9 & Under Hard Creative Forms (N-1)
With the exit of three year winner, Sage Northcutt, into the 10-11 year old category, this division was left wide open for a new champion. All three number one nationally seeded players, Jared Pressley of Georgia, Chris Glandon of Texas and Cole Butler of Colorado showed up for the contest and gave each other a close run for their first potential title win. Leaving Butler in third place, Pressley and Glandon headed to the Grand FInale stage for the final showdown. Pressley, who was last year’s third place victor, topped Glandon 29.96 to 29.91 for his first title and another feather in the cap of Corky Sikes famed Strike Force Team. Glandon represented Team Focus and trains under Wayne Nguyen of TKO.

10 to 11 Hard Creative Forms (N-2)
After a runner-up title in 2006, Renato De Leon was back for another world title contest with his major competition coming from three year, 9 and under champion, Sage Northcutt. With 29.97 eliminations ties, Northcutt laid on the line a chance to tie a record of four consecutive world title wins held by Jorge Martinez and Mia Caldwell set in past years. Despite the daytime tie, Northcutt was the run-away victor in the Grand Finale 29.95 to 29.90 giving him that coveted world record tie of four consecutive wins and a chance to stand alone as the only player to ever win five creative forms titles in a row with a repeat win in the 10-11 year old category in 2008. Northcutt hails from Katy, Texas and De Leon from El Paso, Texas. Third place was won by Ryan Young of Ontario, Canada.

12 to 14 Hard Creative Forms (N-3)
The 10-11 year old division wasn’t the only one to garner 29.97 elimination ties as four time creative forms champion Jorge Martinez along with Benjamin Ferguson of Team FX had the same scores in their eliminations leaving Idaho’s rookie blackbelt, Andrew Kowalewski, with third place at 29.94. It was de-javu as Martinez won the title on the Grand Finale stage 29.95 to 29.90, the exact same scoring as the 10-11 year old division between the top two players. This was Martinez fifth creative forms win and while not consecutive, it’s the most overall wins by any player in creative forms history. He trains under Luis Morales in Guatemala and Ferguson under Ron and Sharon Ferguson in Martinsville, Virginia.

15 to 17 Hard Creative Forms (N-4)
As if ties in the younger divisions weren’t enough, a three way developed in this division attesting to the high caliber of competition thus difficulty by the Judges to choose a winner. Multi-year veterans Felipe Alvarez of Guatemala, Kyle Gray of of Buffalo, New York and Justin Lewis of Lynchburg, Virginia went head to head in what was arguably the toughest creative forms division and rested at 29.94 each. Leaving Lewis in third place after the tie breaker, the dynamic Alvarez and perfectionist Gray, again tied for the title on the Grand Finale stage. A final run-off gave Alvarez the edge by three one-hundredths. He trains with Salvador Schumann while Gray’s instructor is Ron Cain.

11& Under Hard Choreographed Musical Forms (N-5)
I personally don’t recall a player ever winning the number one seed in every national conference, especially of late where the NBL touts five national conferences. But leave it to the charismatic Sage Northcutt to pull it off. You’ve got to figure he’s going to win the title as well, which he did. However Ryan Young of Trevor Nash’s United Karate in Canada gave him a run for his money placing only two one-hundredths behind him in eliminations play and three one-hundredths in the Finale. Young will be a force to be reckoned with in the future. This was Northcutt’s second year victory in the division.

12 to 14 Hard Choreographed Musical Forms (N-6)
Whatever Gene Middleton may have lacked in last year’s competition, he made up for this year despite his being first up in the division. He slid by two year divisional champion, Jorge Martinez by one one-hundredth in the eliminaions while Martinez broke a tie with Middleton’s teammate, Brooks Stipe, to leave Stipe in third. What could have been anyone’s guess as to a victor, Middleton rode away with a 49.94 to 49.90 victory to the music of the William Tell Overture placing him amongst notable former champions Shawn Prommar, Josh Durbin, Toney Lopez, Chris Sublett, Adrian Ulanoff, Eboni Adams, Derrick Pendergrass, Kim Do and Gaffar Adam. Middleton trains under Corky Sikes in Georgia while Martinez trains with Luis Morales in Guatemala.

