Mr. Andrew Telesca lives in Seattle, WA and has been fencing at the Salle Saint-George since 2006. Andrew originally began training in classical fencing in 2001 with the study of the Italian fencing system of the Scuola Magistrale Militare di Roma under Maestro John Sullins. From 2002–2005 Andrew ran the Whitman Classical Fencing Club under the guidance of Maestro Sullins. Also in 2003, he began training with Maestro Ramón Martínez and Maestro Jeannette Acosta-Martínez. By January of 2012, he earned the rank of instructor in Northern Italian dueling sabre through the Martinez Academy of Arms in New York. In October of 2013 he earned the rank of Instructor in Italian and French foil. Andrew instructs in dueling sabre at Salle Saint-George as well as the finer points of military sabre.

Through fencing Andrew has developed a passion for the combination of discipline, vigor, precision & intellect found in martial arts. This led to a broader interest in the historical aspects of martial arts, and in particular a desire to better understand how the context of a martial art – that is, its purpose within the society in which it developed – affects its teaching and practice. This interest has been further fueled while training in other martial systems, such as Navaja and Ninjutsu. Andrew has since come to believe that the great majority of personal conflicts can be resolved more easily if the effort is made to discern the context of both parties’ arguments.

Outside of the salle, Andrew is a Systems Engineer at The Boeing Company. He holds a B.A. summa cum laude in Mathematics from Whitman College, a graduate certificate in Sustainable Enterprise Management from Willamette University, a professional certificate in Decision Analysis from Stanford University and is currently pursuing a master’s degree in Systems Architecting and Engineering from the University of Southern California.