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Story by Boice Lydell
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SUPER GRANDS WORLD GAMES 20
Buffalo, New York, USA
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photos by Jessica Robeson
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CONTEMPORARY WEAPONS TITLES
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11 & Under Hard & Soft Creative Weapons (N-39)
“Off the wall"! There is no other way to describe the creative weapons competition of today's sport karate. The weapons manipulations of today couldn't even have been dreamt of 10 years ago. The skill level of the top two players in this division was simply astounding. Of course a slip up and restart by player Diego Marroquin had its controversial merits as to the rule, but no one could take anything away from the talent and excitement of the pair battling it out to the bitter end. Ashley Middleton of Team Strike Force used the unusual weapons of duel fans to exhibit incredible dexterity in an incredible form while Diego Marroquin of Schumann's Cordova team wooed the crowd with a long bo that did every imaginable trick possible except walk by itself. Marroquin held a two one-hundredths lead in the eliminations but the Finale 1 competition spaced the pair only one one-hundredth apart with Marroquin the winner. He lives in Guatemala City, Guatemala. Middleton resides in Ludowici, Georgia. Karina Hipolito of Mike Tobins Pinacle Martial Arts in Utah was third.
12 to 14 Male Hard & Soft Creative Weapons (N-40)
Ties were once again the rule rather than the exception but it gave the judges the chance to compare the top three to best determine their choice to send to the Grand Finale. Kama wielding Sage Northcutt came through the three way tie of 29.95 each with another 29.95. Books Stipe and team member Gene Middleton's tied 29.94 with their long bo performances. A show of hands left Stipe as Northcutt's opponent for the Finale. It was another show of extreme dexterity as Northcutt won the Finale run-off 49.94 to 49.91 and giving him another title towards his eventual six at the World Games. Northcutt is from Katy, Texas while both Stipe and Middleton are from World Class Karate in Jesup, Georgia.
15 to 17 Male Hard & Soft Creative Weapons (N-41)
Ties and weapon drops were the unintentional game plan for this division as well. The long anticipated match up between Alexander Pye with his sword and Jordan Simon with his long bo came to a head and as might be expected they tied for first in the eliminations. A run-off left Pye as the seeded favorite. In the Finale Simon's bo cracked probably because he hit his leg with it then dropped it, thus a broken weapon before the drop not only gave him the right to restart without penalty but without the loss of another restart if he needed it. But he didn't need it as he ended the second time with his usual excellent form. But anyone who knows the skills of Pye know the show was far from over. We could all just hope he wouldn't accidently toss his sword into the audience as has been witnessed before. Unfortunately while a slip up didn't send it to the audience it did send a floor skiding sword to the judges table. With a restart an anoyed Pye gave it his all succeeding in perhaps his best performance to date and topping Simon by five one-hundredths. He proudly represents Corky Sikes’ Team Strike Force and Simon represents Mo Ota and Steve Cooper's Team International. Third place was won by Nick Cain of Team SMAC of New York.
11 & Under Hard & Soft Choreo Musical Weapons (N-42)
It's rather unusual for the top players to receive the same scores to the right side of the decimal in both the eliminations and the Grand Finale, but that exactly what happened between Diego Marroquin and Karina Hipolito. Hipolito was hot with the manipulation of her nunchaku, let alone her incredible flexibility, but right now Marroquin is virtually untouchable with his long bo. In the air, under the legs around the neck it is hard to keep up with where his long bo is headed next. 49.95 to 49.91 the final score left the anchor member of Edgar Cordova's Schumann Team of Guatemala with another victory. Hipolito trains with Mike Tobin in Syracuse, Utah. Ridge Dyal, another Corky Sikes protege from Jesup, Georgia was third place after run-off with Jesse Martinez of Team Alchemy.
12 to 14 Hard & Soft Choreo Musical Weapons (N-43)
In leafing through the past weapons world champion winners I was astounded to discover that Sage Northcutt had never won a world title in contemporary weapons. His contemporary forms performances are so intense and dynamic I has just assumed he'd won weapons before as well. Well whatever he may have lacked in the past he made up for this year with two weapons titles in the end. But this division ended a lot closer that one may have expected. In his rookie blackbelt year Trevor Brownell of Team United in Hamilton, Canada had what I'd call it an average year at best ending with only a fourth place CanAm National seed after competing in all the conference events. To top off all his woes he struggled to conquer a bout with H1N1 right before the Games casting doubt if he could even attend. He was just thankful to be alive, literally. But he came, saw and conquered placing an astounding second, three one-hundredths behind Northcutt in the eliminations. He was probably more surprised than anyone watching him. In the Finale he nearly pulled off an upset with his long bo routine placing within one one-hundredth of tying Northcutt's Kama routine. Northcutt represents Team Schumann and hails from Texas. Brownell is trained by weapons master Casey Nash. Chinese stylist Anthony Magallanes of California was third.
