It Doesn’t take long before you realize each karate tournament you attend has it’s own special attributes. Victoria, Texas is probably the least likely place you’d think a National event would be held, but Dawn Kabela managed to pull off just that. After a two hour drive from Houston you come to Victoria. This small city has its own charm and appeals to people who want a family orientated community to raise their children. It’s also an easy drive to Corpus Christi and centrally located for trade down the Hwy 59 corridor. July 15th and 16th was the date for this NBL regional tournament.
During Friday the first night of the event weapons, contemporary forms, self defense and continuous sparring was on the agenda. Team GOP was on top winning most of the junior contemporary forms and weapons divisions with its stars Clarissa and Marco Villanueva shinning through the large junior divisions and standing out as true NBL champions. Another Junior champion that was unstoppable was Jacob Holguin with an amazing seven first place championships. Other multiple champions during Friday and Saturday was Chris Gallio, Joseph Pruiett, Chad Cannon and Zachary Blundell. Adult Multiple divisional champions were David Johnson, Johnnie Murphy, John Dengel and Tony Lopez.
After a hectic Friday night, Saturday was a welcome change as the tournament went from the smaller Holliday Inn Ball room to the Larger Victoria Community Center, a spacious area with ample room to rehearse your techniques and collect your thoughts. Traditional and contemporary forms were up first with the same champions mentioned earlier pulling out the stops for the audience and points that will enhance their chances at the world games. Bear Loebe of Houston, Texas and Scott Wu from Portland, Oregon were certainly stars at this tournament and raised the level of competition to world class.
Sparring divisions had their own highlights with some of the junior point sparring divisions drawing large crowds around the ring to witness their display of determined skill. In the 9 and under division Zachary Blundell stood out winning hard fights for his victory. Other junior sparring champions were Charlie Davidson, Chris Gallio, Lauren Broussard and Krystle Seley, all had to move fast to dominate in their divisions. Adult sparring had its own tempo with some unusual upsets such as Don’a Pettway winning his division against James Gunn. This was a classic fight pitting a smaller Don’a Pettway against the tall James Gunn, a fight that went back and forth with Don’a pulling out a better strategy and rising to the challenge against one of Texas’s best fighters a man rarely defeated, James Gunn.
The Saturday night finals were attended by the local Victoria television news as well as many Victorians looking for some excitement for the night. Chad Cannon was the Junior contemporary forms grand champion with David Johnson, Scott Wu, and Johnnie Murphy battling it out in adult traditional forms, Scott ended up being the judges pick. Adult contemporary weapons was a contest between Johnnie Murphy and David Johnson with David winning one hundred dollars and the grand championship. There’s a new sheriff in town and his name is Tony Lopez, moving up into the adult divisions and winning the adult contemporary forms division.
Derrick Wilson and Johnnie Murphy fought it out in the senior men’s sparring grand with Johnnie Murphy injuring his ham string muscle on his right leg leaving Derrick the champion. As usual, Regina Thompson won the women’s sparring grand and Jason Holmes took home the money in the men’s sparring grands to finalize the night and a great tournament.
