Five of our fencers had a blast at the Twin Cities Fencing Club’s annual Winter Camp between Christmas and New Year’s! We spent four days working in the gym with friends old and new, and we came back with lots to continue working on at home.





The second Heartland Youth Circuit tournament of the 2023-24 season saw all our fencers adding to their season-end points totals and earning edible chocolate medals! Full results: https://www.askfred.net/tournaments/963de3c3-e1f3-40d8-a6c5-b466451fbd1c/results





Four RDF fencers competed in DMFC’s Jack-O-Lantern tournament on Sunday. In Senior Mixed Epee, Jack earned the silver medal, Bryan earned bronze, Tasha placed 7th, and Mat finished 8th. Full results: https://www.askfred.net/tournaments/1d160df2-139d-409b-a3fb-23bda044d78d/results




Sarah finished 29th in D1A Women’s Epee at the Remenyik ROC in Evanston, IL last weekend. Full results: https://www.fencingtimelive.com/events/results/A20D094F9909498EB5F8C6C7E9AF7E2B
Kalina fenced in two events at the Windy City Super Youth Circuit tournament last weekend. In Y-14 Women’s Epee, she finished 33rd, and in Y-12 Women’s Epee, she placed 17th!




All the kids were excited to fence in our annual squid-themed tournament last weekend. We even had some fencers from Nebraska join us! This was the first Heartland Youth Circuit tournament of the year as well, so everyone earned points toward year-end awards. Full results: https://www.askfred.net/tournaments/9a490860-c85c-4e02-988d-f7e7668e843a/results





Starting us off in Phoenix this year, Cheryl finished 20th in Vet-50 Women’s Epee!
Then Chi Chi, Ebele, and Sarah fenced in Women’s Senior Team Epee as “The Pincushions”, losing their first direct elimination match to a team of top Junior fencers to end 27th. This is the first time RDF has done team competition at the national level, and it was also Chi Chi and Ebele’s first national-level event!
Next, Kalina tied for 166th in her first national-level Y14 Women’s Epee event.
An unfortunate accident left Chi Chi with an injury that prevented her from competing, but Sarah and Ebele fenced Div 2 Women’s Epee and ended 48th and 153rd, respectively.
Finally, Kalina tied for 108th in Y-12 Women’s Epee!
RDF will operate on a reduced schedule for the month of August, to give our coaches and fencers a bit of an end-of-season break before we go back to our full schedule in September. This means there will be no lessons or practice on Wednesdays and Saturdays, and no lessons (except for a few introductory lessons). Tuesday and Thursday practices will operate on their normal schedule (Youth practice 5:30-6:30, Teen/Adult 7:00-8:30).
Regular schedule resumes Saturday, Sept. 2, with lessons starting at 9:00 a.m. (by appointment), Y10/Y12 practice at 10:00 a.m., and Teen/Adult practice at 11:00 a.m.
We’ve added up the points from everyone’s best 3 finishes between all 4 Heartland Youth Circuit mixed epee tournaments this season and here are the results:
Y10
1 – Javy
2 – Edward
3 (tie) – James and Harry
5 (tie) – Kai and Ellis
7 – Lucas
8 – Thatcher
Y12
1 – Kalina
2 – James
3 – Teagan
4 – Kai
5 – Max
6 (tie) – Charlie, Linus, and Javy
Y14
1 – Kalina
2 – Lily
3 – Jackson
4 (tie) – Brevan and Ben R.
6 – Sebastian
7 (tie) – Conner and Max
Cadet
1 – Jack
2 – Chidera
3 – Ebelechukwu
4 – Jackson
5 – Chantal
6 – Sebastian
7 – Brevan
8 – Ben H.
Junior
1 – Jack
2 – Daniel
3 – Campbell
4 – Chidera
5 – Nick
6 (tie) – Jackson, Sebastian, and Ebelechukwu
9 – Ava
We fenced the 4th and final tournament in the ’22-’23 Heartland Youth Circuit last weekend! Everyone gained some valuable experience and we saw a lot of excellent fencing. Here’s how the kids placed:
Y10 Mixed Epee
1st – James
2nd – Javy
3rd (tie) – Kai and Ellis
5th – Edward
Y12 Mixed Epee
1st – Kalina
2nd – James
3rd (tie) – Kai and Charlie (his first tournament!)
Y14 Mixed Epee
1st – Jackson
2nd – Kalina
3rd – Lily
Cadet Mixed Epee
1st – Jack
2nd – Jackson
3rd – Chidera
Junior Mixed Epee
1st – Jack
2nd – Daniel
3rd (tie) – Chidera and Campbell
Full results: https://askfred.net/Results/results.php?tournament_id=53336