Fencing On Long Island

from Your Port Washington 4/12/23 edition is published by Anton Media Group.

Events in Port Washington to enjoy in the upcoming spring months

Port Washington is home to one of country’s strongest fencing programs

BY ANTON MEDIA GROUP STAFF editors@antonmediagroup.com

In 2018, New York Fencing Academy (NYFA) opened a location in Port Washington. Since then, the facility’s coaches have helped produce some incredible and accomplished athletes.

New York Fencing Academy was founded in 2010 by Michael Mokretsov in Brooklyn to help people discover, enjoy and advance in fencing. Students of all ages join the academy to receive quality instruction in all aspects of fencing by developing physical fitness in addition to fencing skills.

Coach Sergey Danilov is Head Coach and Co-owner of the Long Island location. He began fencing at the age of 10 in Russia. He has won national championships, traveled the world for fencing competitions and earned a Master’s degree in Fencing Coach and PE Education. Sergey began his successful coaching career in 2004. In addition to being head coach at NYFA’s Long Island location, he is also Assistant Coach at St. John’s University, and the Designated USA Team Coach for Cadet and Junior Men’s Epee, as well as Designated National Team Coach for the 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018 World Championships

There are about 100 students at the Port Washington NYFA facility, Danilov said. Four coaches are usually working at the facility, but NYFA has eight coaches total that occasionally rotate between the two locations.

“Normally, our main athletes come in ages from around five to 16 or 17,” said Danilov. “Obviously, they have to be in school in the morning, so we open Monday through Friday, from 3 to 9 p.m. Then on Saturdays we train from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.”

The fencing academy’s classes range from beginner groups to individualized lessons for all ages. Many young students come to the academy with no experience, looking to learn fencing techniques and participate in a club sport.

“We have a beginner course that has individual lessons. The coach goes individually with the person through the foundations of fencing, like basic technique, basic strategy, basic physical exercises,” said Danilov. “And after the beginning course, they join the group classes with the supervision of the coaches. They easily blend in with the other fencers. And we try to provide a friendly environment so the kids feel welcomed.”

High school fencing teams are very popular on Long Island, so many students begin fencing when they reach high school. When the school fencing season comes to an end, some athletes find themselves wanting to continue training in their sport and come to the academy to join the club.

“The high school season is around November through February and for the rest of the season, the kids who are in love with the sport, they join the club and train in the club,” said Danilov.

While some of the older students at the club have experience from their school fencing team, Danilov shared that the majority of students coming to the academy have no experience at all. The academy provides a welcoming atmosphere so people with a desire to start the sport feel comfortable joining even though they know little to nothing about fencing.

NYFA has produced many incredible athletes that excel in their high school team and go on to win major fencing competitions with their school and club teams. Recently, Isabella Chin, a senior at Manhasset Secondary School, won the Gold Medal at the Junior World Cup, the ultimate competition for fencers under 20 years old.

In January, the Junior World Cup was hosted in Maalot, Israel. Only the twelve best fencers in the country earn spots to represent Team USA at the prestigious competition. Chin represented Team USA proudly and proved that she was the strongest fencer of the day, winning the Gold Medal and becoming a World Cup Champion.

Editor of the Manhasset Press Amanda Olsen spoke with Chin and learned that she has been fencing since she was in third grade and is trained in the épée discipline of fencing. This discipline uses the heaviest of the fencing swords, also called an épée. The tip of the épée is spring loaded and requires 750 grams of pressure to register a hit. According to the International Fencing Federation, the épée is a thrusting weapon and the attack is with the point only. In this discipline, the target area is the entire body, head to toe, including any clothing and equipment. Any hit that makes contact is counted. Hits are awarded based solely on whichever fencer makes a hit first.

Chin practices four days a week at New York Fencing Academy in Port Washington. In Olsen’s interview, Danilov describes her as one of the hardest working students there. “Isabella is usually one of the first to show up in the gym, and she’s definitely the last one to leave the gym. So she’s a very hard worker. She would usually come earlier and do just a regular warmup. After that she spent some time on self-improvement, which means using some exercises to improve yourself such as work, target work, and after that she normally would have a lesson, a private lesson, with me. And after that, she joins the group class where she is training with other athletes. After the group class, she always stays for extra defense, more bouts or to do some target work.”

Chin’s dedication to fencing has led her to regularly train and exercise outside of fencing practice. At NYFA, general physical fitness is a priority to teach their students in addition to fencing.

“Our classes are built to not just develop fencing skills, but also, all aspects of sports. Such as mental preparation, physical preparation,” said Danilov. “The first part of the class usually involves some warmup exercises, which includes games, coordination exercises, physical training.”

“We have fitness classes where kids work specifically to develop necessary physical skills for fencing. And a lot of competitive fencers have individual fitness plans built by the coaches for them to do additional training,” said Danilov.

NYFA has one of the strongest competitive programs in the country. They have been named Fencing Club of the Year two years in a row and ranked number one in youth épée per National Fencing Club Rankings.

“For the previous six years we had our students representing the U.S. national team in the cadet category, for athletes under 17 years old, and junior category, for athletes under 12 years old,” said Danilov.

NYFA’s commitment to their students has helped them become great competitors and strong athletes. With the Port Washington NYFA location, successful training programs are available to athletes all over Long Island.

To learn more about New York Fencing Academy, visit fencenyfa.com

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