JOs for multiple years in the past and gone up to Nationals multiple times also. I fenced through college on a NCAA team and can say that Coach Nishimura has been the best coach I have ever had for fencing. I would say that his teaching is a mix of old school and new. He's old school in that he starts students off with really learning the basics before giving them a practice weapon. None of the instant gratification of a weapon in hand on the first day to sell it to students. You have to earn it. I can't stress enough that a fencing sword is still a weapon. You can seriously injure another person. You can pierce your sword through the length of another persons forearm even. Coach Nishimura's lessons are excellent and teaches students the finer points of fencing on many levels. I would agree that this is a serious club and that the participants are there to become better fencers. His teaching style is much like the competitive ones found on the mainland. He has updated his style of teaching as the weapons have evolved over time due to changes in rules. It is very up to date, and he incorporates his own experience and insight in to the lessons. I don't think there is a more experienced fencing teacher on Oahu. As a serious fencing teacher, the lessons can be seen as strict to others who have never trained in a martial art. HFC has excellent fencers that you can practice against to raise your still level, especially if you plan on fencing on the mainland. HFC is up to date on how judges call on the mainland and has some of the only USFA rated judges on the island. If you are serious about fencing, HFC is a great salle and Coach Nishimura is hands down best fencing coach on Oahu. read more

I have been doing a lot of reflecting lately and wondered how my old fencing club was doing. After reading the negative reviews on this page, I felt compelled to write my sincere feelings about the club. I started fencing at HFC in 2012, I was around 11, and I continued to practice there until 2018 when I moved to the mainland for college. The club's atmosphere is excellent; everyone there is motivated to practice, learn, and improve. Coach Nishimura is one of the best coaches I have ever had in any sport I've participated in. Personally, I am amazed at the amount of time and energy he spent developing me as a fencer and as a person. I'm not a fast learner, nor was I a very responsible child. His instruction requires a certain level of maturity and motivation for self-improvement. Not only in fencing but also on a personal level. He is blunt and will not hesitate to criticize what's wrong. Indeed, he does not take in every student, as is his prerogative as a coach. He wants to know his students and their motivations. If this rubs you the wrong way, then you may want to seek another instructor. However, if you can prove to Tony that you want to learn and improve yourself, you will find no better instructor on this island. read more

The tone of Tony Nishimura's email says it all. We simply asked for lessons, not the condescension. See his email to us below. Thanks for your inquiry into my program. May I ask how it is that your son has his gear already? Isn't that rather putting the cart before the horse? I don't accept all students. If I may, why don't you and Aiden stop by for a meet and greet. You can see what it is that I do and I can asses if I want to work with him. There is another club in town so you might want to see if it might be a good fit for you both. I teach 5 nights a week from 5:30, Mon-Fri. Let me know if you'd like to stop by. What other activities is he involved in? How many days a week can you commit to fencing? What is his general level of fitness? Is fencing his idea or yours? What is it you want to get out of fencing? Again thanks and let me know if you'd like to stop by. read more

Today I inquired about lessons with Tony. Was turned down immediately because I happen to fence at a different club once a week. Seriously?! I'm 58. Not a kid trying to get a school scholarship. He knows nothing about me. I just want to learn the sport. As a possible instructor, I'm pretty disgusted with his attitude. I would hope Tony would want to promote the sport, not turn prospective students away. Pretty sad that, that is his attitude. I guess he just doesn't want my money. I'll be happy to not give it to him and it's a bummer as I really want to become a fencer. read more

Great group of people! I've been coming to this fencing club for a couple years now and really enjoy this laid back club. Lessons are given in foil, epee, and sabre by Coach Tony. I would recommend reaching out to the Coach first (or the Facebook page) before visiting to ensure they're open on the day you want to visit. read more

Our 16 year old son, who has several years of fencing experience, recently took six lessons from Coach Nishimura. While the instruction was adequate - definitely old school - we found the coach to be rude and unprofessional. Unforeseen conflicts required us to cancel a few lessons. We had prepaid for these and the contract specifies that reimbursements will not be made. This was fine. However, without warning the coach terminated the private lessons via e-mail. Evidently he doesn't understand conflicts. But he didn't even bother to tell our son the reason for his decision. To add insult to injury, the coach didn't bother to notify us that one of our prepaid lessons was scheduled for a date that he was to be away on the mainland. We had given him the exact dates with the check and he didn't even bother to let us know. So we ended up driving at rush hour to that lesson and the coach wasn't there. (By the way, Nuuanu in the evening is a nightmare for driving - we also had problems parking sometimes.) After Mr. Nishimura let us know that he didn't want to give private lessons to our son, we attempted to get a refund for the lesson that never occurred. Coach Nishimura wrote a series of nasty little e-mails saying that we had signed the contract and that he thought he had mentioned his travel plans to my wife. He had not. Unfortunately, there aren't many fencing options in Honolulu. However, that does not excuse Coach Nishimura's failure to communicate with his student. We had heard several negative second hand stories about this coach but we decided to give him the benefit of the doubt. Unless you are a glutton for punishment, don't make our mistake. And if you have a child who wants to fence, there is nothing more discouraging than a coach who e-mails your parents out of the blue with a message that says the coach won't teach you because he "doesn't seem able to click" with you. No words of encouragement, no explanation, just rejection - without even the courtesy of saying so face to face. We have three teenagers who have participated from a very young age in fencing, water polo, basketball, soccer, track, cross country, martial arts, hula, volleyball, swimming, lacrosse, and a number other activities. Without a doubt, Coach Nishimura has been the worst coach/instructor that we have ever encountered. read more

