During Friday night competition, Mackensi Emory and Jordan Simon shut out all of their opponents in their respective junior creative and open musical weapons divisions. Jayr Deguzman gave the veterans a run for their money as he entered the adult division. Andrew “Ol' School” Cabilan tested himself to see if he was young enough to win the adult creative forms division. But it was his teammate Josh “Giraffe” Durbin, who won the division by a really long neck. Durbin also collected the adult choreographed musical, creative forms and weapons competition win. Jerico Catura didn't claim a shut out for the night as he won the open musical forms division. Vancouver, Canada's Team Hayashi-Ryu beat out Team Golden State in the team forms competition.

In the junior traditional weapons competition, Jordan Simon once again tied with San Francisco's Kalyn Selor for the 2nd year in a row, but Simon slipped through with a victory in the tied point calculation. Kenny Lim surprised his competitors by coming back from a short lived retirement to compete in the adult traditional weapons division. Scott Wu's bo and Andrew Cabilan's oar performances tied for first in the division and they had to perform again. This time Cabilan tried to capitalize with a different weapon but it wasn't enough to beat Wu's consistent bo routine. Roark Hodson was nowhere in sight but Rodney Carreon showed and slid through with victories for both soft style forms and weapons.

The youth continuous fighting was quite exciting. There were two teams from El Paso, Texas that had some memorable fighting moments. Team Alchemy and Team Fresh were in the house fighting hard. Alexis Bricker (Team Fresh) put up a great fight in her division as she took down her own teammate with force. When it came to battling out for 1st , she transitioned into a more point sparring fashion but lost by one point to Chance Maxwell (Alchemy).

Team fighting of all ages was also impressive this weekend. Pallen's team narrowly defeated Team Golden State in girls' team sparring. Meile Keck went on a scoring spree in the last fight to bring Team Golden State within two points, but it was not enough to defeat Pallen's girls. In the finals, Pallen took the lead over Team Schumann after the first fight, but Anastasia Hiram and Maile Mendiola could not keep the lead against Team Schumann's girls, Ashley Grant and Colbey Northcutt who went on to win the division 20 to 7.

The men's teams were also in the house on Friday night! It was a bloody battle with three busted noses and a set of cracked ribs amongst the 7 teams. Victory took on Team Proper 2 for the first match - a little east coast versus west coast experience. El Java Abdul Qadir gave Moe Lama a bloody nose to get a bow as Victory took the first win with a 23 to 10 overall team score.

Bay Areas Best and Team FMA brought the intensity up a notch with Willie Hicks and Joshua Pitman having one of the best fights of the weekend. They floated about the ring rhythmically, their similar style kept the fight close, exchanging points evenly until the very end with Hicks ahead by one. Jack Felton kept his team's lead with a 9-5 win over Joshua May, and Ryan Gonzalez finished the match, winning 8 to 6 over Michael Jefferson, who started their fight with a fierce kick to Gonzalez' head.

Other matches included Team Proper I defeating CRS, Victory's second win over a new comer, the Tranght/Heffernan team, and Bay Areas Best over Team Proper I. Victory and Bay Areas Best ended up on stage for the finals and Proper 2 ended up in third place.

The adult continuous sparring was a bit light in competitors this year. Jodi Schaubschlager debuted as a black belt in the NBL and took away a win in the women's division defeating Tara Kermanijad by only 1 point.

Saturday morning started out with junior choreographed and traditional forms. The 15-17 Japanese/Okinawan division was huge. Jordan Simon ended up the winner of it all. The 12-14 division was also fairly tough. Thien Nguyen executed his way to a win with his version of Unsu. The compact, cute and dangerous Adryanne Angat pulled a solid performance in the 11 and under Japanese/Okinawan division which earned her a place on stage against Simon and Nguyen.

In the Korean division Colbey Northcutt used her lengthy legs to kick herself to a win. In the junior choreographed musical forms division, Jordan Simon showed that he is expanding his horizons beyond the bo with a win in the 15-17 division. Peter Timmes pulled out an upset victory over Jamie Nakamura in the 12-14 choreographed musical division. In the 11 and under girl's choreographed musical division, Mackensi Emory and Karina Hipolito continued their rivalry as they both tied on the first round. But Emory flipped her way through the divisional win.