15 to 17 Hard Choreographed Musical Forms (N-7)
After winning this division in 2005 and then dropping to fourth place last year, Felipe Alvarez of Guatemala was on a comeback roll this year as he and last year’s third place victor, Kyle Gray, both took top honors to qualify for the Grand Finale gold medal award. Strangely enough these same two players took several years off in their mid-teenage years. Gray actually won the musical forms division in 1990. With two very seemingly different approaches, Gray got the best of Alvarez 9.96 to 9.91 to not only win the division, but also qualify him for the new overall Grand. He tains under Ron Cain of Batavia, New York. Juan Gonzalez of Mexico was third place.

Junior Hard Open Musical Forms (N-8)
Felipe Alvarez also qualified for the gold status in the open musical category. Placing in the eliminations with a whopping 29.99 score his opponent would be the 11 and under choreographed winner, Sage Northcutt, who scored right behind him with a 29.97. For unknown reasons Northcutt bowed out in the Grand Finale leaving Alvarez with one of his three world titles for the Games. Alvarez trains with Salvador Schumann in Guatemala. David Armstrong of Sun Chang’s TKD in New York took third.

Junior Soft Open Forms (N-9)
Rookie player, Anthony Rigg of Tim Quickmire’s Sun & Moon Studio in Bluffton, South Carolina had his hopes up as he topped Mark Wiltshire of Team Dynamic of Canada in the eliminations 29.88 to 29.86. Performing his contemporary Lau Gau form he made his dreams come true again outscoring Wiltshire on the Grand Finale stage and taking his first NBL world title. Silvio Scarcella, also of Canada, took third.

11& Under Female Hard Creative Forms (N-10)
Each year there comes along new talent that makes you sit up and take notice. This year an observant eye had to focus on this young girls’ division. Nine year old Ashley Middleton of Georgia and eight year old Karina Hipolito of Utah have all the attributes of future multi-winners. While some technical problems in her final performance on stage appeared to cause a heartbreaker for Middleton as she let her leading edge of the eliminations win slip away, there is no doubt but what both these champions will be winning countless titles in the future. Intense and dynamic, this pair has my vote for the most potential at the Games. Hipolito trains under Mike Tobin of Pinnacle Martial Arts and Middleton under Corky Sikes’ World Class Karate. Michelle Sims, also of Pinnacle took third.

12 to 14 Female Hard Creative Forms (N-11)
At the end of the day’s work, number one seeds Mia Caldwell and Kristin Tupper tied at 9.94 for the title with Tupper winning a run-off to determine seeding for the Grand Finale. In an upset, Tupper went on to again garner the favor of the Judges in the Finale to win her first title with Caldwell having to accept an end to her four year consecutive winning streak. Caldwell represents GOP and the Top Team under Jacob Tapia and Kristin Tupper is a member of World Class Karate under Corky Sikes. Stephanie Rosales of Texas took third.

15 to 17 Female Hard Creative Forms (N-12)
Georgia’s Team Strike Force under the tutelage of Corky Sikes seems to have players in nearly every division and certainly noticeable in junior girls’ creative forms divisions. The Force struck again as Samantha Wolfort took a commanding lead over Shanna Young in this division in eliminations play. Emulating her five one-hundredths daytime lead she outperformed Young once again in the Grand Finale to win her first world title. Young represented Team Unity under Sean Elliott in Virginia. Natasha Reyes of Dawn Kabela’s VKA in Texas took third.

