Sports Social

Fencing Club Near Me in Burbank: Swordplay LA Fencing Studio

A Burbank guide to Swordplay LA at 1130 West Isabel Street, covering Tim Weske's 1992 Hollywood swordplay legacy, Mary Sola Spohn and Dan Robitzski's Olympic and HEMA tracks, $15 intro classes, and Magnolia Park dining.

In Burbank, just minutes from the soundstages of Warner Bros. and Walt Disney Studios, a warehouse studio at 1130 West Isabel Street bridges two worlds of blade culture like nowhere else in America. Founded in 1992 by legendary Hollywood Sword Master and fight choreographer Tim Weske, Swordplay LA is both a USFA-sanctioned Olympic fencing club and the San Fernando Valley's premier academy for historical and cinematic swordsmanship. When Valley residents, studio creatives, or competitive athletes search for a fencing club near me that pairs electric foil, épée, and sabre with genuine swashbuckling heritage, 1130 West Isabel Street is in a league of its own.

Try Burbank Swordplay Today

For more than thirty years, Swordplay LA has been the secret training room behind Hollywood's most famous duels while simultaneously raising competitive tournament fencers. Founder Tim Weske trained actors for major motion pictures and television while mentoring generations of local youth on the Olympic strip. When Weske relocated out of state, he passed ownership to two of his accomplished alumni: Mary Sola Spohn—a four-time national medalist, Northwestern University NCAA Division I fencer, and veteran stunt actor—and co-owner Ryan Cook, who together expanded both the competitive USA Fencing pipeline and the historical combat tracks.

Step inside 1130 West Isabel Street and the visual contrast is unforgettable. On the main athletic floor, electric pistes and digital scoring machines buzz with modern foil, épée, and sabre bouts led by competitive specialists including Head Competitive Épée Coach Dan Robitzski, a USFCA-certified Prévôt d'Épée. Look up at the studio walls, however, and you will see racks of steel cup-hilt rapiers, two-handed longswords, daggers, and theatrical broadswords alongside signed movie posters and tournament medals.

What makes Swordplay LA's curriculum so effective for newcomers is that you can pursue pure Olympic sport fencing—or cross-train across centuries of blade work. In the Olympic fencing track, youth and adult students learn the three modern weapons: foil (light thrusting blade targeting the torso with right-of-way), épée (heavy thrusting blade targeting the full body with no right-of-way), and sabre (fast cutting and thrusting blade targeting above the waist). Alongside those Olympic strips, the studio offers dedicated tracks in Historical European Martial Arts (HEMA)—studying Renaissance rapier and medieval longsword treatises—and theatrical stage and stunt combat.

Swordplay LA offers the lowest-barrier introductory pricing in Southern California. A 45-minute Introductory Beginner Class costs just $15, giving kids, teens, or adults a hands-on group lesson in stance, advance-retreat footwork, lunges, and blade work with all equipment included. Adult newcomers who sign up for a monthly membership also enjoy promotional introductory trial perks, while daily gear rental for continuing students who do not yet own their own whites is just $5 per visit, and non-member open floor drop-ins are a remarkable $10.

Once you graduate from the introductory session, ongoing monthly memberships and private lesson packages scale according to whether you focus on Olympic foil, épée, and sabre, Historical European Martial Arts, or theatrical stage combat. Competitive sport fencers work closely with Coach Dan Robitzski and Coach Mary Sola Spohn to prepare for Southern California Division qualifiers, regional youth and cadet circuits, and national tournaments, while recreational adults enjoy lively evening bouting pools where film editors, animators, and engineers cross blades.

Operating hours at 1130 West Isabel Street span all seven days of the week, including rare weekday morning windows that appeal to film-industry freelancers, shift workers, and homeschoolers. Evening sessions run Monday through Friday from 5:00 PM to 9:30 PM; morning sessions run Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday from 10:00 AM to 1:30 PM; Saturday classes and bouting run from 10:00 AM to 3:00 PM; and Sunday sessions run from 10:00 AM to 2:00 PM.

Whether you are stepping onto an electric épée piste or a HEMA sparring mat, safety and strip etiquette come first. All sport fencers must maintain a current USA Fencing membership, wear full-length sweatpants or fencing knickers with knee-high socks (shorts are strictly prohibited), and lace up clean, low-profile indoor court sneakers. Treat every weapon—whether a flexible maraging foil or a steel training rapier—as live whenever it is in your hand: points stay down when masks are off, and every bout begins and ends with a crisp salute.

Because 1130 West Isabel Street sits just off Victory Boulevard near the Burbank Channel bikeway, you are five minutes from both Downtown Burbank and the vintage boutiques of Magnolia Park. If you arrive early for an evening class or a Saturday morning session, drive three minutes west to Porto's Bakery & Cafe at 3614 West Magnolia Boulevard for a cortadito, potato balls, and guava-cheese strudel—a mandatory Burbank ritual.

After burning through two hours of lunges and fifteen-touch bouts at 8:30 PM, the surrounding Burbank corridors make refueling easy. Head over to Santoro's Submarine Sandwiches on Burbank Boulevard for a loaded Italian sub, grab smoked brisket and ribs at Handy Market on Magnolia on Saturdays, or sit down at Finney's Crafthouse or Granville in Downtown Burbank on San Fernando Boulevard for grilled salmon, burgers, and sweet potato fries.

Getting to 1130 West Isabel Street is effortless from Glendale, Pasadena, Hollywood, or the San Fernando Valley. The studio sits less than half a mile west of the I-5 Golden State Freeway (exit at Western Avenue or Alameda Avenue and head to Victory Boulevard and Isabel Street) and five minutes north of the SR-134 Ventura Freeway. The Downtown Burbank Metrolink station is just a five-minute drive or bike ride south along the Burbank Western Channel path, and free street and lot parking around Isabel Street means you never have to fight parking meters.

For families with kids who love fantasy knights, Star Wars lightsabers, or Olympic athletes—or for adults who want a welcoming, zero-ego gym where Division I alumni teach alongside Hollywood fight choreographers—Swordplay LA turns every weeknight into an adventure.

Practical Notes: Swordplay LA is located at 1130 West Isabel Street, Burbank, CA 91506. Hours are Monday through Friday 5:00 PM to 9:30 PM, Tuesday through Thursday mornings 10:00 AM to 1:30 PM, Saturday 10:00 AM to 3:00 PM, and Sunday 10:00 AM to 2:00 PM. Call or register online for the $15 45-minute Introductory Class, wear long athletic pants and non-marking court sneakers, and bring a water bottle.

Where else in Los Angeles can you drill NCAA-level épée point control at 6:00 PM and watch stunt swordfighters rehearse a broadsword sequence on the next floor over at 7:30 PM? Open the Karpo APP to book your Burbank route and pair your Swordplay LA session with Magnolia Park coffee and dinner stops.

Ask Karpo for more information.

Get the APP

Keep reading