Visitors to Central Park on Saturday may have been greeted with an unusual sight: Men and women in medieval armor hammering each other with dulled steel weapons to cheers and applause from roughly 100 onlookers. It was the second event of the season for Gladiators NYC, the flagship program of Santa's Knights, a local martial arts and fitness nonprofit.
Fighters clad in up to 100 pounds of armor battled it out, using real (but blunted) weapons as well as kicking, punching and grappling one another. The duels went on in either three one-minute rounds — fought one-on-one or in teams — or even group melees, where up to five knights competed until only one was left standing.
The group’s founder, Damion DiGrazia, left a career on Wall Street to start the group roughly a decade ago, and says that the program has been a blessing for people in the post-COVID world. The Gladiators now offer classes free of charge three days a week at the Manhattanville Community Center in Harlem.
“When I see New Yorkers in need and I see them struggling, I think this is a way we can really impact those people,” said DiGrazia.
“I've had hundreds of students over the course of the past 10 years and I've seen it change them. I've seen the community that's possible,” he continued.
Today, the Gladiators can count roughly 20 armored fighters, 20 students, and a half-dozen volunteers among their ranks. But until recently, the majority of those fighters have been men.
However, Maddie Hartke, one of the Gladiators’ first female members, says that the sport is evolving to be more inclusive.
“We’re a small population of the sport,” said Hartke. “We sometimes have to push for a place in it, but it's rewarding when we come out of it having great fights, making lasting friendships, and winning medals and trophies.”
Maddie Hartke, the only woman in the group, rubs away a headache following a bout.
DiGrazia said that he has been working for years to attract more women to participate.
“The women's side of the sport is really untapped, there’s just so much potential,” said DiGrazia.
Hartke is now one of four women who fight with the Gladiators.
“I knew I would have an enjoyable experience with this from the first time I started armoring up,” said Hartke. “I've gotten to have some really amazing experiences fighting in New York.”
Tripp Sommese is a volunteer organizer of the Central Park events, as well as a regular participant himself. He’s been with the Gladiators for about a year-and-a-half, and said that while he enjoys the exercise, the camaraderie is what keeps him coming back.
“To find a community of people that can be physically fit together and just have a lot of fun in the city, let alone for it to be free and open to any walks of life is really cool,” Sommese said.
“The barrier to entry is really just your enthusiasm for sweating, being tired and taking a hit,” he continued.
Volunteer organizer, Tripp Sommese.
DiGrazia says that the group's popularity continues to grow exponentially, earning it thousands of followers on social media and drawing bigger and bigger crowds every time.
Emily Freed and Abbey Gilbert attended Saturday’s event after Freed went to a previous one the month before.
“It’s barbaric but entertaining,” said Gilbert.
“Whenever they're there, I want to try to come because it's really weird and fun,” said Freed.
The Gladiators' next event at Central Park takes place on Saturday, May 13.
