Manhattan Fencing Center

Took my 10 year old here for summer camp and he absolutely loved it. We have done 4 weeks of both foil and saber and plan starting lessons in the fall. Loved the atmosphere, all staff were very helpful and met some Olympians!

Honestly, I was shocked when I discovered that MFC had a five-​star review. (Probably self-​seeded). This is because the club is of dismal quality. The coaches are all angry old Eastern Europeans who do not take well to other people’s opinions – especially parents. The flooring for the club is all low quality plastic tile (they *could* get metal, they just don’t want to). The classes are extremely overpriced – one year of classes and lessons could easily run you to well over $ 50,000. The coaches most likely only look like they care about your kid on the outside when in reality only two or three matter. The teach the soviet sabre fencing style, which was last updated in the eighties and is extremely antiquated. I would not – under any circumstance – recommend this club to anyone. You would be much better off by going to Fencers Club, or if you can get a sponsor, the NYAC. Hope this deters people from coming here.

Excellent club with best fencing coaches available. I fenced as a kid and restarted fencing in my 40’s. It is a great sport and this is great place to learn. All are made to feel welcome here.

My daughter is in the Muskateers Program, so she is just starting out. This club does a great job making it fun to learn new skills, to compete with sportsmanship, and to work hard. Bravo!

My boo and I moved up to NYC about a month ago and have been just playing around and doing more things here than a native New Yorker would have in their whole lives living here.
We went to the Mid-​Manhattan library to get some books (why buy books, when you can have taxpayers pay for it?) and my boo saw a sign saying the MFC has free fencing lessons on Friday during the summer.
My boo called up and we got wait-​listed because we called right before the day of the event. We showed up at the library, and sure enough, some people flaked and we were in! We were pretty lucky since it last event of the season. We have such perfect timing — like how we met randomly, but that’s another story.
It was so awesome and fun. They taught us plenty of basics with footwork, attacks, defenses, and combos. My boo was so excited, during one of the lunging exercises she fell and scuffed up her knee again. Later on we paired up and got to duel with each other. The instructor told my boo to not be afraid to attack me and to «kill me». Needless to say, I just let her win, because after seeing her lil boo-​boo on her knee, I figured she could use it. Actually, my boo was really good.
If you want something fun and lighthearted to do, definitely come check them out!

I have to admit, I never thought I’d try fencing before my friend asked me along to a fencing event at the Manhattan Fencing Club. I was a little nervous about what it would entail, and when I found out I’d be learning the basics from Olympic athletes, it didn’t exactly calm my nerves…
Once I got into my gear and joined the group for our lesson, though, I loved it. Even though our coaches were world class athletes, they did a fantastic job of making it lighthearted and fun instead of serious and technical. They were encouraging, and taught our motley crew of beginners a few basic moves before splitting us into teams and throwing us into matches. The best part was that they really gave us some good coaching advice — I failed miserably in my first match but after some counseling from my coach I nailed it in the next round!
I’m getting a little bit of a late start for Olympic level training, and my wallet might now allow for regular lessons just this moment, but this was so much fun I’m recommending it to lots of friends, and hope to come back asap. This is such a fun sport, and all of the people there are so friendly and laid back that I wont’ feel bad at all about my level or skill next time. Not to mention how great of a workout it is — don’t underestimate all that squatting and lunging!