Story by SportMartialArts.com & Jessica Robeson
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SUPER GRANDS WORLD GAMES 20
Buffalo, New York, USA

Super Grands - Twenty Years
photos by Boice Lydell

The year is 1990. Niagara Falls hosts the premier sport karate competition. Competitors across the United States and Canada traveled to the very first NBL Super Grands World Games to earn the very first and illustrious NBL world champion blackbelts. Fast forward nearly twenty years, and the 2009 rendition of the Super Grands finds itself on the Niagara Frontier once again, this time in Buffalo, New York. Past world champions returned, present super stars emerged and rivalries were born as the competition for the gold rings and belts waged on for nearly a week in the Adam’s Mark Hotel, in what arguably is the most exciting Super Grands to date.

The World Games kicked off with the innovative World Team Sparring Challenge. Team GOP and Team All Stars represented the United States while both Mexico and Canada sported a team to combat the Americans. Team All Stars, featuring the enigmatic Raymond “The Real Deal” Daniels, and GOP were first to fight in the first round with All Stars advancing to the finals along with Team Mexico, who defeated Team Canada. It would be Team All Stars who would defeat Mexico to claim the challenge victory and add another accomplishment on their resume.

The Real Deal wasn’t the only returning champion of note. The Nash’s (Trevor and Casey) made a return to the Super Grands stage as well. Casey would return to the ring, crushing her competition, winning continuous sparring, female Japanese forms and female hard creative weapons. Her husband Trevor also made an impact winning heavyweight point fighting. Both Trevor and Casey plan to be back for the 2010 NBL season, so we are all looking forward to their continued return to prominence.

Last but certainly not least, Regina Thompson and Chris Gallio returned to the NBL scene after a year and three years off, respectively. Gallio led his team mercilessly against Team All Stars in a preliminary loss of the World Team Challenge. Gallio also led his team to a second place finish to All Stars for the men’s team world title. However, it would be Mr. GOP himself who would capture gold in the Middleweight Point Sparring competition. After three long years of hard work and rehabilitation from a devastating knee injury, Gallio reached the top yet again. His teammate, Thompson, would also claim world titles in her return to the ring. Thompson captured not only a point sparring world title, but the overall World Grand Championship after a tough fight with Casey Nash.

As great as it was to see these Super Grands legends return, it was equally as great to see the present stars of today in top form. The high flying Josh Durbin is an example of such a star. Durbin didn’t disappoint with the hype of his flashy tricks, as he brought home the Hard Creative Weapons world title, bringing his grand total to nineteen world title wins.

Jordan Simon of Team International is another highlight that every NBL competitor and fan knows. Simon is not only a creative weapons machine, but excels in the traditional categories as well. In fact, he has won two titles in both creative and traditional weapons; a claim not many can make. Not only does Simon posses twelve world titles over his career, he also boasts three World Overall Grands in as many years.

The Northcutt family has a household full of world title plaques, belts, and rings; literally. Between siblings Colbey, Sage, and Shaun, the Northcutt family boasts an incredible forty-nine world titles. Colbey and Sage have earned twenty-four each, the most amount ever won by any competitor, with up and coming Shaun holding his own with a world title in sparring in 2009. Sage does a little of everything, competing in traditional, contemporary and sparring divisions. His sister Colbey has shied away from the contemporary side in recent years, and now focuses on traditional and sparring competition. Young Shaun has focused on fighting throughout his brief sport karate career, but may yet rival his big brother and sister with forms one day. This Super Grands, the Northcutt family brought home titles in boys team sparring, girls team sparring, hard creative weapons, point sparring, continuous sparring, musical weapons, kempo, musical forms and Korean forms.

