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 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

reddoorfencing Tournament Results

Daugherty Challenge RYC/RJCC/ROC Results

Down in St. Louis, Campbell, Kalina, Ben, Jack, and Daniel fenced at the Daugherty Challenge RYC/RJCC/ROC (which is just a bunch of letters that basically mean “regional-level events for Youth, Cadet, Junior, and Open categories, which give regional points, which can qualify a fencer for nationl-level events”).

In Junior (20 & Under) Men’s Epee, Jack came in 5th, Daniel was 13th with Campbell right behind in 14th.

In Division 2 (“C”-rated and lower) Men’s Epee, Daniel took silver, Jack finished 15th, and Campbell was 17th.

In Y12 Women’s Epee, Kalina finished 3rd.

In Y14 Men’s Epee, Ben finished 14th.

reddoorfencing Tournament Results

Hawkeye Open Results

This past Saturday, Chi Chi and Ebele fenced in their first tournament outside our club, traveling to Iowa City for UIFC’s Hawkeye Open. They both had some nice actions and well-fenced bouts throughout the day. After the first round (pools), they had the misfortune of meeting each other for their first direct elimination bout. Chi Chi finished 6th, and Ebele ended 12th!

Full results: https://askfred.net/Results/results.php?tournament_id=51436