Red Door Fencing, located in Des Moines’ historic East Village, is an epee club that promotes competitive and recreational fencing by providing quality instruction, a safe and supportive training environment, and fostering personal growth and community engagement.
We offer beginner classes, lessons, and training for children, teens, and adults. Our fencers compete in local, regional, and national tournaments, and we host additional educational opportunities (referee seminars, coaching workshops, fencing/training camps, etc.) and tournaments.
We are an affiliate member of USA Fencing, the national governing body for the sport in the U.S., and a 501(c)(3) nonprofit.
The club is closed Saturday, April 20 – both coaches and quite a few fencers will be at tournaments in either West Des Moines or Chicago. See you next week!
We had a great time fencing the third tournament in the Heartland Youth Circuit last weekend! We had our biggest event to date – 11 kids in Y12 – and it was the first tournament for Harper, Colton, and Henry. Everyone’s fencing has noticeably improved over the past few months, and it was fun to see the kids’ hard work paying off! Here are the results:
CDT: 1 – Jack 2 – Kalina 3 – Ebele
JR: 1 – Jack 2 – Kalina 3 – Chi Chi & Ava 5 – Ebele
Y10: 1 – James 2 – Javy 3 – Natalie D. & Ella
Y12: 1 – Kalina 2 – James 3 – Javy & Ella 5 – Kai 6 – Liam 7 – Harper 8 – Natalie D. 9 – Colton 10 – Henry 11 – Lucas
Y14: 1 – Kalina 2 – Jackson 3 – Jorja & Liam
Cadet Epee: 1 – Jack, 2 – Kalina, 3 -EbeleJunior Epee: 1 – Jack, 2 – Kalina, 3 – Ava and Chi Chi, 5 – EbeleY10 epee: 1 – James, 2 – Javy, 3 – Ella and NatalieY12 (missing most!): 1 – Kalina, 2 – James, 3 – Javy and ella, 7 – HarperY14 Epee: 1 – Kalina, 2 – Jackson, 3 – Liam and JorjaDouble touch for Kalina and JackAva and Chi Chi fence in Junior EpeeJorja lunges at Jackson in Y14 EpeeJackson scores a point on Liam in Y14 EpeeHarper on the attack against Kalina in Y12 EpeeEbele goes low and Chi Chi escapes and countersElla and James in-fightJavy lunges and scores a point on NatalieElla and Natalie both score in Y10 Epee
Full results: https://www.askfred.net/…/4819bb74-afdc-4dc2…/results Everyone also earned points for end-of-season Heartland Youth Circuit awards. The league uses this formula [((entries – place + 1) / entries) x 100] to calculate points and determines ranking from the fencer’s best 3 results added together. Here are the current points standings:
Y10: 1 – James (300) 2 – Javy (222) 3 – Natalie D. & Ella (110) 5 – Harper J. (LFC) (33) 6 – Natalie G. (20)
Y12: 1 – Kalina (300) 2 – James (241) 3 – Javy (216) 4 – Liam (88) 5 – Charlotte (LFC) (83) 6 – Ella (82) 7 – Abby (67) 8 – Kai (64) 9 – Natalie D. (53) 10 – Harper L. (45) 11 – Harper J. (LFC) (33) 12 – Colton (27) 13 – Henry (18) 14 – Charlie (17) 15 – Lucas (9)
In Minneapolis last weekend, four of our fencers competed at the Center for Blade Arts’ 2nd Women’s Tournament of the season. Sarah was 1st, Cheryl was 2nd after a close bout with Sarah, Tasha finished 10th, and Ava ended 13th.
Cheryl traveled to Seattle, WA for a veteran (ages 40+) tournament and finished 12th after a close defeat. She was pleased with the fact that she used a skill she’d been working on in lessons at the tournament – always a good feeling!
Three RDF kids and families traveled to Peoria for a regional youth circuit event last weekend. James fenced in Y10 Men’s Epee and earned the 7th place medal at his first tournament outside our club. He learned a lot and had fun fencing challenging opponents! This was also Ella’s first tournament outside the club, and she finished 11th in Y10 Women’s Epee after a loss to the eventual winner! It was interesting to fence unfamiliar people, and a good learning experience. Kalina fenced in Y12 Women’s Epee and took home the silver medal after eliminating the 1st seed fencer in semifinals and a well-fenced 15-14 loss in the finals. She also fenced in Y14 Women’s Epee and finished 8th, earning her first classification/rating – E24! We’re so proud of everyone for being supportive, friendly, and displaying good sportsmanship!
Five of our fencers had a blast at the Twin Cities Fencing Club’s annual Winter Camp between Christmas and New Year’s! We spent four days working in the gym with friends old and new, and we came back with lots to continue working on at home.
Jack-o-Lantern medalists: 2nd – Jack, 3rd – BryanMat scores on a doubleTasha lunges for the doubleJack and Bryan fence at the Jack-O-Lantern tournament
Kalina fenced in two events at the Windy City Super Youth Circuit tournament last weekend. In Y-14 Women’s Epee, she finished 33rd, and in Y-12 Women’s Epee, she placed 17th!
Windy City SYCKalina lunges at an opponent at the Windy City SYCKalina counterattacks for a double at the Windy City SYCKalina fences in Y12 Women’s Epee in Chicago
red door fencing 