 The Mayan empire was one of the greatest civilizations in world history. They ruled central America until the eighth century AD. Great structures built by them still stand. Tikal, an ancient Mayan city in Guatemala, stands as a testament of their power and technological innovation. Ruins of their civilization can be seen all over Central and South America. In the fifteenth century the Spanish conquistador Hernan Cortes overran this area now known as Guatemala and in the nineteenth century the new Central American country of Mexico took possession of the area. Attempts to fuse the Central American
isthmus into Mexico were unsuccessful and Guatemala was part of Mexico for only a short period. Guatemala enjoyed periods of prosperity after its independence from Mexico. It also went through growing pains in the twentieth century when reformers attempted to effect change. Guatemala now enjoys relative stability. Guatemala is mainly an agrarian society with its main exports being Coffee.
Guatemala takes their karate seriously with its champions treated like celebrities. The last two decades has seen the emergence of a multitude of champions from this little country of twelve million people. Erick Schumann was the producer of the July 21st and 22nd NBL Latin National conference “El Gran Jaguar” event. Although it was an NBL Super Grands qualifying event it felt more like a Latin version of the actual World Games.
The event venue was at the Grand Tikal Futura Hotel’s main ballroom. This facility was massive with two levels and big enough for one of the sponsors to bring a half dozen cars and park them to show for sale. Attached to the convention center ballroom and under the Hotel is a three story mall that could be accessed from the convention center. A truly grand place with a classic Mayan accent.
Erick’s Schumann has one of the top sport karate schools in the world. His blackbelts can be found all over Latin America with schools in Mexico and several other Central and South American countries. Erick’s influence on sport karate in the region was supported by the large numbers in attendance. Schumann first Became involved with the NBL when he met Boice Lydell in 1989. Since then he has represented the NBL and hosted some of the best international martial arts events in sport karate.
The runoffs during Friday night exceeded all expectations for numbers and skill of participants. Fierce competition ensued especially in the continuous sparring divisions where every fight seemed like a war as ferocious matches had crowds getting worked up over the competition. In the adult male middleweight continuous sparring division Oscar Barrientos of Mexico and Diego Alonzo of Guatemala fought hard and battled it out with Barrientos ending up on top when the smoke cleared.
Contestants from the USA were in championship form with Sage Northcutt, Colbey Northcutt, Bear Loebe, Jacob Holguin, David Coppock and Marisa Mayer taking home divisional wins in weapons, contemporary forms and continuous sparring. Some of the Guatemalan blackbelt champions during the Friday run offs were Jorge Martinez, Felipe Alvarez, Andres Zelaya, Andres Garcia, Sara Escriba, Juan Gonzalez, Rodrigo de Leon, Estuardo Aguilar, Jonathan Tale Francisco Tale, Jimmy Tabico and of course Edgar Cordova who had his hands full as he ended up head to head with Corky Sikes of the USA in the hard choreographed musical weapons contest. After a tie, Cordova won the point off in a close contest for the division. Sikes and Cordova combined forces to win the team forms championship with their dynamic sword/kama routine.
During Saturday morning it was clear that there were going to be many more people than the night before. Large crowds filled the bleachers and were around the rings as participants or spectators. Traditional forms, traditional weapons, and point sparring were being run off. Some of the Mexican Champions of the day included Sergio Calva, Marco Aguilar, Daniela Barrientos and Juan Gonzalez who represented their schools with winning form in their divisions. As Saturday progressed it was clear that this was going to be along day. Many divisions were so big that concluding them would take extra time.
Point sparring divisions were up last with blackbelt adult and junior fighters coming out of the woodwork. One minute nobody was there then when they called the division, the ring was packed. Fights of particular interest in the junior blackbelt point sparring divisions included 14 to 15 boys where James Davidson and Juan Carlos were finalist in a monster division were you couldn’t even see the fight due to the number of competitors, coaches and parents gathered around the ring. The fight was intense with both fighters launching at each other. After the final seconds ran down Carlos was declared the champion. In the 16 to 17 blackbelt division it was USA verses Guatemala all over again as Charlie Davidson’s thrust powerful blitz combinations against Marcos Alonzo’s counter fighting tactics. Both fighters went back and forth with an intense focus that energized the crowd. As the fight concluded Marcos Alonzo emerged victorious.
Adult point sparring divisions represented a cross section of styles and fighters. These guys were going strong and it was a pleasure to watch world class competition by an international group of Guatemalan, Honduras, Venezuela and Mexican fighters. Every division that had Venezuela competitors was entertaining.
The Saturday finals were attended by an estimated three thousand spectators with a number of specialty divisions and under blackbelt demonstrations being showcased. This was a real show covered by the local media as well as www.texas-sport-karate.com and Sport Karate Magazine.
In traditional forms Edgar Cordova pulled ahead of Mauricio Valenzuela, Johnnie Murphy, Marco Aguilar and Alejandra Acuna to take home the grand championship. Cordova also won the adult contemporary weapons grand championship with a victory over Jonathan Tale, Jimmy Tabico and Sara Escriba. Contemporary forms was a contest between current NBL champion Bear Loebe, against Andreas Garcia, Steve Tabico and again Sara Escriba. Loebe pulled off a strong contemporary form to defeat the others and win the grand championship.
Junior forms grand championship winners were Juan Gonzalez in contemporary weapons, Felipe Alvarez winning contemporary forms and Jacob Holguin being first in Junior Japanese. Junior Korean forms grand championship was a showdown of the Gaybeck form, as Colbey Northcutt defeated Gene Middleton and Sergio Calva.
Junior continuous sparring divisions culminated in a series of fights that pitted the USA, Mexico and Guatemala against each other. Adult men’s blackbelt team point sparring championship was a heated contest between Team Venezuela and Team Schumann 1 of Guatemala. This was an exciting fight as contestants seemed to fight off the stage as much as they did on it. In the end Team Schumann’s 1 pulled ahead for a highly contested victory over Team Venezuela. Team Sport Karate of Guatemala won junior boys team sparring. David Coppock from Colorado USA won the senior point sparring grand championship.
The men’s point sparring grand championship culminated in a series of final fights between Jorge Lopez, Jose Eliezer, Yoskas Gomez and Hugo Dubois. This was a truly memorable tournament with top competitors from all over the world vying for a chance at a victory at the El Gran Jaguar championships and for seeding for December’s NBL Super Grands World Games in Buffalo, New York, USA.
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