 El Paso Texas was once a small Spanish mission founded by the conquistador Don Juan De Onate. As the southwest grew this little outpost expanded into a stopover point for the long trips between Mexico City and Santa Fe, New Mexico, which at that time was a province of Mexico. The original trail that ran between these cities was known as the Camino Real.
The tournament hotel for Laco Villanueva’s July 7th and 8th 2006 Battle of the Champions was aptly called The El Camino Real. Named after the early highway, this massive hotel was built in 1912. As could be expected it is a masterpiece of antiquity. The main lobby is crowned by majestic columns and elaborate cornices that reflect the late Victorian age from which it was spawn. The rest of the Hotel is just as detailed in its turn of the century architecture.
Within a short walking distance from the hotel is the El Paso Convention Center where the tournament was held. An early start on Friday allowed for an organized and relaxed atmosphere. Many top players from the USA and Latin America were in attendance as this event was part of the NBL Pan Am national conference.
NBL national tournaments all have the same format. The sequence of divisions varies only slightly form each event.
Throughout the initial evening the divisions ran efficiently. Blackbelt and under blackbelt weapons, forms and continuous sparring were all run from the order set up on the ring assignment sheets with very little change and with plenty of blackbelt judges on hand to officiate.
Saturday’s eliminations went equally as smooth leading up to and determining the players to vie for coveted divisional wins and grandchampionships in the evening. Tournament promoter, Laco Villanueva spared no expense to make the finals fun and memorable. Members of the local armed forces started the event off with the flag ceremony followed by ceremonial acknowledgements.
Junior Choreographed musical forms initiated the competition. Sage Northcutt, Mia Caldwell and Justin Lewis competed with Lewis, who hails from Virginia, coming out on top. Melissa Sioson and Darrel Lewis showed some impressive moves in adult contemporary forms with Lewis coming back from a long absence to impress the crowd and take the win.
Six junior continuous sparring divisions were picked for the night time finals. Several of the contests were very intense and captivated the audience with their nonstop action. Winners included Derick Torres, Kevin Torres, Gene Middleton, Sean McGinnis, Anthony McGinnis and Aldimir Torres.
Adult men’s black belt team sparring pitted GOP against DDX. The first fight was Troy Whaley versus Roberto Torres. Both fighters are fast with great fighting skills. The next team match pitted Chris Gallio against Edgar Cordova. Talk about evenly matched components, these two had all the moves with each one pulling off exciting techniques to score. With Team DDX ahead it was up to Brian Young to pull out the win for GOP. Young went up against DDX’s Ryan Gonzalez of California. After a heated exchange that had Young on the offensive, time ran out leaving DDX winning men’s team point sparring.
Brittan Kabela went against Mia Caldwell in the junior choreographed musical weapons grand. Brittan Kabela was burning up the stage with his staff form until he fumbled his weapon leading the way to an easy win for Mia Caldwell. Darrel Lewis, Edgar Cordova and Noe Ortega ran next in the adult contemporary weapons grand championship. Lewis stole the show with his exhibition of aerial dynamics and classic kama skill to take first place.
Junior point sparring matches pitted Miguel Soto against Frankie Fernandez with Frankie winning boys 13-14 black belt point sparring. Ryan George went against A J Maunder for the boys 14-15 year old point sparring championship. After some very ardent exchanges and a few time outs George came out on top. The senior men’s point sparring grand championship was a contest between Ronald George and Troy Whaley. Whaley won using his speed to overcome the power and reach of the much larger Ronald George.
Sage Northcutt was victorious over Sergio Calva and Miguel Soto in the junior Japanese forms grand. Adult traditional forms and weapons was a contest between Edgar Cordova - men’s Korean forms, Melissa Sioson - Female Japanese forms, Corky Sikes - men’s Japanese forms, Julio Domingo - Kenpo Polynesian forms and Johnnie Murphy - traditional weapons champion. This was the largest grand championship of the finals and had several NBL world champions vying for the five hundred dollars and the grand championship. After the final competitor ran Sikes was declared the winner and took home the money
The Junior Korean forms grand championship had Jake Lysgaard, Frankie Fernandez and Gene Middleton competing against each other with an ensuing tie between Fernandez and Gene Middleton. The judges did a show of hand with Fernandez coming out on top for the win.
The women’s point sparring champion was Regina Thompson. The last four fighters left from earlier eliminations of all the eligible first place divisions in the men’s point sparring divisions were up last. Christian Flores of Guatemala went head to head with Roberto Torres of Texas. Both fighters possessed speed and experience. Finally as time ran down Roberto was ahead by one point allowing him to advance to the final round. Ryan Gonzalez and Brian Young, both from California, competed for the last slot for the money and the win. Young pulled ahead and ended up going to the final fight. The last division of the tournament was the fight between Torres and Young. Both are members of Team GOP. Young was doing all kind of crazy stuff in an attempt to show off. Torres was in pain from earlier injuries and was not one hundred percent. Between the two of them they put on a good show with Young ending up taking home the money and the title of the 2006 Battle of The Champions men’s point sparring grand championship.
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