Thom Cate, Mon.F.

Promoting the sport of fencing has always been a priority for Moniteur Thom Cate, who first joined UC Davis in 2003. His mission simple: teach people to be good fencers, to exemplify the fencing spirit of honor and honesty, fair play and one-on-one competition with the spirit of sportsmanship and fellowship and-to win.

Moniteur Cate, "Coach," to his students, has been a competitive fencer for over 17 years, and has been teaching and coaching fencing for more than 12 years. He is a competitive member of the USFA and holds the rank of Moniteur de Fleuret in the US Fencing Coaches Association. Moniteur Cate initially studied fencing under Olympic medalist Duris de Jong (and later de Jong's protegé, Philip Hareff), and the late Michael D'Asaro Sr. at the Westside Fencing Center (now the Los Angeles International Fencing Center).

Starting in 1995, Moniteur Cate rekindled interest in fencing at the University of California at Santa Barbara. Starting with a small club of only 9 members, it grew to over 40, including six squads of competitive members who competed at both the collegeiate and national level. During this time, Mr. Cate captained the UCSB men's foil team and club to three 1st place finishes in the Southern California Intercollegiate Fencing League. One of his students from that time, Tim Robinson, is fencing coach at UCSB to this day. Coach Robinson has just opened his own club in Santa Barbara, the Presidio Fencing Club (http://www.presidiofencing.com).

Arriving at University of Vermont in Burlington in 1998, Coach Cate founded both the university fencing club, Salle Catamount, and the Queen City Fencing Club. Mr. Cate was founding Vice-President of the Green Mountain Division of the USFA, and was instrumental in adding new member clubs. While in New England, Coach Cate continued his studies of fencing, coaching and refereeing under Maestro of Maestros John Harvie at Escrime Mont-Royal, in Notre-Dame de Grace, Montréal, Quebec.

Returning to his native California in 2003, Coach Cate accepted the position of Head Fencing Coach at the University of California at Davis, and was elected President of the Northern California Intercollegiate Fencing League in 2004.

Moniteur Cate remains a competitive USFA fencer, and is active in the Bay Cup Circuit of the greater San Francisco Bay Area, as well as the Mountain Valley division of the USFA. He lives in Sacramento, CA, with his wife Chrissy, daughter Noelle and Rocket the Wonder Dog. He can be reached at fencer1964 [at] gmail [dot] com