Who we are
Terra Prime is a group of professional martial arts instructors, coaches and scholars who are working together to develop weapon based sports and activities. We are a not-for-profit company and dedicated to establishing the sport of LED saber as a unifying sport where people from many martial arts and combat sports may compete, train, practice and play together. Terra Prime is continuing to develop a modern and effective system of training and learning progressions that can be utilized by virtually anyone, regardless of experience, with the goal of cultivating skills and technical abilities in the sport.
Read: TPLA a History
Wether you are martial arts teach looking for a fun way to train young and old alike, a stage performer trying to expand their stage combat repertoire, or a LED saber athlete competing in one of the many dueling organizations around the world, TPLA has something for you. Our experience in traditional martial arts, performance and theatre, and Athletics and sport science are all brought to bear on our material, training, and certifications. This diverse group of perspectives is what makes TPLA what it is. And we welcome everyone to benefit from it as well.
In 2018 the French Federation of Fencing accepted the LED saber as the fourth official fencing weapon. Since that time, the FFE and TPLA school Academie de Sabre Laser (ASL) have been certifying coaches and referees and holding national competitions in France. In October of 2019, Chad Eisner of TPLA traveled to France to formalize the relationship between the FFE and TPLA and to work to start up official sport for people in the United States.
We at TPLA are dedicated to serving the growing saber community by providing educational material, developing training methods and best practices for sport, and bringing practitioners from all corners together to enjoy and raise the level of the activity of sabering.
Reach
The TPLA system of instruction currently reaches thousands of students through both social media outreach and traditional training hall instruction.
It is impossible to tell how many individuals are currently using TPLA’s instructional material, but our formal network includes multiple academies in Michigan, New York, Florida and throughout France. We have recently entered a strategic partnership with the French Fencing Federation (FFE). This will allow TPLA to formally promote their new competition ruleset in the United States.
Personnel
Chad eisner/Darth Nonymous: President/Headmaster/ Co-founder
Chad Eisner is the Co-Founder and main creative force behind TPLA. Using his background in traditional Chinese martial arts, modern athletics, and athletic training and conditioning, he created the system of lightsaber based on the principles shared by all weapon combat and sports. He is a disciple student of Ma Yue in Ma Family Tongbei kung fu. He is the son of Michigan Tennis Coach Brian Eisner and has spent a life time in and around college athletics. He worked as a certified Post Rehabilitation trainer, social worker, and interpreter (American Sign Language and English).
Vor Nach, (Matthew Fulton) has been a student of the martial arts, including gung-fu, aikido and taiji, for much of his life.
Most recently he has practiced historic European weapons arts, principally from the German traditions. In the interest of exploring similarities with Asian weapons arts this study led to collaboration with Chad in the development of Sword Lab ini 2010 and then the founding of TPLA in 2012.
Outside of martial pursuits Matthew is a clinical social worker with a psychotherapy practice in Ann Arbor, MI.
MAtthew Fulton/Vor Nach:
Vice President/Cofounder
Robert McKinney: Secretary
Board Members
After representing the United States as a fencing athlete at the World
Championships, World University Games and Pan American Games,
Jeff went on to refereeing. As a referee, he officiated in the 1984 Los
Angeles and 1996 Atlanta Olympics, as well as seven World
Championships.
He then served as USA Fencing Team Captain at the 2004 Athens and
2008 Beijing Olympics, as well as eight World Championships.
Jeff also served on the FIE (International Fencing Federation) Rules
Commission from 2000-2008.
Since 2017, Jeff has been President of Maccabi USA where amongst his
duties he raises funds for USA athletes to attend the World Maccabiah
Games.
2024-Present
Lead & Expert Commentator • Paris 2024 • Olympic Broadcasting
Services
2012-2016
Expert Commentator • Olympic Fencing • NBC
2012-Present
Expert Commentator • USA Fencing Grand Prix • NBC
2013
Expert Commentator • Fencing World Championships 2013 • NBC
2017-Present
Lead Commentator • Various Grand Prix • FIE – International Fencing
Jeff initially worked as an expert fencing commentator before
becoming one of the FIE’s lead commentators where he works alone
and with an expert.
Jeff Bukantz
Gene Ching bears the Buddhist name Xinglong as a 32nd generation layman disciple of the original Shaolin Temple of China under Warrior Monk Shi Decheng. He was also the Head Instructor of Northern Shaolin under Lam Kwong Wing, and helped found his company Wing Lam Enterprises as the first employee. He is the publisher of KungFuMagazine.com, and was also the publisher of the newsstand magazine Kung Fu Tai Chi until it ceased publication during the pandemic. Gene is a certified Provost Master of Fencing under the USFCA and the SJSU ROTC, and earned his living solely as an armorer for several years. He currently practices sword methods of Kung Fu, Tai Chi, and Iaido.
Gene is the author of the book Shaolin Trips which documents the modern history of Shaolin Temple as well as his own adventures there. Beyond writing for YMAA and KungFuMagazine.com, he also is a regular contributor to UNESCO ICM and the pop culture publisher Den of Geek.
In his spare time, Gene volunteers as a supervisor for a unique crew that specializes in resolving intense psychedelic crises at concerts, music festivals and gatherings. Nicknamed the Jedi Nite Krew, these facilitators work predominantly under the auspices of the event medical services Rock Medicine and JAH Med, As the founder of the Jedi Nite Krew, Gene bears the nickname 'the Emperor.'
