{"id":9863,"date":"2024-04-10T02:59:47","date_gmt":"2024-04-10T06:59:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/multi.nycnewsnetwork.com\/eastnewyork\/?p=9863"},"modified":"2024-04-13T23:36:13","modified_gmt":"2024-04-14T03:36:13","slug":"bklyn-sauce-piste-academy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/eastnewyork\/bklyn-sauce-piste-academy\/","title":{"rendered":"BKLYN Sauce: Piste Academy"},"content":{"rendered":"

By: Katey St. John<\/a><\/p>\n

At the Prescod Institute for Sport, Teamwork and Education (PISTE), Olympic athlete and Brooklyn native Nzingha Prescod teaches kids discipline, goal orientation, and focus through the martial art of fencing.<\/p>\n

\n
\u201cFencing is so much more than just the sport,\u201d Prescod told BK Reader. \u201cIt’s educational opportunities. It’s network. It’s skill development. It’s strong character. It’s work ethic.\u201d<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

The first iteration of\u00a0PISTE\u00a0<\/a>looked a lot different than the academy Prescod has now built in Starrett City in the East New York neighborhood of Brooklyn.<\/p>\n

For one, it was outdoors. In the summer of 2020, Prescod founded \u201cFencing in The Park\u201d with a fellow champion fencer, Sara Taffel. Eventually, this outdoor summer activity evolved into an academy with various programs, education and training.<\/p>\n

Fencing can be costly\u2014the equipment alone can easily set you back hundreds of dollars, not to mention coaching and tournament expenses.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt becomes exclusionary who can participate unless there are systems, generation after generation, passing the skill on, and also eliminating barriers,\u201d Prescod said.<\/p>\n

PISTE Academy does its part in eliminating these barriers by offering all of its classes and equipment free of charge.<\/p>\n

As a kid growing up in Flatbush, Prescod participated in the Peter Westbrook Foundation, a fencing academy dedicated to exposing black and brown youth to the sport of fencing. Its namesake founder was the first Black American to win an Olympic medal in fencing.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wanted to bring it back to where I grew up and also expose more populations to the sport,\u201d Prescod said. \u201cGrowing up, it was a very exclusive sport and still is.\u201d<\/p>\n

