Junior Super Fly Continuous Sparring (N-90)
For many years Alchemy Karate School has fielded some of the best junior continuous sparring players and this year was no exception. Both the winner and the runner-ups in this division were Alchemy students under Laco Villanueva. Chance Maxwell, won ten matches in a row to qualify himself against number one nationally seeded teammate Nichoas Medina, who won five matches and lost one to Maxwell. These two nine year olds were a blast to watch, but dressed identically they were hard to tell apart. The match was 46 to 42 at halftime and ended with a slim 113 to 111 victory for Maxwell earning him his first world title. Both reside in El Paso, Texas. Third place was also taken by an Alchemy student, Jesse Martinez.

Junior Fly Continuous Sparring (N-91)
This was an impressive sparring match with two talented fighters, if only Chris Glandon would stay on his feet. Ericka Slade of Team Langley led Glandon 64 to 47 at half-time and never allowed Glandon to catch up ending with a 118 to 83 final score. However the pair were well matched and it remained exciting throughout. Glandon represents Wayne Nguyen’s TKO from Texas. Slade is also from Texas. Third place was won by Rain Fredericks of Michigan.

Junior Feather Continuous Sparring (N-92)
With five number one national seeds, Sage Northcutt didn’t have to fight much in the eliminations taking out fourth place Corey Kellam 67 to 54 as the only match he actually had to fight. Amanda Chen had to work her way through the ranks to vie against Northcutt for the title taking her only loss to Kellam. It appeared a no contest in the Finale however, as Northcutt led at halftime 73 to 45 and then won the title 116 to 58, scoring exactly twice as many points as her. Northcutt represents Alchemy Karate in Texas while Chen lays claim to Amerikick in New Jersey. Mitchell McDaniel of Texas took third.

Junior Light Continuous Sparring (N-93)
Jorge Martinez of Guatemala had a four year continuous sparring record riding on the line as he entered into junior lightweight for the first time. Having evolutionized through all the weight classes (at the time), he’s won both fly and then feather twice and needed a lightweight win to tie Anthony McGinnis’s record of four consecutive titles that ended this year when McGinnis failed to show. Martinez took a clean sweep in the eliminations to oppose fellow Guatemalan, Andres Zelaya in the Finale. Zelaya had one loss to third place Karina Perea of Team Alchemy. The final fight produced the lowest scoring continuous match of Grand Finale where a total of only 58 points were scored. At the end of the first match Martinez trailed 12 to 10 but succeeded in a huge comeback to win his fourth title with a final 36 to 22 score. Martinez trains with Luis Morales and Zelaya with Jorge Porres.

Junior Light Middle Continuous Sparring (N-94)
A second Slade was in the gold medal contention as Erika’s brother James cleaned clock or all comers in the eliminations and was left pitted against his own teammate, Jeremy Butler for the finale. Butler bowed out to Slade for the final eliminations match and Slade to Butler in the first Grand Finale match so it was a one match winner take all. The 13 and 14 year olds held a 78 to 52 half time score led by Slade and ended with an 120 to 82 Slade favor in the end. They are both from Texas. Chris Wilkins of Team NWK coached by Zack Burns was third.

Junior Middle Continuous Sparring (N-95)
Team Alchemy made their presence known again with Michael Hassey as he topped several players in the eliminations including Benjamin Ferguson by a 29 to 28 score. This was Ferguson’s only loss heading to the Finale stage where the pair met again to determine a title victory. Hassey trailed almost 2 to 1 at halftime with a 42 to 22 score but everything in sport karate is unpredictable as the score at the end of the match rested 89 to 84 in Hassey’s favor. This left Ferguson in the same position as last year, but against a different Alchemy team member. Michael Hassey is from El Paso and Benjamin Ferguson from Critz, Virginia. Carlos Ayala from Guatemala was third.

Junior Light Heavy Continuous Sparring (N-96)
Langley’s martial arts struck again with Andre Parrott as he and Mexican Juan Gonzalez, after one loss apiece, would be the last men standing in the eliminations. They took their losses from third and fourth place players Conner Cordova and Darek Pannell so they had only one match left to determine the gold medalist. Parrott outscored Gonzalez 42 to 26 in the first half. Gonzalez rallied back, but with a little too late leaving a 58 to 44 score and a third junior continuous sparring victory for Langley’s.