Junior Female Hard Choreographed Musical Forms (N-13)
Musical forms was basically a who’s who of all the junior female forms competitors and it seemed only fitting that a couple of the creative forms runner-ups rose to the top of this division leaving this year’s three creative forms world titlists in 3rd to 8rh place. Fourteen year old Mia Caldwell and eleven year old Michelle Sims topped the talented group with Caldwell favored to win the Grand Finale. However some slips by Caldwell and a great performance by Sims left the two tired in Grand Finale 3 with a run-off in store to determine the champion. Caldwell took the run-off and her only gold of this year’s Games. She is from El Paso, Texas and Sims from Washington Terrace, Utah. Karina Hipolito, also of Utah, took third.

Men’s Hard Creative Forms (N-14)
Joshua Durbin was way out front in the eliminations leaving Jerico Catura of Team DDX and Michael Holstein of Team CKD within one one-hundredth of each other to take the other Finale stage position and third place. Lucky for Catura he was the other Finale qualifier as he proceeded to the Grand stage and claimed revenge topping Durbin by five one-hundredths for his second win of the Games and second year win in this division. These three west coast players included Holstein from Oregon, Durbin from Colorado and Catura from California.

Adult Hard Choreographed Musical Forms (N-15)
Whatever Joshua Durbin gave up to Jerico Catura in the creative forms division he won back in the choreographed musical division. Wining in musical forms is nothing new to Durbin as his gold medal musical forms accomplishments in NBL go back to 2001 and long before that in the Amateur Internationals. But this year was a first with his advancement into the adult competition world and he handily topped Catura for the title and won a qualifying position for the overall Grand. Durbin trains under veteran coach Steve Amaro of Unison and Catura under Jim Buhisan. Ashley Davies, also of a Unison branch school under Brandon Hastings, took third.

Adult Hard Open Musical Forms (N-16)
Jerico Catura and Joshua Durbin tied each other in open musical forms with Catura receiving the run-off nod, but that was for second and third as Matt Emig of New York topped them both with a perfect 30.00 score. He once gain scored near perfect with a 49.90 topping Catura in the Grand Finale with his appropriately named “Massacrer” form. He also qualified for the new overall Grand, but vowed not to show. However he was having so much fun attempting to throw his roommate Vince Johnson in the swimming pool that he stayed anyhow and won the overall adult contemporary grand with a 49.99 score topping Roark Hodson to win the new NBL red metallic belt.

Adult Soft Contemporary Forms (N-17)
After several years attempt, including several runner-up positions, Ashley Artese took home the adult soft style forms world title after narrowly defeating veteran Roark Hodson 49.94 to 49.93 in the Grand Finale. Her coach is Li Pei Yun who, incidentally, won the world title in 2001 at Super Grands XII in Hollywood, California. She resides in Clayton, New Jersey when not away at college. The forever enduring Hodson hails from Team Independence in Utah.

Women’s Hard Creative Forms (N-18)
There are always the upsets and unexplainable turnarounds and this year both the junior 12-14 year old girls’ and women’s creative forms saw four year consecutive veterans again win their eliminations positioning only to experience defeat in the Grand Finale. With four consecutive gold metals to her credit, Ashley Artese handily outscored all her opponents in the eliminations, but she fell victim by a single one one-hundredth to the new western sensation, Mocha Davies, in the Finale. Artese represents the newest member of Team B.O.S.S. while Davies calls Team Unison her home. First year adult, Lauren Ferguson from Team FX, took third.

Senior Hard Contemporary Forms (N-19)
Now here’s a story for you. Thirty six year old Mauricio Valenzuela who last entered the Super Grands over 10 years ago in 1995 and won traditional Kenpo and Korean forms titles, re-appears this year unseeded in senior contemporary forms and ties for second place! Then despite performance errors he’s deemed good enough in the tied run-off to top rival Ronnie Ferguson by one one-hundredth leaving Ferguson in third. He proceeded to the Grand Finale against veteran Corky Sikes who topped him by three one-hundredths in the eliminations, but falls to Valenuzela 49.95 to 49.90 in the Grand Finale. Valenzuela thus wins his first title in eleven years. Valenzuela hails from Erick Schumann’s Kenpo Karate in Guatemala while Sikes is from Georgia, USA.

