5:00 PM sharp, the forms began on Friday. One of the favorites in the forms and weapons divisions was Josh Durbin who flawlessly executed all of his forms. I also saw great performances from little Sage Northcutt and big Brandon Bertsch and I was drawn to team fighting. My favorite part of NBL events is the fighting because it is so intense.

Friday's teams consisted of Ocean's 11, No Limit, GOP, and Kick Start. The first match was between Jerry Ryan of Ocean's 11 and Kyle Richards of No Limit. Kyle Richard's speed was just too much for Ryan and he ended the match with a score of 8-2 for No Limit. Manny Garcia of Ocean's 11 was up next against Julio Castro. Garcia barely took the win 5-4 which didn't help Ocean's 11 much. Last was Justus Lawrence against No Limit's Ortice Harper. Lawrence's daring maneuvers gave him the win with a 12-4 score bringing Ocean's 11 back from the brink and giving the team a 19-16 win. The second match up began with our own Jamie Cravens representing GOP against Jason Holmes of Kick Start. Holmes won the match 6-4 and we were prepared to give the camera back to Cravens and tell him to get to work. However, Brian Young came through for GOP as he beat Eric James 9-6 to give GOP a slight lead. As things were looking up for GOP, Brandon Bertsch stepped in confidently and beat Derrick Stinson 4-1, giving GOP a final winning score of 17-13. Here's the real climax of the event: Kick Start lost to No Limit in a riveting rock-paper-scissors match for 3rd and 4th place.

The various forms divisions caught my eye during Saturday eliminations. Colbey Northcutt took first place in her Korean forms division while younger brother Sage Northcutt continued to impress with fluid and high tricks in his musical form. With his corkscrew after his introduction, he really performs on a high note. Josh Durbin, again won all of his Saturday forms divisions making him the top men's competitor of the event.

The night time finals began with Zachary Gaona's Allstar Karate demonstration. This dramatic opening was followed with a forms grand championship. Cameron Okubo was on stage first for the junior hard musical grand championship competition. All though he hit his tricks, Karina Hipolito gave him a run for his money by showing her strength in flexibility and that she can hang as a trickster by throwing a standing flash kick. Jordan Okubo stepped up to their level as well with a dynamic X-out to start off his form. Though the scores were close, Cameron Okubo was chosen for the win.

Josh Durbin didn't use music for his first form in the adult contemporary forms division. The most noticeable part to his form was that his pop front kick got much higher. One thing to know about Durbin is that even when his form is done, he will still yell just as loudly when he cheers for his fellow competitors showing his true good sportsmanship spirit. Austin Jorgenson was up next with a Wu Shu form. Ashley Artese showed off her flexibility with many high kicks. She held her leg straight-up in the air and fell into a split while smiling at the judges (as if that really feels good or something - ouch!). The judges gave Durbin two tens for his musical form. The crowd really got into it as he walked in to the music “jump around,” bobbling his head on his giraffe-like neck. He then showed he can hold the thing straight as he ran back for an astonishing Jesus Flip. Durbin took the win.

Daniel Del Valle was up against Skyler Bright in the boys 165+ lb continuous sparring match. What at first looked like laps around the ring, turned into an actual match. Skyler Bright wasn't really riding the balance train that match as he fell to the floor numerous times, Del Valle didn't have to do anything for a few of the crashes. Del Valle won both rounds with a final score of 62-44. Next up was the girls continuous 99-121 lbs with Alexia Sonnenfeld against Anna Eden. I at first thought I knew how this was going to run, for it was Eden's first time at a tournament. But Sonnenfeld was not able to pull herself together. She kicked the air and fell over and then, she was kicked off the stage onto the judges' table. Eden showed some major beginner's adrenaline as she beat Sonnenfeld 88-66.

