9 & Under Point Sparring (N-63)
Daniel Esparza under the tutelage of Marco Polo Laguna of San Luis Potosi, Mexico took out both eventual finalists Bobby Seronio and Gabriel Rojas, but took a loose from both as well to leave him as second runner-up in his rookie year in NBL. Seronio and Rojas, both with their loss a piece, entered the Finale to face each other for one final “do or die” match. Both San Francisco Bay Area players know each other well coming from well known coaches Bobby Seronio Sr. and Sean Dumlao. In a 6 to 3 Grand Finale match, Seronio won his first NBL world title as a young nine year old.

10 to 11 Point Sparring (N-64)
Like the 9 and under and 12-13 year old divisions, both finalists players had losses going into the their Grand Finales. What makes things even more interesting is when the two final contenders have lost to other finalists. Emulating the 9 and under division third place Tony Calvery of Team Proper wiped out both the Finale players once but also took a loss from each of them to leave himself in third place. Going to stage was Schumann International team member, Sage Northcutt and Ocean’s Eleven team member, Jaime Nakamura. In what was the highest scoring point sparring match of the Grand Finale these two refused to give in, scoring a total of 19 penalty points between them. In a see-saw tense match as the buzzer rang the score was tied nine all. In overtime the smaller Northcutt managed the first point to give him his first point sparring title since his initial win in 9 and under in 2006.

12 to 13 Point Sparring (N-65)
In true Trevor Nash form, one of his proteges, Nathan Koufis of Canada entered unseeded. But after eight wins he only wound up fifth. Heartbreaking is knowing that one of the two remaining players in the Grand Finale that would be going into overtime tied 8 to 8, will loose. Mexican rookie Ulises Arellano and last year’s second runner-up, James Gilbeaux of California, were in just that position. Arellano already had one eliminations loss to Gilbeaux while Gilbeaux had a loss to sixth place, Sidney Hall. With all of Mexico vs Texas in the audience, Ulises Arellano, representing Team Red Bull, took that first point adding to the Mexican’s delegation total of seven world title wins this year. He is taught by Miguel Galindo. Gilbeaux is from Team Tiger Claw and trains at Seronio Kajukenbo.

14 to 15 Point Sparring (N-66)
NBL junior point sparring is anything but easy. Just ask Jon-Paul Corpuz of California. After six wins he still only placed 17th. Winning an NBL junior sparring title is the most prestigious award a young fighter can dream of achieving. Packed divisions and very international competition. Three different countries battled to achieve the top three positions here. Representing the well achieved Alchemy Team, Daniel del Valle of El Paso, Texas remained unscathed in the eliminations as he faced Mexican Miguel Soto who already had a loss to del Valle. Back in 2004 Soto was the first Mexican to ever win a junior sparring NBL world title and considered one of the best fighters in the world. However he met his match with this Alchemy rookie. By a 6 to 3 score. Del Valle won the title putting another feather in coach Laco Villanueva’s cap. Last year’s 12-13 year old runner-up, Juan Pablo Santiago of Guatemala, took third.

16 to 17 Point Sparring (N-67)
In California the name Albini has been synonymous with point fighting victory for some time. Certainly after this year the name Albini will be far from a regional phenomenon. After the world title win in the 14-15 year old division last year, seventeen year old Jason Albini was at the bottom of the heap in age in the older division this year. But even with less than desirable second place regional seeding, he won seven matches taking one loss to James Davidson of Texas. Davidson remained unbeaten as he faced Albini on the Grand Finale stage for the title. Little could match the excitement of this young adult match-up. If anyone ever had nine lives it was Albini who came from behind several times to win the first match on stage by a 7 to 6 score and force a second and final match. In another equally exciting match he pulled off another one point victory 9 to 8 to win a point sparring title for a second year in a row. Albini is trained by Sean Dumlao and Davidson by D.E. Chambers. Sergio Calva of Mexico took third place.

Girls’ 11 to 12 Point Sparring (N-68)
When it comes to fighting if you’re wearing a Dumlao’s emblem you’re going to be noticed. Sean Dumlao’s school of fighters is unrivaled for the amount of NBL fighting champions in California. Marissa Rojas was just another fine example of a Dumlao product winning six straight matches in eliminations play before heading for the final step on the Finale stage. Giving Sarah Johnson of North Carolina her only loss the pair meet again for the title where Rojas more than doubled her opponent’s score 13 to 6 to win her first NBL world title after taking the runner-up position last year. Johnson trains under Jeremy Sears. Third place went to Alurea Stevens of Suisun, California.