The adult traditional forms division was quite small this year but the competition was still tight. Did you know that Andrew Cabilan knows a kenpo routine too?! He did quite well for the first time in the division but Scott Wu slid through by .01 victory over him. Wu and Cabilan weren't done yet as they had to duke it out again for the 3rd time of the weekend in the men’s Japanese/Okinawan division. This time they had some competition with entries by Todd Dunphy, Armando Anselmo and Kenny Lim. Once again, Wu blasted through the competition with a clean win. Wu was done for the day, but Cabilan wasn't. He had to make his mark in the Korean division. On the other hand, Jerico Catura was putting pressure on himself to get on stage. The little guys battled hard. In the end, the judges decided to give the divisional win to the intense Cabilan. Now, he has to figure out a way to lengthen those legs before the night show to earn back to back victory for the adult traditional forms grands. Could he do it?!

Jack is BACK! It's been a while since we've seen Jack Felton competing in point fighting, and he made a splash at Golden Gates during the Saturday eliminations. He surfed his way through still waters against Sean Dumlao, winning 10 to 4. Joshua Pitman made some waves, beating Julio Castro in overtime but Felton was able to hang tight and defeat Pitman 6 to 4. Willie Hicks was all that was left between Felton and the stage. The fight consisted of even exchanges between the superb fighters but Felton sealed the deal with an overtime 2 point kick to the head.

In the men's superheavy division, we braced ourselves to prevent anyone from falling on us and killing us during competition. Gerald Dawson made the trip - first to see his friend Damon Gilbert, but also to try his hand at fighting the the northern California fighters. Dawson was on point as he took out Trevyn Jenkins in the first round. Brandon Bertsch gave him more trouble and it took a point in overtime for Dawson to advance. The final fight against Ahmad Rice was where Dawson was stopped as Rice took a 7-5 win to move on to face Wade Taylor to determine who would go to stage. Taylor's nice backfist helped propel him to the stage after a 7-3 win over Rice.

Saturday Night Show
The night show started out with a huge demonstration by James Solis' Soulistic team. Surprisingly, James Solis came back from retirement to perform some tricks. Right after came in Team Loopkicks with their intense tricking sequence by Sesshoumaru as he double legged over JayR Deguzman's head while standing. There were also appearances by many students from Pallen's martial arts as the demo highlighted many of the competitors from different levels at the event.

Mackensi Emory started off the junior choreographed musical forms grands. Emory was full of energy even though she was suffering from bronchitis. She had a slip on her full twist flash kick towards the end of her form but still managed to finish strong. Jordan Simon decided to expand his horizons as he demonstrated some clean hand and tricking techniques but was penalized for not having any choreography in his form. Peter “Cookie Cutter” Timmes was the last competitor of the division. He threw in some great lines in his form and surprisingly managed to keep his hair perfectly groomed. It was Emory who slipped through the competition to take the win.

Josh Durbin, Rodney Carreon and Nancy Alcantar were up for the adult contemporary forms title. Each competitor performed well on stage. But in the end, it all came down to a dramatic tie between Josh Durbin and himself. He bowed out to himself and took the obvious win but then fought with himself over who would take the trophy home.

There was a demonstration by Grandmaster Max Pallen Sr. and his group. They demonstrated a knife defense followed by a stick fighting section. He threw in a twist at the end by pulling out a humongous whip to pop a balloon. The SportMartialArts.com reporter sitting ringside scooted way back to avoid a whip to the head!

As always, junior fighters got a chance on stage with some select continuous and point sparring final matches. In the first continuous match, Dominic Rubalcaba of Team Alchemy went up against Inteus Lopez in the superfly division. The highlight of the fight was when Rubalcaba nailed Lopez with a sweet cartwheel kick in the first round. Rubalcaba was the winner. The next match had two El Paso Texans going head to head as Dallas Stockdale beat Bernadette Escalada. The next two matches were Bay Area versus El Paso as Team Alchemy's coach Laco Villanueva just stayed on stage coaching all the way through. Omar Alcantar (El Paso) defeated Armando Lopez (San Jose). Mario Schuchart (Pinole) beat Curtis McNeil (El Paso). That match was an energetic fight with a lopsided score. The final continuous fight was Leon Jefferson against Jonathan Chavez. Jefferson seemed to take advantage of the ring space which led to his victory by a long shot.

Men's team sparring stood out at the night show. The traditional Bay Areas Best team went up against Team Victory. Willie Hicks was first up against Victory's Troy Binns. Hicks didn't have a problem during the match as he scored 6 points on Binns for the first round. Next was Jack Felton against Greg James. Felton gave Bay Areas Best a solid 9 point lead after the match. This allowed Ryan Gonzalez some comfort while fighting El Java Abdul Qadir. Qadir felt the pressure to rush in but that's never a good strategy against the strong techniques of Gonzalez. Bay Area's Best walked away with a massive 22 – 6 final score.