Junior Heavy Continuous Sparring (N-97)
There was wild action between Juan Pablo Santiago of Guatemala and Naveed Kermaninejad of California with kicks spinning over heads and fists flying everywhere in an enthusiastic match. Kermaninejad led by one point at halftime 46 to 45 but Santiago reigned in the end 113 to 107 giving him the victory and the second junior continuous title to a Guatemalan. Torren Davies of Team RCU took third.

Junior Super Heavy Continuous Sparring (N-98)
Not surprising, nearly all the junior boys’ continuous sparring titles were won by Guatemalans or Texans. But there’s always one exception to the rule and in this case it was in the heaviest junior division. Texas had a representative with Charlie Davidson who had one loss to David Lopez of Sun & Moon Karate by the end of the eliminations. His Finale foe would by Michael Jefferson of California who also had a loss, his to Davidson 58 to 56. While you might expect Davidson to strike again he found himself behind 43 to 31 at midpoint and on the losing end 78 to 71 after the buzzer rang. In rare form, there were no penalties in this match. Jefferson represents Frohm’s Martial Arts and Davidson comes from Northside Karate in Houston. Brother, James Davidson took third.

Junior Girls’ Feather Continuous Sparring (N-99)
In continuous it’s generally the oldest smallest players that have the distinct advantage. In the case of Ashley Grant however, at age thirteen she was the youngest in the division that ranged up to seventeen year olds in her weight class. She had already won point sparring and a win here would mean that she’d be the only junior of the year to win both point and continuous. She won all her eliminations including a 56 to 52 win over Stephanie Rosales of Laco Villanueva’s Team Alchemy. The pair met again for the title where Grant got the best of Rosales again 54 to 45 at halftime and a gold medal victory in the end with a 96 to 89 score. Grant hails from Thomas Bowen’s Studio in Van Nuys, California. Crystal Penny of Team FX took third.

Junior Girl’s Light Continuous Sparring (N-100) 100A
Grit and determination was the name of the game in this division where two young ladies with a huge disparity in age fit into the equally sized category. Unseeded, Chelsey Nash won a whopping eleven fights to qualify her to fight the younger number one seeded Colbey Northcutt. The pair met once in the eliminations with a 99 to 91 victory for Nash. Without skipping a heartbeat Northcutt rallied in the Finale edging Nash 63 to 62 at halftime and 147 to 130 at the end of round one. A final round was again without a give-in, but Nash held a considerable edge 91 to 72 at the half and continued on to win the title 175 to 149. Compare that amount of points to the boy’s junior lightweight at 36 to 22! She trains with her brother Trevor Nash in Canada while Northcutt trains with Laco Villanueva in Texas. Tracey Farnes of Colorado took third.

Junior Girls’ Middle Continuous Sparring (N-101) 100B
Marissa Mayer of Straight-up Kicking in Rhode Island and Shawna Coady of Karate World in Myrtle Beach were both looking for their first victory in continuous sparring. As last year’s runner-up, Mayer was especially anxious for a win topping Coady in the eliminations. Meeting on stage for the final showdown, Mayer struck fast and furious to put her ahead at the half, 87 to 49, and win the title 108 to 58. She trains under Joe Greenhalgh and Coady under Jason McCormick.

Men’s Feather Continuous Sparring (N-102) 101
Losing all his bids for a point sparring victory this year, Troy Whaley looked ahead to his continuous division where he topped Andres Maza of Guatemala 75 to 60 giving Maza his only eliminations loss. On to the Grand Finale Whaley fell behind 78 to 60 at halftime. It must have been some superman advice from Brian Young’s coaching as Whaley came back to overtake Maza 135 to 123 and win his first continuous title since 2003. He is a member of Team DDX and lives in Las Vegas, Nevada. Maza hails from the Schumann’s team. Michael Holstien of Chuck Norris’ CKD Team was third.

