reddoorfencing About Red Door Fencing

Come Fence With Us!

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.

Latest News:

reddoorfencing Events

Training and Fun at TCFC Winter Camp

Javy, James, Tristan, Kalina, and Ava worked hard and had fun over 4 days in St. Paul over Winter Break. We stayed in a huge old airbnb with our friends from Lincoln and Kansas City, where we cooked and ate some delicious and spicy food, played “sardines”, PS2 and arcade games, card games, and the piano (with singing… for 2.5 hours one evening – wow!), and presumably slept at some point. After singing our way to the club each morning, we warmed up, worked on footwork, suited up and started on drills, had a lunch break, then continued working on the drills and fencing in the afternoon. We enjoyed the team tournament at the end and saw improvements from all our fencers! We’d like to thank all the families and coaches, especially our hosts at the Twin Cities Fencing Club Scott and Sasha, Gary from Northern Colorado Fencers, and Brad from Lincoln Fencing Club, and all of the people we got to fence with, for making this fantastic experience possible!

reddoorfencing Tournament Results

Junior Olympics Results

Kalina fenced two events at her first Junior Olympics (National Championships for Cadet and Junior age divisions) in Kansas City last weekend. In CDT Women’s Epee, she tied for 97th place! In JR WE, she found her groove a little more and finished 72nd! She also enjoyed laser tag with the LFC kids on Saturday night!

Full results: https://www.fencingtimelive.com/tournaments/eventSchedule/BBA4B7FACC464C93BA534ACE381A6C46#today

reddoorfencing Uncategorized

RDF December Youth Tournament (HYC #2) Results

The temperature outside was frightful, but the fencing inside was delightful! The second Heartland Youth Circuit was a small event last weekend, but those that braved the weather all earned points toward the end-of-season placings. In Y10 Mixed Epee, Nora and Grant tied for 3rd, and Sam finished 5th. In Y12 Mixed Epee, James L. took home the goofy trophy for 1st. In Y14 Mixed Epee, Kalina was 1st, James L. took 2nd, Tristan tied for 3rd, Lucas was 6th, Robert finished 7th, and James G. ended 8th. Kalina also won Cadet Mixed Epee, with Tristan finishing 2nd, and Malakai tying for 3rd. In Junior Mixed Epee, Kalina was 1st, Tristan ended 2nd, Jack and Malakai tied for 3rd, and Liam finished 5th. It was also Nora, Sam, and James G’s first tournament! We also got to see our friends from Kansas City and Lincoln and make some new friends from Minnesota!

Full results: https://www.askfred.net/tournaments/dba39aa6-de11-45a7-97b8-4fb41c0a6459/results

HYC Points standings: https://www.askfred.net/leagues/1ad09edd-9945-44e5-89af-214f8fea82e4

reddoorfencing Schedule Changes

December Schedule

The club will be CLOSED the following days:

Wednesday, Dec. 24 (Christmas Eve)
Thursday, Dec. 25 (Christmas)
Saturday, Dec. 27 (Winter Camp in MN)
Tuesday, Dec. 30 (Winter Camp in MN)
Wednesday, Dec. 31 (New Year’s Eve)

We hope everyone has happy holidays and a fun winter break!

reddoorfencing Events

Footwork Mini-Camp at LFC!

Tristan, Malakai, Kalina, and Sarah traveled to Lincoln, NE for the latest mini-camp! The kids bouted for a couple of hours and got lunch with the LFC kids at the nearby mall. Then we all worked on footwork for 4 hours, led by LFC’s Coach Brad. This time we spent some time on fleches (another type of attack, also a French word for “arrow”), but while everyone improved, we still need more practice! It was hard work, but fun, and we plan to do it again soon!

reddoorfencing Tournament Results

GRAFA Third Coast Cup RYC/RJCC/ROC Results

Four RDF fencers traveled (some barely) to Grand Rapids, MI, for the GRAFA 3rd Coast Cup RYC/RJCC/ROC. Bright and early on Saturday, Ava fenced D1A Women’s Epee while recovering from some sort of bug and finished 17th, but Sarah skipped out on it because 3 hours of sleep is not enough. We were feeling better when Tristan fenced CDT ME and finished 18th! Then Sarah and Ava fenced D2 WE, where Sarah took the gold medal and Ava ended 10th.

On Sunday, Tristan started us off in D3 ME, where he finished 10th! Then James won Y12 ME! Finally, both boys fenced Y14 ME, where Tristan earned the gold medal and James finished 12th! Then we got out of there as fast as we could, but still failed to beat the snowstorm, though some had the good sense to wait it out and go around the next day.

Full results: https://www.fencingtimelive.com/tournaments/eventSchedule/F10863108DBE43EE8BA698C98B100EBB#today