The Amateur Athletic Union held the first United States national fencing championship in 1888 at the Metropolitan Opera House in midtown Manhattan. There are seven NCAA fencing teams in New York City alone, with others clustered in the surrounding area. NCAA fencers attending NYC colleges typically train at both their schools and at private clubs such as Fencers Club, Manhattan Fencing Center, and the New York Athletic Club. Half of the United States Paris 2024 Olympic fencing team members represented NYC clubs.
My husband moved to NYC to attend Columbia University and fence on their Division One team. He represented the New York Athletic Club in épée while I fenced foil for Fencers Club. Last week, our youngest child made her debut at a Fencers Club youth foil tournament.
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Works Cited
Kirby, Jen, and Emily Maye. “New York’s Olympic Sport Is Fencing.” Intelligencer, 10 Aug. 2016, https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2016/08/new-yorks-olympic-sport-is-fencing.html.
Paris 2024 Olympics and Paralympics. https://www.usafencing.org/paris2024.
USA Fencing. “NCAA Fencing Programs.” USA Fencing, https://res.cloudinary.com/…/1ae5b298589d1e4ffefc415d86…. Accessed 30 Nov. 2024.
Walsh, Laura. “Elegance in Athletics.” Amateur Athletic Union, 24 Oct. 2019, https://aausports.org/news.php?news_id=1836833.
