May 4-5, 2007

Tournament Review by R. J. Bishop

For the second year in a row one of the Southeast’s top Sport Karate events was held at the spacious Cantey Building on the State Fairgrounds in beautiful Columbia, SC. NBL World Champion BRIAN PENA and his KARATE DOJO students put on another amazing event. The CAROLINA MARTIAL ARTS OPEN, now in it’s 4th year of operation, has a reputation for being a SUPER ORGANIZED Martial Arts extravaganza. BRIAN PENA runs a very tight ship, which is needed to operate such a quality event. He is obsessed with perfection and is on a mission to make his tournament THE Premier event in the Southeast.
Each year this two-day tournament has continued to grow larger. Over 450 competitors from all over the East Coast made the trip to Columbia, include a few people from New Jersey and Ohio. Many of the top National NBL competitors and teams were in attendance. TEAM STRIKE FORCE of Jesup, GA brought up 30+ competitors for this weekend. CORKY SIKES and BRIAN PENA are close friends and really do a great job supporting one another. RON & SHARON FERGUSON’S talented TEAM FX also brought down a large group from Martinsville, VA.

As in the past PENA recruited only the best Judges in the Southeast to work the tournament. All these Judges were pre-selected months in advance and knew their ring assignments prior to arriving in Columbia. This is one of the things that separate this tournament from the rest, because judging will make or break your tournament.  You need reliable, competent judges to make the competitor’s experience a pleasant one. It is no wonder this tournament has grown each year. Tournaments with declining numbers need to take a step back to reflect and maybe pick up some pointers from this tournament. On many occasions PENA has told me “I TRULY BELIEVE THAT I HAVE TO EARN EVERY DOLLAR THE COMPETITORS DISH OUT FOR MY TOURNAMENT”.  That ladies and gentlemen is refreshing and why you can’t go wrong attending this tournament.

FRIDAY NIGHT

This was a fun night of competition for all that attended. On this evening they featured the Musical divisions, Continuous Fighting, Team Fighting, Breaking and Kids divisions. In the Musical divisions the  “Best of the Best” came out to play that night. Some of the best junior competitors in the country gave it their all in order to compete in the Grands on Saturday.  TEAM STRIKE FORCE was well represented that night. They were lead by Superstar “MEAN” GENE MIDDLETON and his teammates, SETH BOYETTE, JARED PRESSLEY and BROOKS STIPE.  Congratulations to BROOKS STIPE on his recent promotion to Black Belt. Also looking impressive were TEAM SMA’S JOSH BAILEY and TEAM MVKC’S CHRIS URCINOLA. On the Under Belt side of the Musical divisions TEAM FX’S LINDSEY WALKER and TEAM STRIKE FORCE’S ASHLEY MIDDLETON and DAVIS TESTON looked great too. As far as I’m concerned WALKER scores high on the intensity scale and is a star in the making.

The Adult Black Belt Musical Contemporary division was a great competition. It finally came down to a fantastic match up of two of Sport Karate’s premier competitors, World Champion JEFF DOSS of TEAM MVKC and World Champion LAUREN FERGUSON of TEAM FX. FERGUSON recently turned 18 and is ready to challenge the older and talented competitors that the NBL has to offer.  DOSS was absolutely flawless in his routine as was FERGUSON. In my book this was too close to call. When the scores were tallied FERGUSON won this close match up.

In the Breaking division we saw some amazing feats of breaking performed. TEAM MVKC’S STEVE SHOCKLEY and TIM MCCONELL were the competitors to watch that night. SHOCKLEY made one really amazing break that impressed me a lot; he broke a single board floating in water. Breaking a dry single board is not a difficult feat; I’ve done that before, but imagine trying to break a wet board not being held firmly in place. SHOCKLEY had no problem making that break along with several other tough breaks. In the end the student TIN MCCONELL defeated his instructor STEVE SHOCKLEY by 1/100 of a point.
The Team Fighting divisions were entertaining as well. In the finals of the girls Team Fighting, TEAM UNITY defeated MARTY KNIGHT’S TEAM KNIGHTS by the score of 29-22.

In the boys quarterfinals we had a rematch of the finals from the SOUTHERN CLASSIC.  This time around TEAM FX defeated TEAM RKA by the score of 16-14. In the finals TEAM GOP defeated TEAM FX by the lopsided score of 16-8.

Overall the Friday night activities went over very well and I was happy to head home to my own bed to rest up for the Saturday eliminations.

SATURDAY ELIMINATIONS

The competition started promptly at 10:00 AM with all the judges and scorekeepers in place ready to work. All 10 rings were utilized most of the day with very few stoppages. The thing I really liked about this tournament is that I had easy access to all the rings; this makes my job a lot easier. Security was tight this day, in order to keep the parents and other non-karate personnel off the competition floor. This also allows the spectators in the stands a chance to view the competition better.

