En garde, ready, FENCE: Des Moines has a thriving fencing community
En garde, ready, FENCE!
Over and over again, those words commanded a pair of amateur swordspeople to begin their bouts on a rainy Sunday morning in West Des Moines.
The bouts were quick, athletic and intellectual. During their few minutes together, the fencers must anticipate, mentally and physically, what their opponents will do, trying to touch their epee to their opponents' besuited body.
"It's like physical chess," said fencer Natasha Johnstone, 34, of Des Moines.
Chantal Eulenstein, 15, of Ames, concurs: Fencing, she said, is a physical challenge, particularly on the legs, but is also a "mental game."
Luke Tierney, 67, a University of Iowa statistics professor, has been fencing off and on for much of his life. He said he appreciates the exercise it provides as well as the leaving the stresses of life behind.
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"You can't think about other things when you are out there," he said.
They and the other fencers, who spanned five decades in their ages, are part of Des Moines' thriving fencing community.
Overseeing the Saturday event was Kevin Powell, a coach at Red Door Fencing in downtown Des Moines. He started fencing about 20 years ago. After an injury and doing some coaching since there was a need, he said he realized coaching was the place he thrived.
His club, which has about 55 members and started more than a decade ago, is one of several Iowa clubs or programs that allow kids and adults to learn and practice swordplay. His club grew during the COVID-19 pandemic — they were shut down for safety for about one day but were able to move to video and streaming quickly.
"There were a lot of pandemic jokes, like 'This is the best sport ... if anyone gets close to you, you stab them,'" said Powell, who works for a California startup company at home during the day.
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And when Des Moines Register photographer Kelsey Kremer and I visited the event, co-hosted by Des Moines Fencing Club and Red Door Fencing, it was easy to see why Iowans are attracted to the sport.
There was the physical grace. The participants face each other in their white uniforms, faces completely obscured by their black mesh masks and slowly move forward and back. Then, like predators who have sized up their targets, they strike, attempting to touch part of their opponents' body with their sword. A touch or touché (yes, that's where it comes from) triggers an electronic sensor to record a point.
But the bouts, in the gym space of a West Des Moines child care center, also involved human grace. The matches showed their roots in combat, but were also imbued with the chivalry of their age. The participants chatted amicably before the bouts and touched swords at the end of them.
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"It's a sport where you get to be a renaissance person for a minute," said Johnstone, a former history teacher who is now writing a book. "It's so much fun. You get to duel. You get to play with swords."
Our Des Moines
Our Des Moines is a weekly feature on an interesting person, place or happening in the Des Moines metro, the kind of gems that make central Iowa a special place. Have an idea for this series? Contact chunter@registermedia.com.
Rachel Stassen-Berger has been very tempted to say "en garde" to people since she watched the fencing duel. Reach her at rachelsb@registermedia.com.
This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Get to know Des Moines' thriving fencing community
