Welcome to the home of the Lightning Fencing Club in Winnipeg, Canada.

The Lightning Fencing Club was founded in 1993 by David and Patricia Howes.

The club started with a few members from the local military base, where David served at Air Command Headquarters. As time went by, the membership grew beyond the confines of a "base" club and extended its reach into the general population. At the club's peak it boasted a membership of over 100.

Currently, Lightning Fencing Club is the largest fencing club in Manitoba. We are the only club to instruct in all three disciplines (epee, saber and foil) at all ages. We have an armband program for our younger members to assist them in developing their knowledge and physical skills.

At Lightning we have a strong coaching team comprising a head coach and many senior coaches. We have a dedicated and wonderful group of junior coaches that volunteer their time to assist the younger and less experienced fencers. Lighting is built on a concept of community and team work.

Meet our Coaches

Daria Jorquera Palmer
Head Coach

Daria was on the Canadian national team for 12 years, 2011 Pan Am games sliver medalist.
Daria is a long-standing member of the Lightning Fencing Club and has been working as a club coach for 17 years. She was a coach for the 2013 Canada Summer Games where she represented Manitoba and coached the athletes at the week long event in Sherbrooke, Quebec. Since 2013 she has been assisting Provincial Coach, Ayach Bounacha with the Provincial Squad program, and travelling across Canada and to the US when necessary.   

Maia Bacchus
Senior Coach

Maia is currently a coach at Lightening fencing club and has coached various community projects and camps over the past 8 years for kids, teens and adults. She is a former international competitor within the sport of fencing and has competed and placed in various events across Canada and the U.S. When she isn’t attending zoom university, you can usually find her in the gym coaching or at practice with Manitoba’s provincial fencing team!

Lucas Hamlin
Senior Coach

I started my fencing journey here at lightning fencing club when I was 13, I am now 24 and have loved the sport ever since. I competed on the provincial fencing team a few years in, alongside some of the other great coaches at this club. These days I am an insurance broker and try and spend as much time as I can outside when I’m not working. We take pride in trying to provide a fun but constructive environment for our athletes to thrive and believe everyone should give fencing a try!

Noah Merz Lakser
Senior Coach

Noah has been fencing for ten years. He fences and coaches foil. In addition, he is a referee. Outside of fencing, he is a student at the University of Winnipeg.

Anthony Densmore
Adult Class Coach

Anthony started fencing at Lightning Fencing Club in 1999, and has been coaching since 2013. He fences foil and epee. As a coach, Anthony focuses on building plasticity. He breaks the actions down into a few basic movements, and teaches those movements independently of each other. Once mastered, he teaches the fencers to combine those movements in different combinations to create a large variety of actions. When he's not fencing, Anthony spends his time with his wife and two children, training for triathlons (he completed an Ironman in 2018), and working as a professional engineer.

Cameron Mackay

Senior Coach

Liam Prokopowich

Senior Coach

Meet our Board

President (2023-2025)

Seema Goel

president@lightningfencingclub.ca

I am delighted to be serving my second year as the board President for the Lightning Fencing Club (LFC). As a fencing mom (similar to a hockey mom but so much cooler) I understand the leap you've taken to start your child in this discipline. True they get to wear a brilliant costume and carry a sword, but what's with all the new lingo? Piste? Lamé? An FIE blade? A repost? How can you tell if they scored a point in the bout? These mysteries are part of the thrill of being initiated into the wonderful and generous world of fencing. Serving on the board provides the opportunity for me to connect with all the members of club, assist in cementing ties between the kids, parents, and coaches, and to contribute to the ongoing success of Lightning. As the longest continuous running fencing club in Winnipeg, Lightning has a tradition of fostering deep friendships, supporting athletes in competition, and connecting them to opportunities to advance their skills in the discipline.

I relocated to Winnipeg just over a decade ago. I am a curator, writer, and sculptor, and also teach in the Landscape Architecture program at the University of Manitoba. I currently also serve on the Winnipeg Arts Council Board and am the past VP for the Manitoba Craft Council.

Please feel free to get in touch if you have any queries, suggestions, or feedback regarding LFC. I look forward to seeing you at the club!

Vice-President (2024-2026)

Shauna Weiss

info@lightningfencingclub.ca

My name is Shauna Weiss and I am happy to serve on the board of Lightning Fencing Club.
I have two children who participate in the club. In my day job I work as a school librarian.
I value the opportunities the club provides for young athletes and look forward to supporting its growth as a member of the board. 

Treasurer (2024-2026)

Yan Zhang
treasurer@lightningfencingclub.ca



Member at Large (2023-2025)

Ainsley MacDougall

My name is Ainsley MacDougall and I’m a Lightning Fencing board member. I’m also a proud parent of one of the club’s athletes. I love being a part of a group that works so well together, with the goal of making this club better and better each year.

Member at Large (2023-2025)

Jessica Loewen



Web Officer

Hope Johnson
websupport@lightningfencingclub.ca

I started fencing at Lightning when I was 11 years old, which, much to my surprise, led to me competing with the provincial team for years. I have since moved on to fencing with my university varsity team in Ottawa, but I will never forget the friends and skills Lightning gave me. While you might not see me around often these days, I’m still very involved – just it’s through a computer in my dorm room now. I’m so happy to still have a chance to be involved and get to see the next generation of fencers grow.

Code of Conduct & Policies

Please use this link to access our Code of Conduct & Policies


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