NEW YORK (WCBS 880) — On a quiet day in Central Park, the clash of metal and grunts of battle may raise some alarms.
But, once a month, visitors in the park could find themselves stumbling upon an interesting sight of knights in armor, dueling it out on the grass.
“We are Gladiators NYC,” said Damion DiGrazia.
He founded the group eight years ago to encourage people all over New York to get dressed in full knightly armor, grab a sword or axe (dulled, of course) and have it out, “Game of Thrones” style.
Since then, it’s grown into a phenomenon.
“We are the premier, the original, the experience for armored combat in New York City,” DiGrazia explained.
He also has started a knight school, which operates in Harlem, and a program called Santa’s Knights, which teaches children how to become knights for free.
“There are a lot of extreme sports out there and I think there’s a part of us, in our humanity, engrained in us from millions of years of evolution and fighting – that this is what we do. But everything is consensual,” DiGrazia said.
One-on-one matches are awarded points in a series of three rounds, until a winner is announced. But there are also melees consisting of several knights at a time – and combat in those can continue until one person is left standing.
And participants can get really into it.
“There’s beauty within this violence and chaos,” said Orlando Mendez.
“I came into it when I was going through a bad breakup in my life. I had a lot of anger and issues I wanted to go through. And I just found a really great outlet for it,” he added.
Meanwhile, Maddie Hartke is the only woman in the group – and she thinks it can be extremely rewarding for all genders.
“I like contact sports, I like medieval history,” she said. “Being a female fighter, everyone here has been really welcoming.”
Some compare it to Medieval version of MMA fighting – but there’s no medals involved, since the contestants are already wearing so much.
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