The tournament, a two day event, was hosted by Ron and Sharon Ferguson and was the first tournament of the NBL Blue Ridge Conference and the fifth tournament for the 2009 season on the Dojo circuit.

On hand were some top notch judges such as Doug Armstrong, Ernest Dukes, Lacey Green, Johnny Holbrook, Magic Johnson, Donald McClunney, Preston Rogers, Johnny Watkins, Erica Smith, Corky Sikes, Josh Page, Brian Pena, Corey Waiters, and William Reed to name a few.

Friday night started off with junior musical forms. Jarred Pressley was on top of his game for the 11 and under hard choreographed division, Alex Pye of Georgia’s Team Strike Force held on for the win in the 12-17 division and later bested Matthew Tanner by a few hundredths of a point to win the 17 and under hard open division. Stephen Drawdy, also of team Strike Force, won the adult hard choreographed and hard open divisions. Both Pressley and Pye went on to win the musical weapons counterparts as well. Later that night Brian Pena stopped the tournament and introduced us to Angelo Skulli who mastered the Bo with top honors for the handicapable division, Jeff Blake of team MVKC brought down the house for the adult traditional self defense division.

In continuous sparring junior winners included fly weight Davis Teston, feather weight–Bradley Stossemister and light weight–Devin Worth 125 to 122 over Jarred Pressley. Ben Ferguson held back Nathan Bell 47 to 34 for the light heavy division while Cass Sigmon kept first place to himself for the super heavy. Two girls with the same last name of Walker went all out in the girls feather weight division. Georgia’s Hannah Walker took a 112 to 105 decision over Lindsey Walker of Virginia for the divisional win. On to one of the last bouts of the night, Chasity Ellis of team MVKC topped Lauren Ferguson of team FX, 112 to 110 for the adult female feather weight version.

Saturday morning in junior traditional weapons, Landon Dickerson was on top of the field of players in the 11 and under division while Chelsa Gower took all the marbles in the 15-17 division. In contemporary weapons, Caitlyne Harris edged out Chelsa Gower for the 15-17 win. Chris Urcinola squeezed by Josh Bailey for the men’s hard and soft creative weapons division, Lauren Ferguson was top queen for the female hard creative division, while Michael Goodwin won the soft division.

Some traditional forms winners included, Landon Dickerson – 11 and under Japanese/Okinawan , Grisha Smirov 28.89 to Brook Stipe’s 28.87 for the 12-14 division. Michelle Riddle scored 29.95 to Chelsa Gower’s 29.93 to win the 15-17 division, while Chasity Ellis and Johnny Watkins won the adult Japanese/Okinawan female and senior divisions, respectively.

Meanwhile in the junior contemporary forms divisions, Jared Pressley with a score of 29.92 bested John Charles’ 28.89 and Mitchell Tanner’s 28.87 in the 10-11 division while Alex Pye was best of the best in the 15-17 division. Josh Bailey got by Robert LaParade by two hundredths of a point, for the adult hard creative win. Lauren Ferguson kept fellow Team FX member Coutney LaParade at bay to take the female hard creative, while Tom Quesenberry was king of the crop, over Jeff Blake and Michael Goodwin in the senior hard creative.

In point sparring , Grisha Smirov breezed by Alan Fodder 6/0 in the boys 12-13 division, Wayne Easterling of team War Angel surpassed Sean Conner 5 to 2 for the 14-15 boys title with Jacob Grimm taking third. Cass Sigmon held off Darryl Norman Junior 10 to 6 for the 16-17 boys divisional win. In the 15-17 girls division, Caitlyne Harris took a loss to Noelle Bolin 4 to 3 for the first place victory.

Courtney Laparde topped the female fly weight division, Judith Grimm the light weight division and Lauren Ferguson the middleweight winner.

Joshua Page went on to win the men’s super heavy weight 5 to 4 over Darryl Norman. Randy Bolin stopped Darryl Norman 9 to 7 with Tommy Quesenberry taking third for the 35 and over heavy divisional win. Kenny Morrison with a 9 to 3 win over Rick Taylor out lasted Larry Dillingham 9 to 7 for the 45 and over heavy weight division.

On to the super-duper grand sparring winners, Jimmy Sherman, an earlier light weight divisional winner, held Josh Page 6 to 1 for the men’s grand with Kenny Morrision taking the senior grand. Lauren Ferguson took home the top prize over Courtney LaParade 6 to 1 in the women’s grand.

In the forms grand, Jarred Pressley seemed to be saying in his mind “show me the money” and kept runner up Alex Pye and a large group from winning the Junior Contemporary Forms Grand. Lauren Ferguson again gained more green (cash) by winning the Adult Contemporary Grand for the Team FX home crowd. After a tie Johnny Watkins slipped by Josh Page for the Adult Traditional Grand with Michelle Riddle winning all the gold for the Junior Traditional Grand.

Hat’s off to Hannah Walker of Georgia, for winning one of the junior under belt forms grand’s. The Ferguson’s would like to thank every one that came out to the event and hope to see every one again next year.