 It’s not whether you win or lose… its about Surviving. These words continue to set the tone for one of the most exciting NBL events on the circuit today. Historic Savannah, Georgia once again played host to the NBL Can Am National event that has quickly grown to be one of the South's premier championships. World Champion Corky Sikes did a stellar job setting an atmosphere true to “Survivor” form. The finals stage dawned a new addition with an authentic shipwreck on either side of the player's entrance. As an avid competitor, Sike's attracted many of his friends from both NBL and NASKA circuits. Teams from all over North America and Latin America supported with representation from B.O.S.S., Straight Up, ATL, GOP, Kumite, United, RCU, FX, Five Knuckle Bullet and SMA, to name a few. The largest contingency was of course his own World Class Karate “Team Strikeforce”. The event also launched a new regional league dedicated to bringing quality and professional events to the Southeast Region, “The Competitors Tour.” TCT is spearheaded by Ron Ferguson (Virgina), Brian “Mr. Organized” Pena (South Carolina), Doug Armstrong (North Carolina) and Corky Sikes (Georgia).
Survivor boasted a number of extra incentives for competitors, including cold hard CASH for under belts. The fun started with a tricks contest that was emceed my none other than Mr. Survivor himself. Corky genuinely loves sport karate, as his passion is always evident. Most promoters sit back and discreetly watch tournaments at a distance… Not Corky Sikes! He is always cheering on a fellow friend or student making him one of the most personable promoters in the NBL. A special ceremony during the finals was dedicated to his Mother and performed by his niece that brought the audience to a standing ovation and a number of emotional tears.
Every tournament I try to make mention of unsung volunteers who go above and beyond to make an event special. It’s no surprise that Team Strikeforce is the lifeblood of the Survivor tournament, handling nearly all aspects of the tournament “in-house.” Scorekeeping, judging, construction, and security… you name it and loyal Strikeforce volunteers were ready and willing to lend a hand. The Plunkett family in particular rolled up their sleeves more than anyone else this year. In the true spirit of Southern hospitably Kaylee, Dee, and John were the first people working in the morning and always the last to leave the tournament site. It's that type of dedication that helps make tournaments memorable for all the competitors.
The Pyles family monopolized the NBL self-defense divisions dominating both junior and adult traditional and contemporary categories. Dean Pyles and his daughter Alexandra swept all four titles showing their competitive ability in reality-based martial arts. There were no surprises in the breaking divisions as Doug Armstrong's talented group of Carolinians took top honors.
Team GOP continues to grow in size and talent, as they were able to snag both the boys and girls junior team divisions, while Straight Up’s line up of Joe Fife, Shane Baker and Alex Lane in the men’s team division overcame Team B.O.S.S. by a score of 18 to 14. Eli Quenzel, Dan Marshall and Ryan Freeman represented the B.O.S.S.
Kyle Gray of New York, (Team SMAC), has been on a streak all season and continued his winning ways taking two overall grand championships. Showing his versatility he captured both the Junior Musical and Junior Japanese Forms titles. Another multi-talented rising star is young Kevin Houser as he edged out world champions Sage Northcutt and Kyle Gray for the overall Korean Forms title. Houser has been training with Super Grand's hopeful Joey Castro. The duo is positioning themselves for a run at several of the traditional world titles this year. Castro showed that he is a true contender winning both the Adult Traditional Weapons and Kata divisions.
Corky is known as an innovator of contemporary forms and tricks so it was no surprise of the talent that took the stage to battle for the overall Creative Grands. Georgia’s Mike Cifre representing team ATL was able to flip and trick his way over challengers, Ashley Artese and Jeffrey Doss.
Next up was the Adult Contemporary Weapons featuring a line up of champions including the return of Mike Cifre along with his ATL teammate Crissy Conception, However, the man of the hour, the tower of power, the one the only Edgar Cordova scored a perfect “50” all 10's to etch his name in Survivor history winning the Overall Creative title for the second year in the a row. The audience roared and cheered as if the Guatemalan was a resident of Georgia.
Corky hyped the crowd for a showdown between Gina Thornton (Unity) and Regina Thompson (GOP). Thompson is one of the most celebrated female fighters of the past decade and was the heavy favorite. The two put on a sparring clinic and were deadlocked as time expired… or were they? The announcer called time, and Thompson dropped her guard, but Thornton continued to fight throwing a punch after the buzzer. Controversy! The center judge and arbitrator decided that the referees had authority to overturn the timekeeper and awarded Thornton the final point making the score 6-5 much to the frustration of GOP Coach Chris Gallio.
As for the men, Straight Up's Joe Fife was able to use his blistering speed to cut down his opponents. His elusive movement, blitzes, and circus style combos put on a show winning the $1000.00 grand prize. It was literally a game of “Survival” as he took on all challengers twice his size and was a fitting end to another exciting year at the Survivor Nationals.
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