Senior Women’s Hard Contemporary Forms (N-20)
After ties for the title in 2006, Dawn Kabela and Christine Fisher bumped heads again this year. But this time Fisher received the edge in the eliminations and carried it through to the Grand Finale topping the incumbent to win her first NBL world title. Kabela heads the VKA Team in Texas while Fisher hails from Rising Star Martial Arts in Ohio.

TRADITIONAL FORMS TITLES

11 & Under Japanese/Okinawan Forms (N-21)
With the last two years champion, Jacob Holguin, moving up an age bracket, this division was ready for a new gold medalist. Last year’s runner-up Sage Northcutt stepped up to the plate, but was given stiff competition by second year blackbelt Ryan Young of Canada. Performing Goju-shiho-dai, Northcutt barely got past Young in the eliminations. But he drew the nod of every judge in the Grand Finale by one one-hundredth leaving Young and his Kanku-sho rendition in second. Northcutt hails from Katy, Texas and Young from Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. Michelle Sims took third for the second year in a row.

12 to 14 Japanese/Okinawan Forms (N-22)
In a division packed with players from all the North American countries, Colbey Northcutt and Jordan Simon were again amongst the top three. But it was another player who took a lowly sixth pace in 2005 and couldn’t even make it past the wild card position in 2006 to return from his frigid arctic home to steal the show. Hailing from Sudbury, Canada (where only one road leads north and that turns into dog sled trail to Santa’s workshop), Justin Lantaigne handily topped everyone, even two one-hundredths ahead of incumbent, Colbey Northcutt. Again he took the lead in the Grand Finale winning the favor of the Judges for his first world title executing the little used form, Chataryana Kushanku. Northcutt hails from Texas and Simon from southern California.

15 to 17 Japanese/Okinawan Forms (N-23)
This division sported even a bigger contingency than the 12-14 year old division and again presented multiple players from Canada, the USA, Mexico and Guatemala. Scoring was tight as only one one-hundredth separated the top four finalists in the eliminations. Last year’s tenth place victor, Mike Spizzuco and reigning champion Sergio Calva tied for the top spot with Spizzuco winning the run-off for the Grand Finale seeding. But in the Grand Finale it was all Spizzuco as he won with a 49.95 to 49.91 score. Spizzuco trains under Juan Perez and represents Team RCU while Calva trains under Luis Perez and represents Team GOP. Juan Gonzalez, also from Mexico, won a tie breaker against Kyle Gray for third.

11 & Under Kenpo/Kajukenbo Forms (N-24)
It’s been a multi-year uphill battle, but Jamie Nakamura finally struck gold this year, not in just one, but three divisions. In 11 and under Kenpo he succumbed to reigning champion Sage Northcutt 29.94 to 29.92 in the eliminations, but in the Finale he eked by Northcutt with a one one-hundredth of a point edge. He trains under Jodi Sasaki in California and Northcutt under Willie Galvan in Texas, both instructors of whom have won the adult equivalent titles multiple times in the past. Mara Hipolito of Pinnacle Martial Arts in Utah took third.

12 to 14 Kenpo/Kajukenbo Forms (N-25)
Despite an outstanding fourteen world titles in fighting and forms, Jorge Martinez had never won a traditional forms world title. That was until this year. Colbey Northcutt trounced him in the Grand in 2006, but Martinez persevered topping Northcutt this year by a mere one one-hundredth 49.93 to 49.92 with his “long form”. Martinez in his sixth year at the Games hails from the tiny country of Guatemala and trains under Luis Morales. Northcutt with five years in NBL and countless others in the Amateur Internationals trains Kenpo with Willie Galvan in Texas. Conner Cordova of Colorado took third.

