New Fencers Start This Week

First of all, we would like to thank everyone who came to our two open house events this weekend. We had so much fun introducing so many people to the sport we love! We hope everyone had fun and that we’ll see some of you back this week.

Youth Beginner Epee (for kids ages 7-12) starts at 5:00 tomorrow (Monday), and Adult Beginner Epee (ages 13 & up) will start at 6:15. There are still spots in both epee classes, so walk-ins are welcome to sign up on site. Please arrive a few minutes early if you have not yet completed a registration form and waiver.

Online registration for Youth Beginner Epee

Online registration for Adult Beginner Epee

Beginner saber fencers will start on Tuesday. We still have room for more fencers, so walk-ins are welcome to sign up on site. Please arrive a few minutes early if you have not yet completed a registration form and waiver.

Online registration for Beginner Saber (all ages)

If you have any questions, contact us.

Fencing: fun for all ages!
We had people from age 6 to age 70 learn about fencing at our open house.
Photo credit: Lindsay Timmons

Open House Dates, New Fencer Sign-Up

We are pleased to announce our first Open House dates!

Saturday, Jan. 11, 2014 from 10 am-4-pm

Sunday, Jan. 12, 2014 from 3-5 pm

Stop by and see what fencing at RDF is all about! We will have free snacks, interactive demonstrations, and you might even get a chance to poke somebody!

Sign-up for beginners is now open! Check the Practice Schedule for times and class descriptions. Feel free to contact us with any questions. We highly recommend stopping by during our Open House events to help decide which group you would like to try.

If you have fenced before and would like to join one of our regular practice groups, call, email, or stop by to sign up.

Fencing at the Open House on Saturday
The first few guests at the open house on Saturday, Jan. 11.

December NAC in Dallas

Dallas, TX – Three RDF members competed at the North American Cup tournament this weekend: Sarah Timmons Powell fenced Division 1 Women’s Epee on Friday, Jim Musgrave fenced Division 1 Men’s Epee on Saturday, and RJ Lesch fenced Vet-50 Men’s Saber on Sunday.

Sarah went 1-5 in pools so she did not make the 80% promotion to the direct elimination round, but she did score at least 2 points on all of her opponents. “I guess that’s not too bad for my first Div 1,” she said. She ended 118 of 138.

Jim was 2-4 out of pools (-6 indicator) and made the cut, but lost his first DE bout 15-4. He ended up 180 of 254.

RJ was 3-2 in pools and lost his first DE 10-7, ending 20th of 36 in Vet-50 Men’s Saber. Overall, RJ felt pretty positive about the experience.

Sarah rides the longhorn statue
Yee-haw! We’re in Dallas!

Red Door

Just so everyone knows, the door is actually painted red now. Sarah, Mike, Jim, and RJ also competed at the Sioux City Challenge last weekend. Check back soon for an announcement about our first official open house event!

Red Door
Welcome to Red Door Fencing!

Homey Touches

We continued working on the club this week, adding a few little things here and there. One of our light fixtures that died is back in working order. We hung up a mirror and some hooks in the bathroom, we finally painted the door red, and we began painting a red stripe around the room, just to be decorative.

Image
We have a bathroom! It now has a mirror! And toilet paper!
Stairs
We also have stairs up to the bathroom!

 

Painting the red stripe
Kevin’s father, Kevin, and Jim work on painting a red stripe around the room.
Wayne and Sarah paint red stripe
Kevin’s father and Sarah paint the red stripe.
Stripe painters
Smiling stripe-painters Jim, Kevin, and Wayne.
Level stripe.
They’re pretty sure it’s level.

Putting the Red in Red Door Fencing

We had epee practice at the club on Wednesday night and Saturday morning. On Saturday night, Sarah finally finished the curtains and we came and hung them up. That’s probably about it for major transformations for a while, but there are a lot of little things that still need to be done.

Sarah sews.
Sarah fixed jackets and sewed curtains.
Hanging curtains.
Sarah hangs up her and Amber’s handiwork.
Kevin hangs curtains.
Kevin hangs curtains, too.
Ta-da! Curtains!
Ta-da! Yes, they are supposed to be slightly different colors.
Curtains!
Curtains to cover up the ugly electrical boxes.
Lookin' better!
Lookin’ better!
Jackets
Jackets all fixed up.

 

 

 

 

 

 

First Epee Practice

On Wednesday night, we had the first practice at our club. It was just the small group of us that had been meeting in the basement of Windsor Presbyterian Church for the past year and a half as we are not yet open to the public. We love the new place!

First practice: Mike lunges at Kevin
Mike lunges at Kevin at the first practice in our new space. The rubber mats are a great improvement over the linoleum tile we were fencing on.

Rollin’, rollin’, rollin’…

On Tuesday night, we raised the light fixtures and rolled out the floors. We even had a couple of fencers from the Iowa State University Fencing Club come down and help us. It’s finally starting to look like a fencing club! Afterwards we all went to Zombie Burger to celebrate.

Getting the floor straight.
RJ and Ann whack the floor over to the laser line while Kevin and Arthur supervise.
Success!
Everyone is very proud of our great success in getting the first 50-ft. roll of rubber rolled out.
Kevin and Ann hammering 2nd piece of floor.
Kevin and Ann work on the 2nd piece of floor.
Sarah and Arthur adjust 3rd piece of floor.
Sarah and Arthur hammer the 3rd section of floor into place while Ann tells them when to stop.
Ann, Sarah, Arthur walking on new floor.
Three down, two more to go tonight.
Trying out the new floor.
Everyone was excited to try out the new floor.
Kevin and Ann try out the new floor.
Kevin and Ann try out the new floor.
RJ scares Kevin with a big tube.
RJ finds a use for some of the shipping materials.
Ta-da!
It’s finally starting to look like a fencing club!