Story by Boice Lydell
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SUPER GRANDS WORLD GAMES 20
Buffalo, New York, USA
photos by Boice Lydell

SELF DEFENSE TITLES
Junior Choreographed Fight (N-57)
Utah can certainly claim fame as the number one state for choreographed fight self-defense. The state has racked up an amazing 12 world titles in junior and adult divisions combined. This is due primarily to the efforts of Darren Cox who is responsible for most of the champions including many wins by himself. His All Stars Martial Arts fielded Corum Jensen as their top gun in the junior division this year and as eliminations ended it appeared as if his school may score another victory. He topped out with a 29.93 to a 29.91 by the Magallanes Chinese stylist siblings of California. But in the Grand Finale where nothing is for certain the brother sister act led by Anthony Magallanes received the judges favor to give them their first self defense title with an entertaining oriental flavor routine with the use of multi-weaponry. The Magallanes train under Ding Wei in Milpitas, California and Jensen under Darren Cox in Salt Lake City, Utah. Brandon Aguilar of Alfonso Aguilar’s Schumann’s Mexico was third.

Adult Choreographed Fight (N-58)
Darren Cox is directly responsible for five of the title holders in junior choreographed fighting and can claim an equal amount in the adult counterpart all won by himself. After a comeback last year from three years prior he once again led the division with his unorthodox style of comedy and self defense skills. He won the eliminations and the Finale. The Team of Garcia / Santiago from Guatemala took second. Cox hails from Sandy, Utah an runs the All Stars karate school.

Junior Traditional Self Defense (N-59)
This wasn’t a large division this year but was represented by three major NBL countries. Guatemala, Canada and the USA fielded their best. Nick Cain of Batavia, New York was certainly the one to beat as he entered as the prior two years champion. The western New York and Ontario Canada area has a long proud tradition of Self Defense winning a whopping 9 of the prior titles in the division. Cain didn’t want to let his region down entering as a number one seed in five conferences, but Anna Eden of Cox’s All Star Karate was right on his heels. With identical seeding she only placed three one-hundredths form Cain in the eliminations but in the Finale Cain showed his veteran experience and won the division hardily 49.95 to 49.90. Zack Elliott of Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada was third.

Adult Traditional Self Defense (N-60)
While the Niagara Frontier region of western New York and Ontario Canada is rich in its self-defense heritage, all the titles won by the regions player have hailed from Canada. That was until this year. 2007 world champion Jose Rivera of Pittsburg, Pennsylvania was back after injuries last year and convincingly won the eliminations by two one-hundredths over Molly Wade of Farmington, New York. But the strong techniques, not to mention the strong will behind Wade in the Finale tipped the scales as she reversed the judges’ decision in the Finale to win her first world title and score another one for the Niagara region, She hails from Everage Championship Karate. Joanne Elliott of United Karate in Niagara Falls, Canada was third.

BREAKING TITLES
Junior Breaking (N-61)
The breaking divisions don’t have a Grand Finale nor tied run-offs for obvious reasons that players coming long distances can’t bring enough materials for a second competition. So the breaking Grand Finale, so to speak, is the eliminations competitions held the opening night of the Super Grands. While breaking is for only a certain select few, it gathers a large crowd for the title competition. With four time champion Mike Spizzuco now in the adult division the juniors could breath a sigh of relief and fight to see who would be the new king. But as the competition ended no king was crowned instead a queen took the thrown. Meghan Hamilton and her all pink routine (all her accessories were pink) impressed the judges to earn a one one-hundredths point over Skyler Bright. Hamilton is from New World Karate in Cleveland, Ohio and Bright from Carlos Ferrer’s Utah Self Defense in Salt Lake City. Michael Wavlyt of Mountain View Karate in Hickory, North Carolina was third.

Adult Breaking (N-62)
Mike Spizzuco knew he had his hands full moving to the adult division and being up against the Mountain View Karate dynasty, who have won 6 of the last 9 world titles. But undeterred by those odds and focusing on his own odds as a four time junior breaker gave him a confidence for a clear cut victory over 2005 world champion Freddie Cantrell of Tennessee. Spizucco hails from Juan Kan Karate in the New Jersey and represents Team International, John Helmes of Mountain View Karate in North Carolina was third.