15 to 17 Kenpo/Kajukenbo Forms (N-26)
Felipe Alvarez of Guatemala came back looking better than ever in everything this year but took a backseat to Juan Gonzalez of Mexico in the Kenpo eliminations. However the Super Grands, living up to its unpredictability and occasional reversals in the Grand Finale, left Alvarez the narrow winner 49.95 to 49.93 and a three time gold medalist for 2007. He trains under Salvador Schumann and Juan Gonzalez under Luis Jimenez. Robert Lyons of Pinnacle Martial Arts in Utah took third.

11& Under Korean Forms (N-27)
Gae-baek was the form of choice for the top 11 and under Korean performers. Several of last year’s players moved up in age leaving a new regime of talent. Sage Northcutt of Texas wound up leading the eliminations while Michelle Sims of Utah tied Cole Butler of Colorado for the other qualifying position for the Grand Finale. Sims won the run-off leaving Butler in third. Despite Northcutt’s clear-cut eliminations victory, Sims nearly claimed an upset falling one one-hundredth short with a 49.93 to 49.92 Grand Finale score. Northcutt trains under Bear Loebe, Sims under Mike Tobin and Butler under Tyler Weaver.

12 to 14 Korean Forms (N-28)
Moving up from a second place victory last year in the 11 and under world title division, Gene Middleton slid past past years champion, Colbey Northcutt in the eliminations 29.95 to 29.94, leaving Jordan Simon in third with 29.90. With both players choosing Gae-baek in the Grand Finale the judges convincingly gave another victory to Middleton leaving him with one of his three victories at this year’s World Games. Middleton calls Ludowici, Georgia his home and is a member of Corky Sikes’ World Class Karate. Northcutt is from Katy, Texas and trains under Bear Loebe.

15 to 17 Korean Forms (N-29)
Last year Kyle Gray went head to head with Dipankan Bhattacharya for the eldest junior Korean title losing to him in the Grand Finale and leaving Sergio Calva of Mexico in third. This year Batthacharya failed to show, but a new challenger who had bowed out of the competition last year, rose to the occasion. Again this year Calva was left in third as Gray was challenged by a vastly improved Mike Spizzuco pulling within two one-hundredths of Gray. But Gray persevered 49.95 to 49.90 in a rare eight year comeback to win his first Korean title since 1999 when he won the 11 and under world title. This qualified Gray for the new overall Junior Grand where a 29.97 to 29.95 score over Kenpo stylist Felipe Alvarez, awarded Gray the impressive red metallic NBL belt. He trains with Ron Cain and lives in Buffalo, New York when not impressibly attending Harvard University. Spizzuco represents Team RCU and trains under Juan Alvarez in Egg Harbor Township, New Jersey.

Men’s Japanese/Okinawan Forms (N-30)
And who could have predicted the outcome of this division? The final eight included four countries with players Cody Hackman, Andrew Cabilan and Steve Kawamura of Canada; Mauricio Valenzuela and Federico Aguilar of Guatemala; Joshua Page and Corky Sikes of the USA and Marco Aguilar of Mexico. Would it be one of the past two world champions, Cody Hackman or Andrew Cabilan? - Nope! Hackman was third and Cabilan a distant fifth. Again the unseed senior player, Mauricio Valenzuela, who won titles in Kenpo and Korean over ten years ago, tied last year’s fourth place victor Steve Kawamura (yes, the Super Grands medic). Down the home stretch it would be Steve Kawamura’s performance of Unsu that won the top prize 49.95 to 49.91 and qualified him for the new overall adult traditional forms grand. In the Grand, Kawamura tied fellow Canadian and traditional weapons winner, Cody Hackman 49.97. With a show of the Judges hands Kawamura was favored and won the newly coveted red metallic NBL blackbelt.

Adult Kenpo/Kajukenbo Forms (N-31)
And as if two trips to the Grand Finale stage as an unseeded player weren’t enough, Mauricio Valenzuela made it there in Kenpo forms as well. Placing second in the daytime to Guatemalan teammate Diego Maza by one one-hundredth, he took command in the Grand Finale topping Maza 49.95 to 49.91. Both players train under Erick and Salvador Schumann respectively. David Coppock of Colorado took third.

