Olympic sport of fencing in Des Moines, Iowa
Learn to FenceRed 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 are an affiliate member of USA Fencing, the national governing body for the sport in the U.S.
Registration for summer beginner classes is now available! Have fun, make friends, learn a new sport!
Youth Beginner Fencing for kids ages 8-12 is Tuesday evenings 5:30-6:30 starting June 5 and running through July 17 (6 weeks, no class July 3).
Teen/Adult Beginner Fencing is Wednesday evenings 6:30-7:30 starting June 6 and runs through July 18 (6 weeks, no class July 4).
Cost is $60 and all equipment is provided.
More info available here: https://reddoorfencing.com/join/beginner-classes/
Last weekend, RDF hosted our annual Equinox Epee tournament at Valley Southwoods Freshman High School in West Des Moines. We’d like to thank all the athletes, parents, referees, and set-up/tear down volunteers for helping us make this our best Equinox Epee tournament yet!
Besides fencers from around the Midwest, we had 15 of our own fencers competing across 5 events. Full results are available here, but these are the RDF highlights:
Y10 Mixed Epee:
2nd – Henry
3rd (tie) – Harper and Graham
Y12 Mixed Epee:
3rd (tie) – Henry and Weston
5th – Evan
6th – Graham
Y14 Mixed Epee:
3rd – Nick
5th – Daniel
6th – Lily
7th – Kaden
8th – Winnie
D & Under Mixed Epee:
6th – Carl
14th – Nick
16th – Daniel A.
23rd – Daniel M.
31st – Kaden
32nd – Alex
33rd – Lily
Senior Mixed Epee:
3rd – Jim
22nd – Sarah
28th – Carl
This past weekend, Jim and Sarah traveled to Kansas City to compete at the HFA Regional Open Circuit tournament. Jim finished 7th in Senior Men’s Epee, which qualifies him for Div 1A at Summer Nationals. Sarah tied for 3rd in Senior Women’s Epee on Saturday, and then she ended 2nd in C & Under WE on Sunday, which qualifies her for Div 2 & 3 at Summer Nationals. Full results: https://askfred.net/Results/results.php?tournament_id=37687.
Yesterday RDF fencers Carl and Alex competed at Iowa State University’s Frosty Open in Ames. Alex won his first direct elimination (15-point) bout at a tournament and finished 7th, and Carl ended 11th. Full results: https://askfred.net/Results/results.php?tournament_id=39281
We’re gearing up for our big annual tournament – Equinox Epee – on Saturday, March 24 at Valley Southwoods Freshman High School in West Des Moines. If you’re an epee fencer, sign up today: https://askfred.net/Events/moreInfo.php?tournament_id=38662! We have events for Y10, Y12, Y14, D & Under classifications, and an open (ages 13+, any classification) category.
If you’re not a fencer or you know a fencer, this is a good chance to see what we spend all this time training for! As usual, it’s free to come watch.
Thanks to the great support we had last year, we’ve been able to make some upgrades to this year’s event: bigger gym with hardwood floors and bleachers so we can have more strips than last year, a grounded strip, another new scoring box, and more professional referees!
Events Scheduled for Saturday, March 24:
Senior:
9:00 AM – Mixed Epee
12:00 PM – D & Under Mixed Epee
Youth:
12:00 PM – Y10 Mixed Epee (Unsanctioned)
1:00 PM – Y12 Mixed Epee (Unsanctioned)
2:00 PM – Y14 Mixed Epee
Four RDF fencers competed at the Icicle Invitational in Lincoln, NE on Sunday. In Mixed Epee, Jim finished 7th, Sarah ended 14th, Julia was 22nd, and Nick placed 26th. In Women’s Epee, Sarah and Julia tied for 3rd. Thanks to LFC for hosting a great event! Full results: https://askfred.net/Results/results.php?tournament_id=37996
Over winter break, two RDF athletes traveled to Minnesota to train at the annual 4-day winter camp at the Twin Cities Fencing Club. Sarah and Lily enjoyed working with fencers from around the region and improving their fencing.
Normal practice as scheduled Tuesday, Dec. 26. We’re closed Wednesday, Dec. 27, Saturday, Dec. 30, and Tuesday, Jan. 2, and there is no Youth Practice on Thursday, Dec. 28. Regular schedule resumes Wednesday, Jan. 3, 2018. Happy Holidays, everyone!
Last weekend, RDF fencer Lily traveled to Austin, TX for the Austin Challenge SYC/RCC tournament. It was a bit of a rough trip travel-wise (including getting stranded in Atlanta when they lost power!), but Lily met her goals of staying focused and sticking to the plan and finished 33rd in Y14 Women’s Epee. Full results: https://askfred.net/Results/results.php?tournament_id=37271#147211
On Sunday, we ran an invite-only “training tournament” for fencers who compete in Division I (C-rated & up) events (or are working up to it). We decide the format the day of, depending on who is there and what they want to work on, and then we record all the bouts for review by the group afterwards. This was probably a broader skill range than we’ve had in the past, but it was especially helpful to have the stronger fencers’ feedback during the video review portion. We watched and critiqued at least one video of every fencer, and everyone has links to the full collection. We really appreciate everyone coming out and fencing with us!
Results: https://askfred.net/Results/results.php?tournament_id=38655
