UPDATED September 12, 2025
Svitlana (Lana) Shevchenko joined the Wayne State University fencing coaching staff as an assistant coach in September of 2022.
Capping off the 2022-23 season, Shevchenko and her coaching staff were able to send three Warriors to the NCAA Championships, including Ludovica Mancini, Ahmed Elsayed and Eyad Marouf.
The following year (2023-24), she helped mentor Mancini to 10 victories at the NCAA Championships and First Team All-CCFC honors as well as Honorable Mention All-Midwest Region accolades.
Last season (2024-25), two of her fencers qualified for the NCAA Championships in Mancini and Ethan Leung. Mancini received Honorable Mention All-Region recognition.
Shevchenko has been a foil coach for the Renaissance Fencing Club since 2018 and was a coach at the Fencing Academy of Westchester in 2018.
Prior to coming to the United States, Shevchenko served as the head coach of the Girls Ukrainian National Team, working with the foilists (cadets, juniors) from 2014 until 2017. Member of the team won medals at events such as the International Fencing Federation (FIE) World Cups and World Championships. She coached fencing at the Olympic College from 2005 to 2018 in Kyiv, Ukraine. Shevchenko was a Physical Education Teacher for the Academy of Municipal Administration from 2002 to 2005. From 1997 to 2000, she was a fencing coach at the Children Youth Sports School in Kyiv.
Shevchenko is certified by both SafeSport and the U.S. Fencing Coaches Association. She has over 20 years of coaching experience at the national and international levels. She holds a Specialist Diploma from the National University of Physical Education and Sports of Ukraine, for the specialty "Olympic and professional sport" and received the qualification of a fencing coach and physical education teacher.
Additionally, she has a Junior Specialist Diploma in physical education and coaching from the Republican Higher School of Physical Culture.
Several of Shevchenko's fencing teams have had success over her coaching career, including a Gold Medal in 2016, a fourth place effort at the Timisoara Junior World Cup, and a top-eight team performance at the 2014 Zagreb Junior World Cup.
Shevchenko and her husband, Volodymyr, have a daughter, Viktoriia, who was a fencer on the WSU women's fencing team, and a son, Kostiantyn.
