PRESCOD Nzingha

Personal Information

Residence New York, NY, USA

Occupation Consultant

Languages English, French

Higher education Political Science - Columbia University: New York, NY, USA

License number 14081992000

Club

Upcoming Events

Sport Specific Information

When and where did you begin this sport? She began fencing at age nine at the Peter Westbrook Foundation in New York, NY, United States of America.

Why this sport? "My mother read about an organisation that Peter Westbrook founded. Their goal was to get inner city kids, who wouldn't usually be exposed to fencing, to participate for free. If they saw you had potential, they would give you a scholarship to go to the fencing club for free. I wasn't very good at first. My sister would always beat me, and I didn't like to lose. I kept practising so I could beat my sister, and I started to love it more and more."

Handedness Right

General Interest

Nicknames Zingy (teamusa.org, 25 Aug 2010)

Hobbies Reading, shopping, baking, swimming. (nylon.com, 04 Nov 2015; teamusa.org, 01 Jan 2017; gocolumbialions.com, 01 May 2015)

Hero / Idol US tennis player Serena Williams. (nylon.com, 04 Nov 2015)

Injuries She underwent hip replacement surgery in March 2020. (Instagram profile, 09 Mar 2020)

She required surgery on a labrum tear in her hip in 2014. (nylon.com, 04 Nov 2015)

Sporting philosophy / motto "Find something you love and put the hours in. Focusing on the process, rather than the result, is key in succeeding at anything. The most successful people don't allow excuses to get in their way and are willing to do things they hate for their vision." (blackenterprise.com, 02 Oct 2015)

Awards and honours During her collegiate career at Columbia University she was named Ivy League Rookie of the Year in 2010/11 and was named First Team All-Ivy in 2010/11 and 2012/13. (gocolumbialions.com, 01 May 2015)

Milestones She became the first female US foil fencer to win a Grand Prix title when she claimed gold at the 2013 event in Marseille, France. (usafencing.org, 27 May 2013; gocolumbialions.com, 01 May 2015)

Other information RETIREMENT
In January 2020 she announced she was retiring from competition due to a persistent hip injury. She underwent hip replacement surgery in March 2020 and said she would be focusing on community work and coaching. "For 19 years, fencing has been my best friend. Peter Westbrook introduced me to her and Buckie Leach taught me how to love her. My love for fencing will never change but our relationship will now be different. In this next chapter, I'm looking forward to empowering kids from my community with this special kind of love. I'm really proud of my experience in the sport and will always have fond memories." In June 2020 she founded Fencing in the Park in New York, NY, United States of America. "Fencing in the Park is a community-based, outdoor summer series introducing the less visible sport of fencing to children of colour in Brooklyn neighbourhoods that are unlikely to access it, otherwise." (Instagram profile, 14 Jan 2021; LinkedIn profile, 03 Apr 2021)

OCCUPATION
In 2017 she began working for a financial accounting services company in New York, NY, United States of America. (LinkedIn profile, 04 Jun 2019)

NAME
She was named after a warrior queen from Angola. "I'm named after a 17th-century queen from Angola, Nzinga Mbande. During the colonial period, the Europeans would try to come to Africa and take their land, and she defended her territory. I think it's not a coincidence that I'm named Nzingha and I go off with my sword and fight people for my country." (espn.com, 05 Jul 2016)