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:

Kalina lunges at her opponent
reddoorfencing Tournament Results

Capitol City Youth Classic Results

Last weekend, Kalina competed at the Capitol City Youth Classic in Lincoln, NE! She fenced well, making some good adjustments during several bouts, met several new friends, and won both the Y12 and Y14 Mixed Epee events.

Y12 medal winners - Kalina earns gold!
Y12 medal winners (minus one) at the Capitol City Youth Classic – Kalina earns gold!
reddoorfencing Tournament Results

Duel in Des Moines Results

The Duel in Des Moines was this weekend and RDF sent 12 fencers to compete in 3 events! Everyone got some good touches (points) and has things to be proud of! It was the first tournament for Jackson and Kai, and Sarah earned her C23 rating. We had a lot of fun fencing our friends from Nebraska and Iowa City! Thanks to DMFC for hosting!

Senior Mixed Epee:
3rd (tie) – Sarah
6th – Daniel
9th – Nick
10th – Jack
12th – Tasha
15th – Mat
17th – Ebele
18th (tie) – Chi Chi

Y12 Mixed Epee:
1st – Kalina
2nd – Max
5th – Kai

Y14 Mixed Epee:
1st – Kalina
2nd – Jackson

Full results: https://askfred.net/Results/results.php?tournament_id=52137

reddoorfencing Tournament Results

Igloo Open Results

On Sunday, Chi Chi and Ebele traveled to Iowa City to fence at ICFC’s Igloo Open! Chi Chi did quite well in the first round (where we fence 5-point matches, or bouts), coming out of it 2nd, but lost her 15-point bout and ended 5th. Ebele took a little longer to find her groove, and did her best fencing in her 15-point bout, finishing 9th.

Full results: https://askfred.net/Results/results.php?tournament_id=52549

reddoorfencing Uncategorized

RDF goes to the TCFC Winter Camp

Six fencers, plus coaches Kevin and Sarah and some fencers’ family members traveled to St. Paul, MN for the annual Twin Cities Fencing Club Winter Camp. We rented a big old house where everyone had space to socialize or chill out away from the group as needed.

Huge thank you to Suzana (Kalina’s mom) for helping us get food, shuttling people around, and taking care of miscellaneous things that came up! We’re also grateful to the leaders of segments of the camp, those working in the background to make it all happen, and all of the athletes who came and fenced with us.

Fencing-wise, the goal of the camp was to create a foundation for successful fencing, which means a lot of work on some core skills that will us to “survive” longer in bouts and from which we can build the rest of our game. The pandemic had us fencing a much smaller group of people than usual, and it was great to practice with a variety of unfamiliar fencers! We also spent some time on developing a warm-up routine, building some muscles we may have been neglecting, and thinking about how to handle some of the psychological aspects of a competitive environment. We saw noticeable improvement in all of our fencers and we think they got a lot out of it.

In addition to the fencing, we enjoyed getting to see old friends, making new friends, cooking, eating, playing games, going rock climbing (because all day in a fencing gym wasn’t enough physical activity, apparently), and hanging out together!

reddoorfencing Tournament Results

RDF December Youth Tournament Results

Last weekend, we held our annual December Youth Tournament with events in Y10, Y12, Y14, Cadet, and Junior age categories. This was also the 2nd Heartland Youth Circuit event, which means everyone got points toward end-of-season awards. We saw lots of good fencing and good sportsmanship, and everyone got to pick a prize from the miscellaneous prize box!

Full results: https://askfred.net/Results/results.php?tournament_id=51832