For the girl's continuous 143+ lb division, it was Jessica Taylor against Meghan Hamilton. Taylor was throwing quick back fists with her front hand, we are not real sure what she was doing with her back hand, but she did manage to score some points with it. In the end, Taylor won the match due to a blood disqualification - very strategic. It was Damien Fullmer against Dallas Stockdale in the junior continuous 77- lb division. During the fight, the DJ began to play “Crank That” by Soulja Boi, as if the song would wind up the fighters. Stockdale was kicked to the ground many times by Fullmer. I was thinking I should feel bad for her, until I saw just how resilient the child was. She fought her way through vigorously and in the end, she was only five points shy of Fullmer, who only took the win 68-63.

Samantha Nelson was warned for punching Drew Beatty in the head too hard during the junior continuous 88- lb match-up. It turned into a really close fight with Beatty taking the win with a score of 102 to 101. Sage Northcutt dominated the boys continuous 121- lb match against Zak Rose with a final score of 106-64.

Team GOP faced Ocean's 11 in the men's team sparring finals. Jamie Cravens beat Jerry Ryan 6-4 in the first round and this was crucial in this match up. Manny Garcia's speed pulled through for Ocean's 11 when he beat Bryan Young 8-7 leaving GOP up by one point going into the final round. Up next was the long limbs of Brandon Bertsch against the daring and dynamic moves of Justus Lawrence. It was a great match up, but resolved in a tie score meaning GOP won with a final score of 17-16 and all the cash!

Flyweight Troy Whaley was able to take the win and withstand super heavyweight David Coppock's thundering power in the senior men's sparring grands. The kids were next as Sage Northcutt bowed out of the junior musical weapons grand championship and left Nick Cain to face Jordan Okubo. Nick nailed his form as he executed a passing of the bo under the legs, and some shoulder-neck roll moves really well. Jordan Okubo was just not quite able to touch Cain as he spun his kamas in the air and threw explosive tricks.

There were three competitors in the adult contemporary weapons division. Josh Durbin went up first and nailed his form again. Anya Greenhall performed a complex nunchaku form as she threw it from her toes into her hands. Next was a drunken style bo form, and no this was not Durbin taking the stage for his second form, it was Austin Jorgenson with another Wu Shu form. He performed a strong routine and executed great balance when he landed his tricks, so the judges gave it to him.

Thien Nyguyen took the win over Colbey Northcutt and Trevor Kim in the junior Japanese forms championships. In the adult hard traditional forms and weapons competition, Ashley Artese kicked it off with many high kicks in her form. Dan Marshall did a nice job with his solid Korean form. Marshall stuck all of his high side kicks well and demonstrated very clean and fast hands. No one, even Justus Lawrence or Wayne Nguyen were able to beat Brandon Bertsch's weapons performance. Bertsch's intense bo routine gave him a second win for the evening. Then Colbey Northcutt was back to defeat Karina Hipolito in the junior Korean forms division.

In the women's point sparring grands, Brenda Flanders was injured during the match so Tracey Farnes won by default, the first of a couple of strange fight results during the finals. There was a some staged fighting going on that I have never seen before in the semi-finals of the men's point sparring grands. Kyle Richards and Jason Holmes decided to be each other's coaches and purposely end the match in a tie. One would think that this would be ever so boring, but the acting was great. This provided lots of comic relief to the crowd as the fighters overly exaggerated certain commonalities in point fighting today. When it came down to it, the two decided to have Kyle Richards advance.

Justus Lawrence almost was pulled out of his match in the semi-finals against Charlie Davidson. Lawrence's nose began to bleed and he had to turn around to fix it for a while. When the match began again, Lawrence came back with a huge jump back kick, but the judges didn't see it, but Lawrence still ended up taking the win and advancing. As if the climax couldn't get any higher, Kyle Richards decided to bow out to Lawrence in the final round - depriving us of what was expected to be an exciting bout. Lawrence was declared the overall winner as the finals came to an end. And guess what? It ended on time - a theme that occurred over and over at the event.

I was not sure how the Salt City Internationals event would run and may have feared the worst seeing as though the event skipped a year and was not held in 2008 which meant having to regroup for the new year. However, after watching the fighting, not having to wait to compete, and experiencing how efficiently Becky Jensen and the rest of the tournament staff worked, Salt City Internationals was definitely one of the best NBL events I've attended. Now if only we could bottle that efficiency and let it loose at other events!