Gene Ching
Alia El Ghamrawy
General Sun (Damon Honeycutt) a transdisciplinary warrior/artist who holds advanced degrees in both creative and analytical fields of study in tandem with professional experience that is multifaceted, informed and worldly. Starting his training in martial arts and music at the age of eleven, manifesting in a career that has taken him to perform in over twenty countries working with Dance companies such as Pilobolus, Nai-Ni Chen, and Scapegoat Garden. My work now is focused on teaching, researching and cultivating embodiment practices and their relationship to the creation of music, dance and performance. My main teachers include Paul and Suzee Grilley, Hu Jian Qiang, twice all-around Wushu champion of the People’s Republic of China; Beijing Opera performer Qi Jian Guo, and Paulie Zink, the western inheritor of Da Sheng Pigua Men. I have now returned to teaching my arts in the service of transmission and community.
Damon is also the author of the very first Lightsaber solo form or "Dulon" and versions of his set are practiced by thousands world wide. He was a founding member of the premier lightsaber group, the New York Jedi. He joins TPLA to further his creative path in the lightsaber and it's training.
Damon Honeycutt/ General Sun
Benjamin Judkins
Benjamin Judkins is an instructor in the TPLA (Terra Prime Light Armory) system of Lightsaber Combat running the Ithaca Sabers enclave in Ithaca New York. His background is in the Southern Chinese martial arts and he is an instructor in Wing Chun Kung Fu. Professionally Judkins is a social scientist who studies (among other topics) the development and function of martial arts in the modern world. He is co-editor of the journal Martial Arts Studies (Cardiff University Press) and co-author of The Creation of Wing Chun: A Social History of the Southern Chinese Martial Arts (SUNY Press).
Seattle-based Serge Timacheff is the press officer for the International Fencing Federation (FIE) and has been on staff with them for nearly 20 years; he is also the editor of USA Fencing’s American Fencing magazine. His background includes national and international journalism and documentary photography and he is a six-time Olympic photographer and widely published author on topics including photography, business, and technology. A fencer since he was 10 years old, he has competed internationally and won numerous medals in the USA and abroad.
Serge Timacheff
Teachers and advisors
Darth Telos (Sifu Anthony Iglesias) began his Martial Arts training in 1979 under the guidance of his older brother who was learning the Ishin Ryu style of Karate, Boxing and also the Filipino Martial Arts. He also trained with his brother’s best friend, NYC boxing champion, the late Mario Pontillo.
Sifu Anthony later turned to Sifu James O'Brian to learn the White Crane style of Gung Fu and then later directed his full attention to Traditional Wing Chun Gung Fu under Sifu Randall Segrue and SiGung William Cheung. An open mind to all styles of Wing Chun, Sifu Anthony has studied other Wing Chun systems directly and indirectly by noted masters such as Duncan Leung, Alan Lee, Ip (Yip) Chun, Augustine Fong and Sifu Francis Fong.
Although a fully certified instructor Sifu Anthony continues his martial arts journey and education and is currently a full-time student under Sifu John Crescione. A constant student, Sifu Anthony travels monthly to his hometown of New York City to train with his Sifu and on occasion even further to train with other instructors.
Darth Telos: Knight
Darth Razor (Michael Gerstel) was Born in 1972 in Germany and is currently a teacher at a vocational school. Saber has been working with TPLA since 2012, becoming an official Apprentice in 2013 and being TPLA longest continuous student. Michael had no experience in martial arts or weapon combat when joining TPLA and has proven that with hard work and perseverance, high levels are attainable in the system. Since taking up the LED saber, Michael has also begun learning German longsword and practices with a local HEMA group.
Razor became a member of the TPLA Council in 2016 as Community Outreach Leader and is now the Dean of Students and works with our online teaching programs and forum.
Darth Razor: Knight
Jared Miracle
Jared Miracle has over twenty years of experience in the martial arts and serves as a TPLA Council Member. He left home at seventeen to pursue training in Japan. His primary focus for much of that time has been the classical Japanese weapon arts and jujutsu. He has also boxed at the professional level, studied praying mantis kung fu in China, and wrestling in Mongolia, among other ridiculous ideas. Jared wrote his PhD. on the anthropology of martial arts, much to no one's surprise. He is a lifelong Star Wars obsessive and a member of the 501st, a worldwide costuming organization with a charity-driven mission. He proudly flies the banner of the Jolly Roger Squadron: 'All guts, no shields.' He is the Author of Now with Kung Fu Grip!: How Bodybuilders, Soldiers and a Hairdresser Reinvented Martial Arts for America.
Daniel Mroz
Daniel has been studying Chinese martial arts and physical culture seriously since 1993. He began with Cailifoquan (Choy Li Fut) and Wu Taijiquan and branched out into Zhi Neng Qigong. He currently practices Chen Taijiquan under Chen Zhonghua and holds in instructor’s diploma as a Qigong teacher under Ken Cohen. In recent years Daniel has become very interested in swordplay using the traditional Chinese Jian. He’s also part of a group of scholars from around the world who founded an academic research area called Martial Arts Studies. Originally from Montréal, in Canada, Daniel Mroz creates and directs original contemporary theatre. He is the director of the BFA in Acting and the MFA in Directing programs in the Theatre Department of the University of Ottawa, where he teaches stage acting and directing in both English and French.