Yes, it was just happenstance that in 1998 nine year old Lauren Ferguson had a friend whom she followed into karate lessons where the instructors shared the same last name and the now six time world champion Lauren says she doesn’t even try to explain anymore. If someone asks her where her dad is at a tournament, she simply points in the direction of her instructor Ron Ferguson and leaves the misconception unexplained. And when a second Mrs. Ferguson is occasionally discovered (Pat, her mom who usually accompanies the family act), then completely false assumptions of step moms and tangled family relations are conjured up by the unknowing. In fact the instructors and the famed family siblings aren’t the least bit related! The joke around the karate school is that the children’s father, Blake, is going to send instructors Ron and Sharon a bill for all the years he’s raised their children for them. And Sharon says it’s more fun just to make up stories to tell people then to even try to explain.

Regardless of her admitted shyness through the years, Lauren has been the family leader in competition. Independent and sure-footed she stepped into competition at an early age after joining the karate schools competition class. Competing was a natural and gave Lauren a way to express her independent strengths without speaking. At age 13 she won her first world title in the relatively new girls creative forms division, repeating the victory the following year. She almost took winning that division for granted when in her third trip to the Super Grands in 2004 she was upset by Clarissa Villanueva of Texas. Lauren explains that that was when reality set in that you should never take anything for granted. This reality check is many times a “sink or swim” for sport karate players and in Lauren’s case the following 2005 season brought forth an obviously advanced level player bound not to give in to losing. As she put it, that was “so not happening again”. She tore up the 2005 season in creative forms regaining her title from Villanueva and added the girls’ weapons world title to her resume as well. Last year she scored a repeat of 2005 and left no doubt in anyone’s mind that she was exiting the junior divisions as the reigning queen of teenaged female contemporary forms.

But despite her six world titles in forms and weapons, Ferguson is hardly resting on her laurels or content with her forms wins. One of her main objectives is to win an adult sparring title, most specifically in continuous fighting. With the full season of practice in adult sparring she is ending the 2007 year with a number one Can-Am seeding hoping for a shot at the featherweight women’s continuous sparring title at this year’s Super Grands World Games.

While you might perceive most world champions as coming from large urban areas where there are lots of schools and interaction, Lauren has been a home schooled student that lives on a 100 acres farm in rural Virginia. With 50 cows and 5 horses as her backdrop, Lauren loves tearing things up four-wheeling the acreage. It was five years ago while motoring an off road vehicle she calls a “gator” (a vehicle sized somewhere between a golf cart and a small pick up) that she experienced one of her scariest life experiences even if it’s now viewed as pretty humorous. While out on expedition to check on the cows, the gator was having a difficult time cresting a hill. Brother Ben to the rescue, hopped out of vehicle to assist in pushing. Somehow (and I have a difficult time understanding the entire scenario) she managed to run over her brother THREE times before the vehicle came to a halt. And she claims it was an accident! Despite her hysterics she got him loaded back into the gator and drove him home, broken collarbone and all. Once home after saving her brother, he then had to calm her down. Ahhh... life on the farm.

While the younger brothers have the greatest of admiration for their champion sister there not without rivalries as they relate that the independent and strong willed older sister packs a lot of unsolicited advice leading her to their nickname “bossy britches”. Oh, I forgot I’m not supposed to mention that name. Anyhow, despite the unsolicitation, the mom says she hates to admit it, but generally Lauren is right with her advice.

Now in community college Lauren has one major career goal; to complete a masters degree in business and open up an Extreme Martial Arts branch school. Backed by her mentor instructors it appears that all may come to fruition. She presently works at their school and their relationship is solid. All except the rivalry between Ron and herself as to who will become the most renown competitor. They seem to have an unofficial contest to one-up each other, he with 8 titles and a spot in a previous cover box of Sport Karate Magazine and her with 6 titles and now the full cover. Seems they figure she’s ahead with the cover spot. Now we’ve got her instructor soliciting us for the cover. Wait a minute... how did we get dragged in the middle of this family rivalry?