Men’s Korean Forms (N-32)
A traditionally common occurrence for the Korean title, the contingency again had many past Korean world title holders in the mix. Mauricio Valenzuela (1995), Daniel Marshall (2000, 2003 junior). Jerico Catura 2004 and 2006 and Edgar Cordova (1998 and 2005). This year Catura and Cordova scored within one hundredth of each other with Catura given the edge. Ironically by the same one-hundredth fractions Catura again topped Cordova 94 to 93 to win his third Korean world title performing Uljiyung. Catura represents Team DDX and hails from California, Cordova is from Schumann’s Kenpo in Guatemala and in third place was Brandon Allen from Toledo, Ohio.

Adult Soft (no Wushu/Kenpo) Forms (N-33)
Roark Hodson of Utah has been competing is the Super Grands since 1997 winning his first title in that same year. He has excelled in hard creative forms and continuous sparring, but the soft divisions seem to be his speciality. He handily won the eliminations over Tyler Harris of Texas in the eliminations and again for the title in the Grand Finale. Third place was won by Jonathan Atiya, also of Utah.

Women’s Japanese/Okinawan Forms (N-34)
Reigning world champion, Daniela Barrientos, found a new challenger this year as last year’s second runner-up, Sheila Grech, topped her by one one-hundredth in the eliminations. Last year’s runner-up, Ashley Artese, dropped to third. Undeterred by her second place standing, the two-time champion Barrientos pressed on in the Grand Finale performing Nipaipo and topping Grech’s Seipai by another mere one one-hundredth for her third world title in Japanese forms. She lives in Mexico City, Mexico, Grech in Sudbury, Canada and Artese in New Jersey, USA.

Women’s Korean Forms (N-35)
Ashley Artese won this division two years in a row with her patented Gae-baek form but met her match this year. With an outstanding three ties in the competition against Ashley Davies, once in the eliminations and twice in the Grand Finale. A Judges’ show of hands was required to chose a winner. In a 4 to 3 decision Davies won her first Korean title. a title won by her instructor’s wife: Shelly Allen, back in 2001. Davies is from Victorville, California, Artese from Clayton, New Jersey and third place winner, Carrie Goldbeck, from Chapel Hill, North Carolina.

Senior Hard Traditional Forms (N-36)
And finally there was a division that Mauricio Valenzuela was actually seeded in. With his first place seed in the Latin American Conference he dominated the eliminations with his Japanese form Seienchin as well as the finals by five one-hundredths over Jose Rivera. Valenzuela resides in Guatemala City and Rivera in Pittsburgh. 2005 champion Sheila Gretch of Canada broke a tie with Johnny Watkins to win the third place position.

Senior 45+ Hard Traditional Forms (N-37)
Johnny Watkins and Jose Rivera challenged each other for the super senior division and unlike the results of the 35 and over division, Watkins won the eliminations. The Grand Finale was looking to be a fine match-up, however a medical bow-out was called as a fractured shoulder prevented Rivera from finishing his Kanku-sho form. Watkins performed Goju-shiho-dai. Ronnie Ferguson of Xtreme Martial Arts in Virginia took third.

TEAM FORMS TITLES

Open Team Forms (N-38)
This year’s team competition didn’t quite have as many ties as last year. But with the same exact teams and performances in the top two spots as last year and with a tie in the Grand Finale, it was no less exciting. To recap, Ashley Artese and Dan Marshall competed unseeded last year and tied the team of Corky Sikes and Edgar Cordova in the eliminations and tied again in the Grand Finale, winning both run-offs. This year they placed second in the eliminations, tied in the Grand Finale and eked by winning the Finale run-off a second time. Both teams sport diametrically opposed techniques, music and concepts, but both brought the house down each time they performed. So what will next year bring? Andres Garcia of Schumann’s Martial Arts in Guatemala took third.