Daniel started fencing at the age of ten and during his teenage years he met famous Romanian coach Ladislau Rohonyi, who helped him become a national champion and member of the Romanian National Saber Team. Daniel Costin earned his coaching degree at the National Institute of Physical Education and Sports in Bucharest, Romania. After retiring from competitive fencing Daniel became the head coach of the Romanian Olympic Center for Juniors. Between 1989 and 1992 Daniel coached the Romanian Saber Olympic Team. Some of his notable Romanian students at the time are Vilmos Szabo, Dan Gaureanu and Daniel Grigore (members of Romanian Olympic team in Barcelona, 1992 and Atlanta, 1996). Many of his Romanian students continued their careers in fencing becoming coaches themselves. They are teaching in several European countries, Australia and North America.
In the United States Daniel continued developing his coaching skills and in 2001 he became a coach on the US Junior Saber Team, gold medalist winners of the World Championships in Gdansk, Poland. His most remarkable US students are Olympic silver medalist Jason Rogers, Beijing 2008, and national champions Teddy Levitt, Harry Mahaffey, Eric Arzoian and Alex Rey Palabrica. Daniel also coached the men’s saber team who won the 2006 US National Junior Championships and the 2007 US National Senior Championships. For about 8 years Daniel helped the US Men’s Saber Team in the Olympic qualifying process by traveling with the team to many competitions around the world. Daniel has dedicated more than 30 years to his career so far.
Teddy began fencing at the age of 10 while attending an all boys' summer sports camp in Maine. He liked it so much that upon his return to Los Angeles he immediately joined a fencing club. He fenced foil for two years before switching over to sabre which he found more engaging and began taking lessons with Daniel Costin.
Teddy's passion for this sport began early on and continues to this day. He enjoys teaching as much as competition and inspires his students to discover the greatness of fencing.
Throughout his 12 years of competitive fencing, Teddy's accomplishments include:
- Four times national champion:
- 2004 – Div II national Champion, Grenville, SC
- 2005 – Junior National Champion, Sacramento, CA
- 2006 – Junior Team national Champion, Atlanta, GA (along Harry Mahaffey and Eric Arzoian)
- 2007 – Div I Team National Champion, Miami, FL (along Jason Rogers, Harry Mahaffey and Eric Arzoian)
- Double bronze medalist at the 2005 Maccabiah Games in Jerusalem, Israel
- Member of the 2006 Junior Men's Sabre Team which represented the US at the Junior and Cadet World Championships in Taebek City, South Korea.
- Earned a partial scholarship to Stanford University where he earned All-American honors as a freshman.
- Highest US Junior Rank: 1; Highest FIE Junior Rank: 7
Rajiv was first introduced to fencing in high school through Daniel Costin, and he quickly came to enjoy the competition, athleticism, and mental focus of the sport. He was a several time finalist and medalist at the local and national level through high school, and continued to fence competitively during his undergraduate years at MIT.
Always an immense fan of swashbuckling movies, Josephine began her love affair with fencing at the age of twelve. Shortly after her career began she became a student under Daniel Costin and never looked back. While attending University of California in San Diego she joined the NCAA team and lettered 2 years in Foil and a third in Epee. She consistently finished near the top of the league and even qualified her senior year for the NCAA championships. During her Junior year Jo studied abroad at Lancaster University in England and helped take the women’s team to third place in the British collegiate circuit. After having competed so long and diligently in the point weapons, Josephine took up the challenge of learning Saber. Josephine encourages anyone to enjoy the sport regardless if their intention is to compete or train for fun.