15 to 17 Hard & Soft Choreo Musical Weapons (N-44)
29.97, 29.96 and 29.95 and no ties placed the top three players in this division. 29.95 went to Nick Cain whose biggest desire of the games wasn't necessarily to win but just to get a wack at Simon or Pye on stage. But this was a Simon vs. Pye year as they met an astounding three times on stage for a weapons title. This time Simon won the eliminations with all 9.99’s and a 10 and was right in his element with his trade mark "Welcome to the Jungle" music. In the Finale, Pye did the unthinkable again and dropped his weapon. This time he elected to bow out leaving Simon to stand alone for judging. Unfortunately this may have robbed Simon of record breaking scores near a perfect 50.00 as all the judges intead kept it conservative leaving him with 49.95 and the coveted title for three years in a row. Simon represented Team International and trains with Escobar Karate in Malibu, California. Pye trains with World Class Karate in Jesup, Georgia.
Junior Hard & Soft Open Musical Weapons (N-45)
One last time Alex Pye and Jordan Simon gave the Finale 1 audience a show with the sword and the long bo. This time neither dropped or otherwise bungled up which seemed to be a trademark at this years games. Pye had won the eliminations while Simon tied Jasmine Magallanes for rights to the stage, but handily topped her in the run-off. With off the wall music and skill level, Pye won his second weapons title in the Finale 49.94 to 49.91 taking the two year title away from Simon. He represents Team Strike Force from Georgia while both Simon and Magallanes are members of California’s Team International.
12 to 14 Female Hard & Soft Creative Weapons (N-46)
Amanda Armendariz donned the Finale stage twice in the Games, once for creative forms and this time for creative weapons. She struggled last year as a rookie blackbelt with no earth-shattering performances after the prior year of earning five Amateur titles. But this year was a different story. She seemed to be turning everyones heads. She successfully defeated runner-up Hannah Walker in the eliminations, but not unlike Armendariz, Walker's improvement since the last time we saw her at the Games was vastly improved. On stage Walker was perfect as was Armendariz until a bungle left her long bo rolling on the floor. With one life left she started again not holding back on any of her phenomenal releases or manipulation and nailed the second try perfectly winning by a mere one one-hundredth. She hails from Salvador Schumann's School in Guatemala and Walker from Corky Sikes in Georgia. Mara Hipolito of Utah was third.
15 to 17 Female Hard & Soft Creative Weapons (N-47)
If the Magallanes kids are going to keep winning I think I'm going to petition them to shorten and simplify their names. Monique and Jasmine went head to head for this junior girls title, both, of course, with chinese weapons routines. Jasmine with her straight sword and Monique with her Southern broad sword, the pair came as close to tying as possible with Monique edging Jasmine 49.93 to 49.92 to win the title. They both represent Team International under coach Mo Ota and train with Ding Wei at O'Mei Kung Fu in Milpitas, California.
Men’s Hard Creative Weapons (N-48)
Now here’s an interesting statistic. Not unlike last year, Joshua Durbin and Jonathan Tale went head to head on stage for weapons titles. Interestingly enough this year both won in the eliminations by two one-hundredths or more in one of two weapons divisions and in the Finales each won one division decisively by five one-hundredths or more. Fairly convincing right? Only thing is neither one that won their eliminations, won the same Finale. In creative weapons, the kama on a rope wielding Jonathan Tale from El Salvador won eliminations and the bo striking Joshua Durbin form Colorado topped the Finale. Tale represented Schumann's El Salvador and Durbin as Team Pinacle. Second runner-up was won by Jeff Doss of Lynchburg, Virginia.
Adult Hard Choreographed Musical Weapons (N-49)
With two national conference number one seeds apiece, Johathan Tale and Joshua Durbin would also share the spoils of weapons titles on stage in the Grand Finale 2. Two popular competitors at the top of their game with great weapons manipulation, backed-up with all the kicks and tricks necessary, kept the crowd alive and excited. With Durbin's win in creative, Tale took the musical and both walked away the champions they deserved to be. Tale is from his brother's school in El Salvador and Durbin, a product of Steve Amaro's Unison schools. Third place went to 2006-2007 world champion Edgar Cordova who vowed to be back to win next year.
Adult Soft Contemporary Weapons (N-50)
Few words in the English dictionary could describe the awe inspired audiences reaction to Austin Jorgenson’s performance in the Finale of the soft weapons division. For whatever reason his one one-hundredth victory over Darren Cox in the eliminations could never indicate the results destined for the Finale. His drunken sword routine literally astounded every eye in the place. His performance made even the hardest of hard stylists wish they could do what he did. I'm no Chinese weapons connoisseur but his performance was unreal. He gained straight tens and a final 50.00 score. We can all hope to see more of him in the future. Not to make light of the runner-up however, the three-sectional staff performance by Darren Cox was also great with a weapon that is extremely difficult to master. Jorgensen hails from Jerry Silva's National Martial Arts in Colorado while Cox is from All Star Karate in neighboring Utah. Gabriela Turner, also from All Star Karate, was third.