The most interesting part of the Super Grands is the Overall World Grand Championship, which has been a staple of the competition for the past three years. The four grand titles are awarded for contemporary and traditional forms (junior and adult), as well as men and women’s point sparring. Participants are selected from their scores in World Title competition and the highest scoring player from each category represents their respective division. The aforementioned Simon took home the Junior Contemporary Overall Grand after he performed his renown “Welcome to the Jungle” bo routine. Casey Nash dominated the Adult Traditional Overall Grand with her Japanese kata, cementing her above-mentioned return to the NBL. Newcomer Tan Nguyen not only won his first Japanese title this Super Grands, but he also stormed the stage to win the Junior Traditional Overall World Grand. Nguyen was accompanied by another newcomer, Austin Jorgensen, who would win both his first world title and overall grand this year. Jorgensen dominated the rest of the adult contemporary competitors with his drunken sword form. Finally, Regena Thompson and Willie Hicks would take home the women’s and men’s grands, respectively.

It was fitting for the 20th anniversary of the Super Grands to be on the same stomping grounds as the original. Sport karate competitors past and present appreciate the rich heritage of the Super Grands and it is amazing how it grows every year. One can only hope that the 21st rendition of the world competition rivals this one, albeit a very high standard set.

The Super Grands have run strong for the past twenty years and for the next twenty, competitors and fans can expect new rivalries, new stars, and past champions to grace the Super Grands stage, just as they have since 1990.

Super Grands - A Banner Year
by Jessica Robeson

Where’s the best location to have a tournament in the middle of winter? In the warm sunny south? Of course not! Instead, the NBL World Games were held in a place where there were no outside distractions, a place where you wouldn’t even go outside anyhow because there was a blizzard. The location... Buffalo, New York.

The reporters in the BlitzKick carpool were relieved to have an inclement-weather-free trip on the drive up and back to Buffalo. No blizzards, avalanches, or thundersnow… just some light rain and very little traffic.  However, the folks who came and left during the middle of the 7 day tournament faced some varying snow conditions. 

However the kids and adults that wished they still were kids, especially those from south of the border (that’s the Mason-Dixon line), found themselves outside having snowball fights and just generally acting crazy in the white stuff. There were so many of them outside they caught the attention of the TV news station next door who interviewed several of them and had them on the news that evening.

Interestingly enough, the attendance at Super Grands was up compared to the prior year, despite the less-than-paradise venue city. Unlike last year, the hotel block (all rooms reserved for the Super Grands) sold out completely a week before the tournament. 

Because I am now officially a NASKA-to-NBL convert (oh please don’t tell my NASKA friends), I decided to pitch in a little more this year and sucker in some of my NASKA friends to help with judging – Seth Ismart and Brian Hall.  Neither of them had been to an NBL tournament before,  but fortunately there were two hour mandatory referees seminars each day before the tournament started.  Both were impressed with the efficiency and organization of the meetings and asked “how come they don’t do this at every tournament?”

Nevertheless, even the most experienced of NBL judges got tripped up on a couple of technicalities.  For instance, if a competitor accidentally kicks a corner judge sitting outside of the ring in the face, is the competitor considered in or out of bounds?  If a competitor’s mouth piece falls out during competition without any impact from a strike, does that count as spitting out a mouthpiece which deserves a penalty? 

Another thing I found interesting about the NBL World Games were the fines.  Although the existence of fines is notable, it was the diligent enforcement that I found fascinating.  Within the first two days of the competition, $250 in fines were assessed.  Most fines were $25 for unauthorized entrance into the playing arena or use of curse words.  This year’s security personnel were extra strict, and when word got out that they were watching like hawks, the spectators and competitors transformed themselves to their best behavior.  My favorite g-rated quote for voicing disapproval at an opponent’s point was “Are you SERIOUS?” I also giggled when I heard “Body PUNCH the FOOL!” Those NBL’ers are awfully creative at voicing disapproval and positive feedback so that it’s acceptable in a family environment.

I also want to note that the level of competition was off the hook.  If I start naming names, then I will get in trouble for leaving someone out, which is exactly why I abhor bringing up specific competitors.  But suffice it to say, there were solid competitors from all corners of the US, Canada, Mexico, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and other places I forget in South America and Europe.  

Well, as much as I tease about the quirks of the Super Grands, I really do love the tournament.  It’s a logical structure to have regional champions from across the Americas to congregate once a year to determine the world champion.  Travelling nationally every month can be very expensive for the average unsponsored competitor and NBL offers the budget-minded competitor a path to achieve world class status without all of the constant travel expense.