Nat Goodhartz
Fencing Coach Nat Goodhartz’s resume best resembles the Manhattan telephone directory. It’s thick with names of fencers she has coached to regional, national and international championships, awards she has for coaching excellence, and listing prestigious coaching positions she has held.
Born in Brooklyn, she was raised there and graduated from Lincoln High. Nat enrolled at Brooklyn College majoring in phys ed and comparative literature. There she became familiar with fencing, a sport that would influence her life for decades. As an undergraduate she medaled at the national collegiate tournament. After graduating from Brooklyn College she enrolled at Ohio State where she earned both a masters degree and a doctorates in exercise physiology. There she launched a women’s fencing team and was named national runner-up for women’s college fencing coach of the year in 1970. Later she was appointed co-national coach for women’s foil.
She moved on to SUNY Brockport in 1971 and started a fencing team there a year later, holding that position until 1976. Then in 1980 Nat became a coach for the Rochester Fencing Club and is now the club’s head coach.
As a foil coach she has trained athletes to world championships across the globe. Included in her achievements were coaching Rochesterian Jeremy Simkin and his twin brother Gabriel to positions on world championship teams in 1999, 2000 and 2001 and to positions on the U.S. Maccabian team in 2001.
Retired now from SUNY Brockport, she is a past winner of the SUNY Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Teaching. She resides in Hilton and is a member of Beth Hamedresh Beth Israel.