Girls’ 13 to 14 Point Sparring (N-69)
Last year’s 11-12 year old world champion, Ashlee Grant moved up this year facing a much larger group of players and was left in third place. But that wasn’t before letting the divisional champions know that she had arrived beating each one of the finalists before taking a loss by each of them. Left for the final fight was the iconic Colbey Northcutt of Katy, Texas representing Team Schumann and Stephani Rosales representing Team Alchemy. Northcutt has one of the all time records to date having won a point fighting title the last three years in a row and she was not to give up the fourth. By a 10 to 3 score she won the title giving her four years victory in a row tying her with Mark Keeton and Jack Felton as the only players to win four junior point sparring titles in a row.

Girls’ 15 to 17 Point Sparring (N-70)
After a two year win in 2005 and 2006 then and narrow loss last year, Marissa Mayer was back for her final year as a junior point fighter. She again managed a perfect eliminations record as she achieved last year but unlike her foul up last year losing two straight in the Grand Finale, this year she trounced her opponent in a single Finale match 8 to 1. Her opponent Tracey Farnes had already taken one loss to Mayer in the eliminations. She hails from Colorado and trains under Mark Baier. Mayer is from Rhode Island and represents Joe Greenhalgh’s Team Straight-up. Joslynn Espinoza of California took third.

Men’s Fly Point Sparring (N-71)
Chris Jensen’s Golden State TKD has been most recently known in the NBL for producing great traditional forms players, but they have many players that excel in fighting as well. In NBL history certainly Brian Schwartz is the most well known having won six continuous sparring titles in NBL throughout the 1990’s and into 2000. Mick Jower of Golden State ran through the eliminations giving Michael Holstien of Chip Wright’s Champion Karate in Oregon his only loss. The pair met again for the title on stage where Jower superseded Holstien 10 to 3 to win his first world title.

Men’s Feather Point Sparring (N-72)
Kyle Richards was looking for a every other year victory in this division having won it in 2004 and 2006 and he was well on his way having qualified for the Grand Finale stage with a single loss to Sean Arceo, the other finalist. Sean Arceo, representing Team Proper, had a clean slate and was looking for his first NBL title. By a 6 to 4 score Arceo keep Richards from his “every other” record starting a winning record of his own. Both players come from Northern California. Miguel Rodriguez from Liceo Shudokan in Mexico took third.

Men’s Light Point Sparring (N-73)
After ending Shane Baker’s three year reign in this division last year, Willie Hicks was looking to start his own record of two in a row this year. Last year he overcame an eliminations loss with a one point victory over Andres Garcia of Guatemala to win the title. Garcia was back this year, however he already had one loss to Hicks in the eliminations while Hicks retained a clear slate. In Finale 2 the pair met for the final showdown where Hicks topped Garcia 7 to 4 to win the title again and send him into the Overall Grand in the Super Show. Hicks represented Bay Area’s Best while Garcia was from Team Schumann International. Richard Mendez of California was third.

Men’s Light Middle Point Sparring (N-74)
Jason Holmes has a nice string of victories in this division having won it the last two years and four years total. The division was packed with talent this year, including former point champion Justus Lawrence who had hopes for a comeback since his 2005 victory in a heavier weight division. Lawrence took out most of the division with his wildcard seed winning an incredible 13 matches and eliminating other powerhouses such as Sean Dumlao. But the first place national seeds, Jason Holmes and last year’s sixth place champion, Jose Jorge Santiago, sat at the top and as Lawrence finally took a second loss to third place Joshua Pittman. Going to stage Santiago had one loss to Lawrence and needed the first match win against Jason Holmes to force a second match. However a 7 to 4 score in favor of Holmes left Santiago with a loss and left Holmes with his third title in a row in this division. Holmes is from Texas representing Cecil Peoples’ Karate and Santiago from Guatemala representing Salvador Schumann.

Men’s Middle Point Sparring (N-75)
Sean Dumlao may not have been able to acquire his own title this year, but he certainly can take pride in his team’s accomplishments. Barely 18, Jamal Albini of Dumlao’s school and of Team Proper kept a perfect eliminations scoring record intact giving last year’s champion, Matt Okada, his only loss. Try as he may, Okada could not top Albini in the Grand leaving a 6 to 4 victory to Albini and his first NBL title. Okada trains under Raymond Daniels and represents Team DDX. Deandee Walker of the BITW team in Oakland, California took third.

