EN GARDE! USA Fencing brings the Olympic sport to NYC with free demos

NEW YORK (1010 WINS/WCBS 880) — While the nation’s best fencers—including two native New Yorkers—duel for the gold at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, USA Fencing is sharing the combat sport with the city by offering demonstrations and tutorials at two Manhattan locations over the next week.

Beginning Sunday and running through Aug. 4, both Wollman Rink in Central Park and Grand Central Terminal–Vanderbilt Hall will be home to fencing activations operated by Olympic legends.

These tutorial sites will be open from 2 p.m. through 7 p.m. daily to give those interested a chance to try their hand at the art of fencing using real swords and safety equipment.

“There will be an opportunity to safely learn how to fence and have the opportunity to be coached through some footwork drills, how to handle the weapon, a chance to see masks and hold real weapons,” Nicole Kirk, communications director for USA Fencing, told 1010 WINS.

The New York City activations are two of 16 nationwide that are being rolled out as part of USA Fencing’s “Fencing Across America campaign,” a campaign aimed at making the sport more broadly accessible.

The opening ceremony at the Paris Olympics was held Friday, where the best fencers in the nation will take to the piste and participate in only one of five sports that has been competed in every Summer Olympics.

New York City is being represented on Team USA by Brooklyn-native Anne Cebula and Lauren Scruggs of Queens, both of whom are making their Olympic debuts in Paris.

Alongside them are three more Olympians hailing from the Tri-State who are trying to earn a podium finish, including Jackie Dubrovich of Maplewood, New Jersey; Mitchell Saron of Ridgewood, New Jersey; and Elizabeth Tartakovsky of Livingston, New Jersey.

“The entire journey of this activation is simply to bring fencing to people who may have never heard of it, who have been looking for the first time to try it, or are seeing it for the first time in the Olympics and want to learn more about it,” Kirk said.

For more information, visit the Fencing USA website .

RoseAnne Cox-Peralta contributed to this report.