Men’s Light Continuous Sparring (N-103) 102
Without a doubt, Andres Garcia of Guatemala threw some of the most exciting techniques in the continuous grand championships. As defending champion, Garcia took on veteran Marty Maye in the Finale topping him with some wild spinning aerial techniques that would make any of the best stand up to take notice. He held the lead at the halfway point 46 to 27 and continued on to win handily 106 to 60. He trains with Salvador Schumann. Maye is from Astoria, Oregon. Jerry Ryan from the Ocean’s Eleven Team was third.

Men’s Light Middle Continuous Sparring (N-104) 103
The Grand Finale match between Jose Jorge Santiago of Guatemala and Joshua Pittman of California was so close that penalty points nearly determined the winner. Santiago won ten straight unanswered victories in the eliminations to wind up on stage and leading Pittman 26 to 22 at the midway point. In the end he barely continued his winning way topping Pittman 62 to 59 for his first NBL title. He trains with Salvador Schumann and Pittman with Ernest Frohm. Marco Aguilar from Mexico, took third place.

Men’s Middle Continuous Sparring (N-105) 104
Marty Maye of Team DDX was left in third place after ten matches. Two he lost to Joshua May, leaving May for the Grand Finale against Matthew Okada of whom Maye bumped off as one of his eight victories. In the first Finale round, Okada scored his needed comeback topping May 103 to 93. But an over jealous Okada drew blood in the following match leaving him disqualified after he led halfway through at 43 to 40. Maye is from Frohm’s Martial Arts in California and represents Team GQ Sport. Okada flys the DDX banner and is also from California.

Men’s Light Heavy Continuous Sparring (N-106) 105
Last year’s champion, Bryan Young was knocked out of contention by finalists Daniel Marshall and Mike Levy leaving him in third for the year. Marshall also gave Levy a loss before going head to head with him in the Grand Finale for the gold medal. At halftime Levy trailed 60 to 57 and couldn’t close the gap in the last half leaving Marshall the victor with a 130 to 113 score. Marshall represents Quenzel’s Team B.O.S.S. and is from United Martial Arts. Levy is from John Marshall’s Family Karate in London, Ontario, Canada.

Men’s Heavy Continuous Sparring (N-107) 106
Walter Luna had the opportunity to bring home the first NBL world title to Honduras as he had a string of four victories in the eliminations. Then he ran up against Edgar Cordova of Guatemala losing 45 to 29. They would met again on stage for the title, Cordova with no losses, Luna with the single loss to Cordova. Midway through the Finale match, Cordova led Luna 55 to 49 and stayed ahead 107 to 97 to win his first continuous sparring world title. Both players claim Erick Schumann as their instructor. Van Frasher of Gahanna, Ohio took third.

Men’s Super Heavy Continuous Sparring (N-108) 107
D.E. Chambers’ Northside Karate in Houston, Texas fielded several championship contenders this year including Antonio Anderson who made it to the Grand Finale against Charles Prescott of Marcal Lazenby’s Team ATL in Atlanta, Georgia. Anderson, who topped Prescott once in the eliminations, dominated him once again in the Finale 37 to 27 at halftime and 71 to 56 for the world title. Third place was taken by Kevin Gottschalk of Kansas who won the title exactly ten years ago in 1997.

Women’s Feather Continuous Sparring (N-109) 108
Reigning champion, Gina Thornton took two losses from California’s Tracey Martinez to only place third this year. Martinez moved into Grand Finale play against Lauren Ferguson of Virginia. Both of the finalists had one loss apiece from Thornton. In a match chocked full of penalty points, over ten apiece, Martinez rallied for a 130 to 115 score preventing Ferguson from a sparring world title in her first year as an adult. Martinez represents Team GOP and Ferguson, Team FX.

Women’s Light Continuous Sparring (N-110) 109
Reigning champion Kris Pilgrim of Colorado and Renee Slapnicker of Ohio squared off for the Finale with Slapnicker having one eliminations' loss to Regena Thompson. Slapnicker evened up the losses beating Pilgrim 103 to 73 to leave one final determining match. The last match had Slapnicker in the lead 47 to 38 at halftime, following up with a 111 to 79 to win the title from Pilgrim for at least one year. Gotta love that name – “Slapnicker”. Both gals represent the Five Knuckle Bullet Team. Jessica Varma of Team Got’um took third.