Neil Mittal In a word, Neil is patient.  He's also precise, and a wonderful teacher.  Pouj described him as one of his students who maintained the greatest understanding of fencing he'd ever seen.  A class "A" epeeist, he has seen his share of successful competition. Neil studied for almost  20 years under Pouj.  If there's anyone to carry on Pouj's legacy, that would be Neil.

Curtis Hardy Intensity defines Curtis Hardy. An accomplished fencer and coach, he brings over 20 years of experience to Salle Pouj. He began fencing in 1984 under Les Bleamaster and then under Gerard Poujardieu Jr. Within two years he won back-to-back Southwest Collegiate Championships in foil and epee. He followed it with first place finishes in foil at the 1987 Southwest Divisionals and the 1988 Sectionals. Additionally, he holds an impressive resume of wins including The Bobcat Tournament, The Poujardieu Memorial FencingTournament, Heavy Metal, and numerous others. At the same time, Hardy was also a member of the Junior Olympic Pentathlon team. His coaching career began early, when in 1985 he began the summer fencing program at St. Mary's Hall school. Today, he specializes in teaching beginning foil to adults and juniors. Currently, Hardy is nationally ranked fencer in all three weapons and holds a national rank in Veterans foil. He divides his time between competing, coaching and as a nationally rated foil referee.

Gary M. Van der Wege
Gary is a certified Prevot d'Armes from the Academie d"armes Internationale/ US Fencing Coaches Association and upper-level coach by the US Fencing Coaches College (US Olympic Training Center, Colorado Springs, CO) He has taught and coached at Austin Community College, Texas State University, and the Gary Jobs Corps Center. In addition, Gary developed chair fencing programs for the St. David's Rehab Center in Austin and the San Antonio Parks and Recreation Department. Currently, he is teaching at St. Edwards University in Austin, at the Genesis Academy in Seguin, and at Salle Pouj in the San Antonio Fencing Center.

In competetion, Gary was a member of the 2004 US Paralympic Team in Athens, competing in individual foil and epee, and anchoring both the foil and epee teams. He was also a member of the 2002 US Team to the World Championships in Budapest.  He was the 2002, 2003, 2004, and 2005 US National Chair Epee Champion and the 2006 Chair Foil Champion along with numerous gold medals from other North American Cup events. He was the first Category A fencer in the US to medal at a World Cup (Seville, Spain), and was at one time, ranked 8th in the world.

Gary was the first person in the US to be certified as both Armorer and National Level Referee.  He is also a Certified Referee Instructor, and has officiated gold medal bouts at the National level, as well as the Modern Pentathlon World Cups and the Pentathlon World Championships.

As a member of the Society of American Fight Directors, Gary has staged weapons combat and fights for several plays and operas.