As an HFC alum currently living on the mainland, I can only speak for the club several years ago when I lived in Hawaii. But when I was there HFC was very much a club that took its fencing seriously. This made the club an excellent place to develop as a fencer. While the fencers were quite friendly and sociable, it was clear that what principally attracted them to the club was the opportunity to improve their fencing. I am frankly baffled by the negative review from March of 2012. I have never known Coach Nishimura to be anything other than courteous and very professional. I myself never had any trouble scheduling lessons over the many years I took them. I will say that Coach Nishimura is not especially enthusiastic about people whose primary motive for going to fencing clubs is something other than their fencing. Over the ten-plus years I've fenced, I've seen many people go to fencing clubs who were really there to get a date, to shoot the breeze, or to find their child friends. Coach Nishimura cares very much that his club is a place for fencing first and everything else second, and he expects his fencers, young and old, to understand this. If you're a fencer, go to HFC if your real reason for fencing is fencing. If you're a parent, go to HFC if your real reason for giving your child fencing lessons is teaching your child to fence. As for the instruction, it is serious, and can sometimes involve a fair amount of technical drilling. In retrospect I realize that it has something of a sabre flavor to it (sabre being one of the three fencing weapons), which is not surprising seeing that I seem to recall that Coach Nishimura was himself originally a sabre fencer, though he coaches all three weapons. This is not a bad thing if you fence one of the other two weapons. It means, for instance, that as a foil fencer you'll learn to score touches on torso below the fencer's hand (on the "flank") as well as above it (the chest). As a foil fencer (foil being the weapon most people start with, and which I've chosen to stick with) this has proved to be invaluable for me. I continue to be surprised at how surprising foil fencers find so-called "low-line" attacks. Coach Nishimura also clearly understands the importance of dynamic footwork (being able to accelerate and being able to quickly change direction, as opposed to shuffling slowly around, standing still, or lumbering quickly but without balance). The value of dynamic footwork is self-evident on the mainland, but not at all in Hawaii, since the small size of the fencing community means that you can often get away with simply learning to exploit the other fencers' idiosyncracies rather than developing the kind of fencing that works against everyone, including highly skilled fencers and people you've never fenced before. One thing Coach Nishimura's coaching is certainly not is old fashioned, contrary to the 2012 review. I say this as someone who has taken and observed lessons from several different coaches on the mainland. If anything, Coach Nishimura's lessons are quite modern. In some respects, for foil fencing they're even cutting edge (sorry--pun not intended), since foil fencing at higher levels looks in certain ways very much like sabre fencing. If Coach Nishimura's lessons do not resemble the lessons given by other coaches in Hawaii it is not because they are old-fashioned but because they are "mainlandish"--a good thing considering that the level of fencing on the mainland is orders of magnitude higher than the level of fencing in Hawaii on account of the far larger pool of competitors and coaches. In sum, HFC is a good club. The environment is friendly and serious, and the coaching is informed, modern, and effective. It is, however, very much a club for fencing rather than a social club for fencers. It will be a fit for you if you know what you want, and what you want is to fence. If you want something else, you'd be better served elsewhere. If you're not sure what you want, you should probably visit many clubs including HFC and go to the one that feels right--Coach Nishimura himself would say as much. read more

I have been a member of HFC for 10+ years. Coach Nishimura has been the ultimate professional in his attitude and behavior. His attitude is that during the few hours that the club is open, socializing is best limited in scope, and fencing should be maximized. Thus, only serious fencers should consider HFC. During the years I have taken lessons, his teaching has changed, adapting to modern methods. And of course, my fencing techniques have changed as well. With the vantage of time, I know that his methods have changed and not remained static. Other information that pertains to his background and professional skills: He has been the instructor for fencing classes at Punahou School, one of the best schools in Hawaii, for as long as I have known him. He continues to teach to junior and senior students. Before relocating to Hawaii, he was in charge of the USFA Chicago chapter. He is the most qualified referee in the islands, and has been recognized as such by mainland fencers who have competed here. read more

I have had the pleasure of Fencing with HFC for the last 6 months. I've only good things to say about Coach Nishimura as he has improved my fencing game as well as help enlighten me as to be a better athlete. I plan to be here with the HFC during my stay in Oahu. I look forward to meeting new Epee fencers! read more