The junior choreographed musical weapons grand championship had Karina Hipolito, Mackensi Emory, and Jordan Simon coming to the stage. Simon was first up to perform his bo. He had to redeem himself from his first loss in the choreographed musical grand championship. His routine set the bar for the other competitors. Next, Emory performed her usual kama routine but with some risky thumb spins and tricks. Hipolito dropped her fan but still continued her form. It was Emory's night with a second grand championship win.
Adult contemporary weapons was no different from the adult contemporary forms grand championship. Josh Durbin went up with back to back routines with his choreographed musical and creative weapons routines. Rodney Carreon performed his soft style broadsword as the final performance. This time, Durbin didn't tie with himself but still went home with his second grand championship title of the night.

The girl's 15-17 point sparring final was intense. Joslynn Espinoza faced off against Colbey Northcutt. Espinoza was getting the point for over the top blitzes while Northcutt's sidekicks were ignored during the first part of the match. After consultation with coach Laco Villanueva, Northcutt changed her game to see more success and tied the match up at the end with a 4-4 score. In overtime, Northcutt scored with a defensive sidekick to win the match.

The boy's point sparring matches were full of energy and the crowd was super pumped.. But why?! It's because the promoter Jordan Pallen's son came to the stage. Jordan Pallen Jr. faced Tony Calvery of Team Proper. Pallen was ahead by one point as the clock ticked down and then managed to seal the deal with a two-point head kick with four seconds left in the match. And with that, Pallen walked off with the boy's 12-13 point sparring title. The boy's 16-17 final match was up right after with Leon Jefferson against Daniel Del Valle. It was a ping pong match with points going back and forth throughout the match. The two tied with the score of 5 to 5 at the buzzer. Del Valle scored the last point from overtime to claim his title.

The senior men's point sparring grand championship pitted veteran's Junior Salientes and Sylvester Youngblood. Both gave it their all but it was Salientes with his quick techniques gave him the win with a 5-2 score.

In the kids traditional forms grand championships, there were three winners. Jose Bettencourt was the winner for the Junior Kenpo/Kajukenbo title with his smooth transitions and strong techniques. The junior Japanese forms grand championship had some familiar names on stage. Adryanne Angat was the first performer on stage. She stuck out her techniques and jumps that created the bar for the other two boy competitors. Jordan Simon delivered a strong Unsu that put pressure to Thien Nguyen. Nguyen showcased his own version of Unsu. In the end, Nguyen came out with win by barely defeating Angat. The tall Colbey Northcutt took the Junior Korean Forms title against the tiny Karina Hipolito.

The adult traditional forms and weapons grand championship was smaller this year than the previous years of Golden Gate Internationals' history because a couple of the competitors who won multiple divisions decided not to perform every routine. Wu had to perform back to back routines starting off with his Japanese form then changed into his black uniform for his kajukenbo routine. Wu slipped at the beginning of his kajukenbo form but still continued. Next was Nicole Bentley's Japanese form. Her routine was clean and she shook off any nerves she may have felt from her first time on stage. Last was last year's grand champion winner, Andrew Cabilan. This time, he performed his Korean routine. In the end, Wu was judged the winner with his Japanese routine.

The men's point sparring grand championship semi-finals was the battle between four California fighters. The first match started out with Jack Felton against Sean Arceo. Felton's ring experience overshadowed Arceo's quickness and led to Felton ending with a 6-1 win in the match. Jamal Albini was hunting for blood as he defeated Wade Taylor 5-3 in the next round.

The women's point sparring grand championship had some interesting moments. Marielle Elliott went up against Natalie Aquino. At the beginning of the match, Aquino scored some surprising reverse punches on Elliott including a two point hook kick head shot. After the first minute, Elliott and Aquino were tied 4-4, but Elliott started controlling the match by delivering some axe kick head shots on Aquino. Aquino tried to pick herself back up but it wasn't enough to defeat Elliott. Elliott was the winner of the match with a final score of 10-6.

The men's point sparring grand championship finals was a match between Jamal Albini versus Jack Felton. Felton scored the first four points on Albini and it looked like he would breeze through the fight. Albini then started to use his size and figured out his distancing with Felton and was able to come back from the deficit to tie the match 6-6. Felton wasn't going to let the match end with an overtime as he delivered a blitz on Albini at the buzzer. The final match score was 7-6 in favor of Felton as Felton took the first grand championship of the year.

With that, the Golden Gate Internationals black belt competition was concluded. Underbelt competition was still on the agenda for Sunday morning and afternoon. With the addition of grappling, IKF kickboxing and a few other new divisions, the Golden Gate Internationals provided lots of entertainment for all competitors and spectators.