YOUTH FENCERS BENEFIT

Brooklyn Fencing Olympian, Nzingha Prescod, the first Black woman to individually medal at World Championships and founder of the Brooklyn-based Prescod Institute for Sport, Teamwork and Education (PISTE) will, on Oct. 20, host her inaugural benefit for youth fencing academy aimed at closing the opportunity gap.
Prescod, 29, whose mother Marva Prescod is a Vincentian-born lawyer, told Caribbean Life that the event takes place, from 7:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m., at Samsung, 837 Washington St., Manhattan.
The younger Prescod said 2022 Olympic Champion Lee Kiefer will be joining PISTE as one of the honorees.
She said Soo Kim, chairman of Bally’s Corporation, will also be honored with PISTE Excellence in Philanthropy Award.
“Through a fencing showcase by our students, fencing in virtual reality, an award presentation to our special guests, and a panel about social impact and our organizational evolution, we aim to inspire support for PISTE, so that we can continue to grow a community of leaders in sport and life,” Prescod said.
“Through mentorship, discipline and dedicated support, I was personally able to ascend into my professional fencing career to achieve success internationally and, ultimately, represent the United States on the Olympic stage, breaking historic records in American fencing,” she added.
After forcibly retiring from fencing due to injury, Prescod said she began a new chapter in her journey.

Motivated to bring the talents she developed back to her community, where access to the level of training and support she received is close to non-existent, Prescod said decided to bring fencing to the local parks in Brooklyn and establish PISTE.
“PISTE is a youth development program teaching the martial art of fencing and its principles of discipline, strategic thinking, problem solving and fitness to underserved communities across NYC at no-cost to families,” she said.
“It is core to our mission to build strong characters and leaders through our beautiful sport, and provide much-needed learning, educational and leadership experiences that close the opportunity gap,” Prescod added. “We are excited to partner with Samsung and have Bally’s Corporation as our founding sponsor.”
Last December, the United States Olympic & Paralympic Foundation (USOPF) named Prescod among four Team USA athletes who have demonstrated outstanding commitment to service within their communities as winners of the Team USA Service & Hope Award.
As determined by the selection committee, the athletes, and their corresponding nonprofits, whose application materials best embodied the spirit of the award were: Nzingha Prescod & Fencing in the Park; Shea Hammond & CP Soccer US; Darlene Hunter & National Wheelchair Basketball Association; and Kai Lightner & Climbing for Change.
Established in 2021, USOPF said that the Team USA Service & Hope Award celebrates Olympians, Paralympians and hopefuls who serve in a volunteer role with charitable organizations whose missions focus on youth sport, physical activity, or health and well-being.
Each awardee received $25,000, half of which was directed to the nonprofit they serve.
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We are thrilled to recognize the awe-inspiring achievements of our awardees, who showed us that they truly go above and beyond in service to their communities,” said Christine Walshe, president of the USOPF. “I extend my congratulations to Shea, Darlene, Kai and Nzingha and my appreciation for every Team USA athlete who applied and continue to serve their communities.”
In its inaugural year, USOPF said the award received 134 applications, with nearly 71 percent of applicants being Olympians or Paralympians, while 76 percent were athletes who are currently training and competing.
USOPF said three out of four applicants were summer sport athletes, with the highest number of applications coming from track and field athletes.
Notably, USOPF said athlete applicants spent a collective 9,250 hours, or 385 days, volunteering over the past 18 months.
“Our athlete applicants blew us away with their stories of service, and it was incredibly difficult to select just four winners from such a qualified and inspiring group of applicants,” said Yucca Rieschel, co-chair of the award’s selection committee. “Based on the interest the program has generated, we are hopeful that this award will continue to recognize and publicize the countless ways that Team USA athletes are making a difference in their communities.”
USOPF said two-time Olympian Prescod, who became the first Black American woman to medal at the World Fencing Championships in 2015, dealt with a hip injury that forced her to retire in 2020.
In the same year, USOPF said she founded Fencing in the Park, which introduces under-resourced communities in New York City to the sport of fencing and its principles of fitness, discipline, focus, strategic thinking and problem-solving.
USOPF said Prescod’s ultimate goal is to develop the next generation of leaders and champions in sport and beyond.

Prescod has been in the vanguard of legislation introduced in the City Council for the establishment of the Mayor’s Office of Sports, Wellness and Recreation.
On April 21, 2021. Council Member Ydanis Rodriguez held a press conference, alongside then Borough President Eric Adams, Office of the Public Advocate Jumaane Williams and a coalition of leaders in the New York City sports community, to discuss the details of Intro 1959, establishing the Office.
“This legislation is historic because it’s the first step towards changing the exclusionary nature of our current sports system,” said Prescod, who was elected as an athlete director on the USA Fencing Board of Directors, beginning on Jan. 1, 2021.
USA Fencing said Prescod was elected with 2012 Paralympian Cat Bouwkamp, of Fishers, Ind.
“Every child is deserving of quality sport education, not just those who can afford it,” the Olympian said. “This bill will integrate sport into the lives of young New Yorkers and equip them with the tools to become the best version of themselves in sport and in life. They deserve that opportunity.”
She said the Mayor’s Office of Sports, Wellness, and Recreations would be responsible for creating strategies and initiatives to support youth sports activities throughout New York, and create a pipeline for disadvantaged children to be placed in competitive sports programs and competitions.
The Office would also provide access to sports-related opportunities for students and promote the role of sports in education and recreation; make recommendations for the growth of professional, amateur and scholastic sports recreation; and coordinate sports initiatives with other city agencies, including the Department of Education, the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, and the Department of Parks and Recreation.
In addition, Prescod said the Mayor’s Office of Sports, Wellness and Recreations would be responsible for creating strategies and initiatives that will help the City become a major sports competitor across the country and the world.
“These strategies and initiatives will create a pipeline for all youth in New York City to be placed in competitive sports programs and competitions,” she said.
“This was years in the making!” Prescod told Caribbean Life. “I’ve been committed to this vision since Columbia (University) days, where I studied through the lens of ‘how sport can be used to mobilize communities’”, Prescod added. “Since then, it’s been advocacy and organizing.”