Women’s Hard Creative Weapons (N-51)
I'm not sure if anyone knew Casey Nash might wild card her way into competition this year, including herself. She really perked my curiosity when I first saw her spectating and she casually said she might surprise a few people. I guess so! She entered as a wild card beating the talented Clarissa Villanueva for the position. Competing a second time with the seeded players, she also topped all on-comers. And while Lauren Ferguson’s Finale long bo performance was at a peak that I've never seen her perform, the Casey Nash bo routine has an eternal presence that will be forever hard for anyone to top. Nash won handily to give her one of three titles at the Games and expanded her total world title count to 20 after a three year hiatus. She represented Team United of Hamilton, Ontario. Ferguson represented Team FX of Martinsville, Virginia. Anja Greenhalgh of Utah was third.
Senior Hard Contemporary Weapons (N-52)
It was a way back in 1997 when Wayne Nguyen last won weapons and that was in the 18 and over division. Now as a senior player he still spins chucks and still showed he has what it takes to win. However so did Ron Ferguson. A little bit of a break and Ferguson was back with his long bo as awesome as ever. The two NBL veterans tied in the eliminations leaving it all up to the Finale for the title. The Finale favored Ferguson as he won 49.95 to 49.90 leaving only two years between titles as opposed to 12 if Nguyen had won. Ferguson heads Team FX from Virginia and Nguyen is a member of Team Kickstart in Texas. Jose Rivera of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania was third.
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TRADITIONAL WEAPONS TITLES
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11 & Under Hard Traditional Weapons (N-53)
Traditional weapons has a long traditional in the NBL going back to 1992 and being the first open circuit to offer such. Now with three junior divisions it has brought the best of traditionalists to the open circuit competition. The Canadians have a proud history of weapons competition including traditional weponry and have won numerous times in Grand Finale play. But this was the first year where a player from the provence of British Columbia dominated. Last years runner up, Trevor Kim of West River Hayasi in Vancouver topped Andrea Tyrell of Toronto, Ontario by a mere one hundredth in the eliminations performing his long bo form, Tokomini. Kim, however left no doubt in the Finale however, winning his first title by five one-hundredths and being the first junior winner from British Columbia. He is trained by world champion Kenny Lim and Tyrrell by Mr. Chris. Third place went to Meghan Hamilton of New World Karate in Ohio.
 12 to 14 Hard Traditional Weapons (N-54)
While Sage Northcutt made his mark in contemporary weapons this year. He only slipped into an every other year in traditional have won in 2006 and 2008. British Columbia's West River school excelled once again this time with Tan Nguyen of Richmond, Canada. He left Northcutt tied with Gene Middleton and fending for the stage as he watched with anticipation of who he would be meeting in the Finale. Northcutt won leaving Middleton in third. The Finale belonged to Nguyen however, like his school mate Trevor Kim winning by five one-hundredths of a point performing Niseishi Rokan Dai long bo form.
15 to 17 Hard Traditional Weapons (N-55)
Canada's Lawrence Collymore hasn’t been seen at the Super Grands in a number of years but his return this year was with a superior performance in his favored traditional weapons division. He left last year’s 12-14 year old championship Colbey Northcutt tied for second with Nick Cain. In that run-off Northcutt topped Cain by a mere one hundredth to earn the right against Collymore one more time on stage. Despite Northcutt's super performance her score was left on the lower side of 49.95 to 49.90, the exact same scores of the younger divisions and leaving a clean sweep for the Canadians. Collymore hails from Toronto, Ontario and trains under Mike Palitti. Northcutt lives in Texas and trains weapons with Johnnie Murphy.
Adult Hard Traditional Weapons (N-56)
Brandon Bertsch won the adult title in 2003, and three years later in 2006. Could he win 3 more years later in 2009. Few competitors make regular comebacks, but Bertsch was always a great competitor in weapons winning junior traditional and contemporary weapons titles as well. He entered this year with a WestPac number one seeding against east coasts number one Can Am seed, Brett Schumway. Never a traditional weapons world titlist he’s legendary in the northeast (not just for his weaponry however). Bertsch only surpassed Shumway by one one-hundredths in the eliminations but in the Finale he topped him by the same score as the juniors, 49.45 to 49.90 with his form Susi ni Kun Die. He trains weapons from John Fong of NW Martial Arts and resides in Albany, Oregon. Shumway lives in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and is a member of Team Everage. Third place was won by Scott Wu of California.
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