Men’s Light Heavy Point Sparring (N-76)
With last year’s champion, Wade Taylor, moving up a weight class, runner-up, Daniel Marshall felt he had free range. And indeed that proved just the case. Giving Ortice Harper his only eliminations loss, the pair of light heavy weights headed for the Grand Finale title fight. Marshall got the best of Harper 7 to 1 to win back the title he owned in 2004 and 2005 prior to Taylor’s take over. He represented United Karate and trains sparring under Jeremy Elliott and Trevor Nash. Harper is from Team No Limit and lives in Oregon. Bryan Young of Team GOP was third.

Men’s Heavy Point Sparring (N-77)
Moving up in weight after competing the season in the lower weight wiped out Wade Taylor’s seed forcing him to enter as a wildcard. He whizzed through eight matches before hitting brick walls with the eventual two finalists, Michael Jefferson and Jonathan Garcia, leaving him in third place. Jefferson already had a loss to Garcia and Garcia a loss to Taylor so a single match in the Finale would determine the world champ. Garcia who represents Luis Jimenez’ Zen Martial Arts, was looking for his first adult title having won the 2006 16 to 17 year old point sparring division while Jefferson has never accomplished an NBL point sparring title. In a very close final match Jefferson won the world title 6 to 5.

Men’s Super Heavy Point Sparring (N-78)
Several of this years runner-ups seemed to be either unseeded or with low seeded positions. Such was the case of Ahmad Rice of California who after 7 victories lost two matches to the finalists to leave him in third place. Two NBL veterans, Charlie Davidson of Texas and Francisco Veyro of Mexico, were left for the title. Veyro already had one loss to Rice leaving him in the underdog position. With this advantage and ensuing win of 8 to 4, Davidson grasp his first NBL world title. He trains under D. E. Chambers and Veyro under Sergio Cabrales.

Women’s Fly Point Sparring (N-79)
Mercy Tom wild-carded her entire entrance which usually spells a lot of matches in order to place. But being women’s flyweight the attendance was small and she managed only one eliminations loss qualifying her for the Finale against Camille DeLoach who had a four win clean slate. DeLoach is one of these people you can’t help but admire. To give you an idea of her roots in NBL, her son won an NBL title in 1994. Her last entrance was exactly 10 year ago when she won a whopping 4 titles in 1998. Back trying to accomplish one of the longest absences with a comeback, it appeared that as the top seed she would do exactly that. But fate was not with her this year as she dropped two matches by single points the second of which was in overtime to Tom. Tom is from Resto, Virginia and DeLoach from Delta, Utah. Dawn Kabela of Houston, Texas was third.

Women’s Feather Point Sparring (N-80)
Canada’s Chelsey Nash has a long history in the NBL. She now has eight NBL world titles, her first two scored in 2003 after years of wins in the Amateurs. She had no losses in the eliminations finding her Finale match to be against Ireland’s Joanne Coady. Nash’s superiority shown brightly as he took her division 10 to 0 to win her first adult title. She trains under her brother Trevor Nash and is a members of Team Straight-up. Coady is a student of Mags Heffernan’s Black Dragon. Jessica Varma of California was third.

Women’s Light Point Sparring (N-81)
In the last couple of years most of the same women have won their same divisions, but this year demonstrated a larger turn over. Tracey Martinez had been a faithful NBL player for many years, following in her brother’s footsteps who won a point sparring title in 2005. She won continuous last year and this year qualified against Mocha Davies for the point sparring title. Martinez won the first match in the Finale 7 to 5, needing one more win to to secure the title. But Davies also looking for her first point sparring title thought otherwise. With a 5 to 5 tie an overtime produced an exciting ending where Martinez finally came through with the point for the win. She trains with Thomas Bowman and is a member of Team International. Davies is trained by Brandon Hastings. Both live in Southern California.

Women’s Middle Point Sparring (N-82)
Wild-carding in larger divisions is suicidal, just ask Jacolyn Holmes. But she managed eight consecutive wins before only one loss still qualifying her for the Grand Finale stage. Losing to Kris Pilgrim in the eliminations she would have to overcome her twice in the Finale to win the title. But this wasn’t meant to be as the senior Pilgrim scored 7 to Holmes’ 2 to take the title, Pilgrims, who threatens retirement every year, trains with Mark Baier in Arvada, Colorado. Holmes is a product of Cecil Peoples in Southern California. Maria Schumann of Guatemala was third.