I did notice a lot of new faces at this tournament. Many of the local schools and in state school were in attendance. It was nice to see my friend BILLEE PURVIS stop by to lead a hand. BILLEE is a legend here in the Southeast and he runs a wonderful local school called LIFE FORCE KARATE. He also managed to bring some talented students with him; the most impressive one was 14-year-old CHELSA (NOT CHELSEA) GOWER. CHELSA is a Jr. Black Belt with a lot of skills. She has been training with LIFE FORCE KARATE for 11 years. She is a very gifted Kata and Weapons competitor.

The best fight of the day involved two World Champions who have never faced one another before, GINA THORNTON of TEAM DDX and JULIA RILEY of TEAM WAR ANGELS. I have written about both these young ladies before and I was really excited to finally see them square off. RILEY, the younger of the two, started off quickly and had a 5-0 lead on the veteran THORNTON. THORNTON came back slowly to tie and eventually win the match 6-5. Both of these ladies are among the best in all of Sport Karate, and I look forward to their next match up.

The competition at the eliminations was fierce, as good as any tournament I have attended this year.  All day I watched dozens of awesome divisions, too many for me to comment on, top talent, both contemporary and traditional. I would like to comment on several of the Grand Championships divisions.

GRAND CHAMPIONSHIPS

The CAROLINA MARTIAL ARTS OPEN offered Grand Championships for both the Black Belts and Under Belts, with top cash awards going out to ALL of the winners. Under Belt Grand Champions took home $100.00, while the Black Belt winners won $500.00 each. This gave all the competitors that little extra incentive to try harder, and that is good money for a non-national tournament.

The Under Belt and Black Belt Grand Championships were held up on stage. BRIAN PENA wanted to put the spotlight on all the Grand Champions, especially the Under Belts. He feels they are the future of Sport Karate and they should be highlighted. Most of the Under Belt Grand Championships had between 15-18 competitors, so winning this competition would be an extra special feat.

The Jr. Advanced was loaded with exceptional talent like BRITTANY PAYNE, ALEXANDRA PYLES, ASHLEY MIDDLETON, DONALD SMALLS and GABRIEL GRUSE. Most of these kids gave us a Black Belt level performance and deserve a lot of credit. After the dust settled GABRIEL GRUSE of TEAM STRIKE FORCE left Columbia $100.00 richer.

I thought the Jr. Intermediate Grand Championship was exceptional too. This was another one of those with a lot of competitors in it. It seemed like ½ the competitors were from TEAM STRIKE FORCE. I liked STRIKE FORCE’S chances of winning this one, and I was right. The Grands went to DAVIS TESTON. I would like to comment on the performance of one competitor, CHELSEA (C.J.) DOUGLAS of TEAM PVT. C.J. is one of the most under rated intermediate competitors here in the Southeast. This young lady really elevated her game during that competition. I think she proved to everyone and herself that she IS that darn good and that she will be a force to reckon with in the future.

The Jr. Black Belt Contemporary Grands was an exceptional competition to watch.  This featured some of the best Jr. Black Belts on the East Coast. The competition was so close we actually had a 3-way tie for 1st place between ALEX PYE, “MEAN” GENE MIDDLETON and JOSH BAILEY. PYE performed on open hand form while BAILEY and MIDDLETON both used their Bo Staff. In the tiebreaker, PYE and MIDDLETON each made a minor mistake that the judges picked up on immediately, while BAILEY remained flawless and went on to win the Grands. BAILEY went home to Spartanburg, SC with a whole lot of jingle in his pocket.
The Adult Black Belt Tradition Kata Grand Championship was loaded with exceptional talent too, but in the end it came down to youth VS experience with LAUREN FERGUSON (18) against JOHNNY WATKINS (50). Both are great World Champions and fierce competitors and two of my favorites to watch. Both featured strong katas with nice deep stances and great intensity, but they were very even, and this resulted in a tie.  In the tiebreaker WATKINS started strong but seemed to tire towards the end. Although FERGUSON’S Gojo-ju-die kata was longer than WATKIN’S, her younger legs and endurance made the difference as she managed to pull off the win by 1/100 of a point.

The Adult Black Belt Contemporary Forms Grand Championship was a classic between some of Sport Karate’s finest. JEFF DOSS, JOHNNY WATKINS and LAUREN FERGUSON were among the group competitors looking to go home with $500.00. I figured it had to go between DOSS, FERGUSON and WATKINS, but we were all surprised by the results this one, the win went to TEAM STRIKE FORCE’S JUSTIN DRAWDY. I know you’re saying “WHO”? I had never seen him compete before that day. Well he was incredible; he looked like a younger version of his instructor CORKY SIKES. I believe he used the same contemporary Bo Form CORKY has used in the past. His performance was so impressive the Judges gave him 3-10’s. I hope to see this young man compete again in the future.

The CAROLINA MARTIAL ARTS OPEN is easily one of the premier tournaments here in the Southeast, possibly the nation. This tournament had it all and is one you should not miss in 2008; it is a 5 star event.  This tournament really should be given strong consideration to earn an NBL National rating.
I would like to thank BRIAN PENA and his friendly staff for his hospitality and cooperation. I am already making plans for 2008.