Now a two-time Olympian and Pan American Games champion, Prescod is following Westbrook\u2019s lead in her own community.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By: Katey St. John At the Prescod Institute for Sport, Teamwork and Education (PISTE), Olympic athlete and Brooklyn native Nzingha Prescod teaches kids discipline, goal orientation, and focus through the martial art of fencing. \u201cFencing is so much more than just the sport,\u201d Prescod told BK Reader. \u201cIt’s educational opportunities. It’s network. It’s skill development. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":9864,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[81,79,76],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9863","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-eny-news","category-education","category-features"],"yoast_head":"\nBKLYN Sauce: Piste Academy - East New York News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/eastnewyork\/bklyn-sauce-piste-academy\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"BKLYN Sauce: Piste Academy\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By: Katey St. John At the Prescod Institute for Sport, Teamwork and Education (PISTE), Olympic athlete and Brooklyn native Nzingha Prescod teaches kids discipline, goal orientation, and focus through the martial art of fencing. \u201cFencing is so much more than just the sport,\u201d Prescod told BK Reader. \u201cIt’s educational opportunities. It’s network. It’s skill development. […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/eastnewyork\/bklyn-sauce-piste-academy\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"East New York News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/EastNewYorkNews\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-04-10T06:59:47+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-04-14T03:36:13+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/eastnewyork\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2024\/04\/fencing.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"960\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"605\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"East New York Staff\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@eastnewyorknews\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@eastnewyorknews\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"East New York Staff\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/eastnewyork\/bklyn-sauce-piste-academy\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/eastnewyork\/bklyn-sauce-piste-academy\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"East New York Staff\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/eastnewyork\/#\/schema\/person\/5a8ec53b278d94fb68bfd8d371706d22\"},\"headline\":\"BKLYN Sauce: Piste Academy\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-04-10T06:59:47+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-04-14T03:36:13+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/eastnewyork\/bklyn-sauce-piste-academy\/\"},\"wordCount\":295,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/eastnewyork\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/eastnewyork\/bklyn-sauce-piste-academy\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/eastnewyork\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2024\/04\/fencing.png\",\"articleSection\":[\"East New York News\",\"Education\",\"Features\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/eastnewyork\/bklyn-sauce-piste-academy\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/eastnewyork\/bklyn-sauce-piste-academy\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/eastnewyork\/bklyn-sauce-piste-academy\/\",\"name\":\"BKLYN Sauce: Piste Academy - East New York News\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/eastnewyork\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/eastnewyork\/bklyn-sauce-piste-academy\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/eastnewyork\/bklyn-sauce-piste-academy\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/eastnewyork\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2024\/04\/fencing.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-04-10T06:59:47+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-04-14T03:36:13+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/eastnewyork\/bklyn-sauce-piste-academy\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/eastnewyork\/bklyn-sauce-piste-academy\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/eastnewyork\/bklyn-sauce-piste-academy\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/eastnewyork\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2024\/04\/fencing.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/eastnewyork\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2024\/04\/fencing.png\",\"width\":960,\"height\":605,\"caption\":\"PISTE Fencing Academy in East New York. Photo: Katey St John.\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/eastnewyork\/bklyn-sauce-piste-academy\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/eastnewyork\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"BKLYN Sauce: Piste Academy\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/eastnewyork\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/eastnewyork\/\",\"name\":\"East New York News\",\"description\":\"News and Information on East New York Development Politics Politics Housing & events\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/eastnewyork\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/eastnewyork\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/eastnewyork\/#organization\",\"name\":\"East New York News\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/eastnewyork\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/eastnewyork\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/eastnewyork\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/12\/eny-logo.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/eastnewyork\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/12\/eny-logo.png\",\"width\":360,\"height\":71,\"caption\":\"East New York News\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/eastnewyork\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/EastNewYorkNews\/\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/eastnewyorknews\",\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/eastnewyorknews\/\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/eastnewyork\/#\/schema\/person\/5a8ec53b278d94fb68bfd8d371706d22\",\"name\":\"East New York Staff\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/eastnewyork\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a5f050eee775dccede49d98fa5b10566df3cef9bf4eff092dd6f1334e0565eda?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a5f050eee775dccede49d98fa5b10566df3cef9bf4eff092dd6f1334e0565eda?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"East New York Staff\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/eastnewyork\/author\/omgeastnewyork\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"BKLYN Sauce: Piste Academy - East New York News","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/eastnewyork\/bklyn-sauce-piste-academy\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"BKLYN Sauce: Piste Academy","og_description":"By: Katey St. John At the Prescod Institute for Sport, Teamwork and Education (PISTE), Olympic athlete and Brooklyn native Nzingha Prescod teaches kids discipline, goal orientation, and focus through the martial art of fencing. \u201cFencing is so much more than just the sport,\u201d Prescod told BK Reader. \u201cIt’s educational opportunities. It’s network. It’s skill development. […]","og_url":"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/eastnewyork\/bklyn-sauce-piste-academy\/","og_site_name":"East New York News","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/EastNewYorkNews\/","article_published_time":"2024-04-10T06:59:47+00:00","article_modified_time":"2024-04-14T03:36:13+00:00","og_image":[{"width":960,"height":605,"url":"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/eastnewyork\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2024\/04\/fencing.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"East New York Staff","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@eastnewyorknews","twitter_site":"@eastnewyorknews","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"East New York Staff","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/eastnewyork\/bklyn-sauce-piste-academy\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/eastnewyork\/bklyn-sauce-piste-academy\/"},"author":{"name":"East New York Staff","@id":"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/eastnewyork\/#\/schema\/person\/5a8ec53b278d94fb68bfd8d371706d22"},"headline":"BKLYN Sauce: Piste Academy","datePublished":"2024-04-10T06:59:47+00:00","dateModified":"2024-04-14T03:36:13+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/eastnewyork\/bklyn-sauce-piste-academy\/"},"wordCount":295,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/eastnewyork\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/eastnewyork\/bklyn-sauce-piste-academy\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/eastnewyork\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2024\/04\/fencing.png","articleSection":["East New York News","Education","Features"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/eastnewyork\/bklyn-sauce-piste-academy\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/eastnewyork\/bklyn-sauce-piste-academy\/","url":"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/eastnewyork\/bklyn-sauce-piste-academy\/","name":"BKLYN Sauce: Piste Academy - East New York News","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/eastnewyork\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/eastnewyork\/bklyn-sauce-piste-academy\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/eastnewyork\/bklyn-sauce-piste-academy\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/eastnewyork\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2024\/04\/fencing.png","datePublished":"2024-04-10T06:59:47+00:00","dateModified":"2024-04-14T03:36:13+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/eastnewyork\/bklyn-sauce-piste-academy\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/eastnewyork\/bklyn-sauce-piste-academy\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/eastnewyork\/bklyn-sauce-piste-academy\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/eastnewyork\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2024\/04\/fencing.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/eastnewyork\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2024\/04\/fencing.png","width":960,"height":605,"caption":"PISTE Fencing Academy in East New York. Photo: Katey St John."},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/eastnewyork\/bklyn-sauce-piste-academy\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/eastnewyork\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"BKLYN Sauce: Piste Academy"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/eastnewyork\/#website","url":"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/eastnewyork\/","name":"East New York News","description":"News and Information on East New York Development Politics Politics Housing & events","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/eastnewyork\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/eastnewyork\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/eastnewyork\/#organization","name":"East New York News","url":"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/eastnewyork\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/eastnewyork\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/eastnewyork\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/12\/eny-logo.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/eastnewyork\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2025\/12\/eny-logo.png","width":360,"height":71,"caption":"East New York News"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/eastnewyork\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/EastNewYorkNews\/","https:\/\/x.com\/eastnewyorknews","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/eastnewyorknews\/"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/eastnewyork\/#\/schema\/person\/5a8ec53b278d94fb68bfd8d371706d22","name":"East New York Staff","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/eastnewyork\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a5f050eee775dccede49d98fa5b10566df3cef9bf4eff092dd6f1334e0565eda?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a5f050eee775dccede49d98fa5b10566df3cef9bf4eff092dd6f1334e0565eda?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"East New York Staff"},"url":"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/eastnewyork\/author\/omgeastnewyork\/"}]}},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/eastnewyork\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9863","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/eastnewyork\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/eastnewyork\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/eastnewyork\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/eastnewyork\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9863"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/eastnewyork\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9863\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/eastnewyork\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9864"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/eastnewyork\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9863"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/eastnewyork\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9863"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nycnewsnetwork.com\/eastnewyork\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9863"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}