Senior Light Point Sparring (N-83)
Junior Salientes won both the WestPac and CanAm National Conferences to lead him to the preferred position for the senior light weight title. Soundly beating Sean Scheper in the eliminations the pair were destined to meet again for the world title on the Grand Finale stage. Representing Team Proper, Salientes won the title with one match 10 to 4. He claims Taylor’s House of Karate as home and Scheper comes from the BITW School. Both are from the California Bay Area.

Senior Middle Point Sparring (N-84)
Paul Mendoza pulled off the win in this division last year, but this year after three match-ups with Luis Jimenez in the eliminations he scored only one of the three matches leaving him to rest at third place. Jimenez was left against first place seeded Darren Cox who at 35 years old has a long history of competing in the NBL since being a junior. Try as he may Cox could not get past Jimenez height factor dropping two consecutive matches and leaving Jimenez to take his fifth world title, his first being taken back in 1997. Cox is from All-star Karate in Salt Lake City and Jimenez, representing his Zen Martial Arts, originally hailed from Mexico City, Mexico.

Senior Heavy Point Sparring (N-85)
Jose Pacheco won this division last year after an 11 year hiatus since winning three fighting titles back during Super Grands inception year’s in the early 1990’s. If I recall correctly he had hair back then. Representing Ocean’s 11 again this year he was back and taking on the 2006 champion, Van Frazier. After leaving Hernando Hidalgo of Shikara in Mexico in third, Pacheco and Frazier met in Grand Finale 2 for the title with Frazier the underdog with one loss already to Hidalgo. Pacheco won the first match 6 to 3 elevating himself to two wins in this century to three in the past. Pacheco resides in Southern California while Frazier trains with Clayon Ferguson’s Chuck Norris School in Gahanna, Ohio.

Senior Super Heavy Point Sparring (N-86)
The Super Grands hadn’t seen Damon Gilbert since 2006 when he ended his string of NBL world title victories since 1993. This marked a noticeable comeback by Gilbert who first coached the Bay Area’s Best men’s team to victory early in the Games before winning all his eliminations senior matches to seed him against Colorado’s David Coppock in the Grand Finale. Coppock, who sports nearly a ten year age advancement on Gilbert was up for two sparring titles in Grand Finale 2, both against BITW players. Perhaps knowing what lay ahead of him in the 45+ division later, he succumbed 10 to 1 leaving the younger division title to Gilbert. Third place was won by Jeff Blake of North Carolina.

Senior Women’s All Weights Point Sparring (N-87)
What used to be a fledgling division when introduced in 2001 has become a mainstay for women fighters now. The division has only had four different victors since 2001, one of which is Kris Pilgrim of Colorado who won the division in 2005 and again last year. Losing one eliminations match to fifth placed Camille DeLoach she was destined for the stage once more along with NBL rookie Eartha Carroll of Oakland, California. Sporting a loss a piece Pilgrim scored 6 to Carroll’s 2 given her an unprecedented three time title win in this division. She trains with Mark Baier and Carroll with Ernest Frohm.

Senior Men’s 45+ Light Point Sparring (N-88)
Since its inception in 2001, this division has only been won by two individuals; Larry Tankson five times and Joey Shiflett twice. Without either of them in attendance this year we were destined for a new champ. First timer, DJ Jones, along with Sinclair Savage, both of California stepped up to the plate with Savage having one loss to Jones in the eliminations. The scoring in the Finale was tight but in the end Jones pulled out a 4 to 3 victory for his first NBL world title. He trains under legendary Al Dacascos and Savage under Doug Jones. Rick Cropper of Washington was third.

Senior Men’s 45+ Heavy Point Sparring (N-89)
This division was packed with NBL well knowns including Mark Lawrence, Shannon Apple, Chris Jennings, Mark Hicks, Leo Hoeft, Tyrone Ward and David Coppock, but was obviously void of Bill Hunter who has claimed retirement after having won three out of the last four years.
David Coppock looking for his first win after several years determination won all his eliminations matches and was pitted against BITW veteran Tyrone Ward who already had one loss to third place Leo Hoeft. But Coppock first title was not to happen easily. In his first match he went into overtime against the formidable Ward losing 3 to 2. With one life left things looked bleak as he trailed, but then managed to tie it up before the buzzer rang. With another tied score Coppock scrambled to salvage his second appearance of the evening on stage where he did finally score the overtime point giving him an elated victory. He hails from Colorado and Ward from California.