Nestled deep in the mountains of Utah is Salt Lake City. One of the prime destinations for winter sports enthusiasts. Skirted by the Beautiful Wasatch mountain range, a part of the Rock Mountains and ringed with the best skiing resorts in the country it is unmatched in its awesome grandeur. Discovered by Brigham Young president of the Mormon Church on July 24 1847, Salt Lake City became the Promised Land for a persecuted people. The stories of hardship and misfortune are endless and tied to the history of our pioneer migration west. Its prosperity grew out of necessity and a prime location on the western frontier.
More recently the 2002 Winter Olympics were held there. This Great City opened its doors and exposed the world to its unique history and people. Today Salt Lake is one of the most prosperous places in the western US boasting high tech industries and nineteenth century charm.
Darren and Rebecca Cox hosted this February 3rd and 4th national karate tournament. Upon arrival I noticed the snow covered mountain tops and an old world charm that had me thinking I was in the movie The Sound Of Music. The tournament was held at the Salt Palace, a large convention center centrally located in the heart of the city. This event started on time at 3PM on Friday and was attended by so many people that the place was packed.
Some of the highlights of Friday night included a duel in contemporary weapons between Corky Sikes and Jerico Catura with Jerico pulling ahead in the judge’s scores. Jerico also won four other forms divisions for a phenomenal five first places. A new face and force to be reckoned with is Ashley Davies of California, as she entertained the spectators with a dazzling display of skill and showmanship winning the adult black belt choreographed musical weapons division. A duel between Brandon Bertsch and Johnnie Murphy led to a run off with Brandon winning in adult black belt traditional weapons.
Sage and Colby Northcutt were in top form winning an amazing six divisions and one grand championship between them. Chris Jensen and his Golden State Team showed up with a crew of great competitors and added to the level of competition. Team DDX ruled as it members dominated in both forms and fighting. Kevin Nebeker ran his patented Matrix routine to win the junior choreographed fight division and the 12 to 14 junior hard choreographed musical forms. A new and welcome team in the NBL is the Chuck Norris competition team who mainly competed in sparring divisions. There were many more impressive National teams present adding to the overall atmosphere of the tournament.
The Salt Palace was even more crowded on Saturday. A large contingent of under black belt competitors from several states filled the convention center. The combination of spectators, and competitors gave on air of excitement to the day. People were scurrying about trying to find their divisions, parents yelling for their competing children, competitors yelling at the top of their lungs, Noah Bertsch the tournament coordinator constantly calling out the divisions and music blaring produced an atmosphere of organized confusion. This is what a large national event sounds like and its music to my ears. Call me weird but I love it, and apparently so do thousands of others. We all know it as the sound of success. In order to achieve the title of champion one must prove oneself and we all know nothing worth having comes easy. Besides hanging out with your friends in another state and going out to interesting places afterwards heightens the appeal. Being in beautiful Salt Lake City only added to the weekend’s excitement.
Some of the events up on Saturday were black belt traditional forms, under black belt forms and all point sparring. Many of the top point sparring fighters in the country were present. The result of this concentrated talent pool was predictable. Some memorable and thrilling moments were witnessed in the battles for top spots.
Marty Maye of Oregon was unstoppable in adult men’s middle weight and senior middle weight point sparring. Tim Gustavson also from Oregon and team member Troy Whaley from Nevada won in the adult and senior men’s divisions. Wade Taylor of California took out a large crowed to win the adult men’s heavy weight sparring. By the way Wade, Marty, Tim and Troy are all Team DDX fighters. Norman Roberts of Texas also took first place in two divisions winning senior heavy and senior 45+ heavy weight sparring. Jamie Matthews of California was the senior men’s 45+ light weight sparring. Women point fighters included Ashley Davies the forms champion from earlier and several the country’s top female competitors. The boy’s team point sparring champions were Team MVP.
Due to an abundance of black belt judges Saturday’s competition concluded a little early despite such a large crowed of participants. And after everyone came back from dinner the finals were started.
First up were Junior Contemporary forms with Sage Northcutt winning.
Next up Jerico Catura, Ashley Davies and Rodney Carreion competed for the cash and the Adult Contemporary forms grand championship.
After some exciting showmanship it was Jerico the judges picked.
Several junior continuous sparring divisions were next with Keven Torres, Max Ferguson, Rene Beltran, Andrie Parrott, Matthew Okada, Colby Northcutt and Krista Punyes winning their junior continuous divisions. Team sparring was won by Tim Gustavson, Troy Whaley and Marty Maye of DDX. Junior musical weapons grand championship was a contest between Gene Middleton, Mia Caldwell and Chris Martin.
After some great performances Chris Martin was awarded the championship.
One of my personal favorites is contemporary weapons. The group up next represented a variety of weapons with Melissa Terpstra, Jerico Catura, Ashley Davies and Rodney Carreon, all vying for the grand championship and a chance to go home with money. After some eye catching moments Jerico Catura and Melissa Terpstra tied. Jerico Catura won the point off by the judges.
Junior Japanese and Okinawa forms grand’s came down to a contest between Michelle Simms, Colby Northcutt and Venya Bruk. All competitors were the champions of the earlier day’s competition. These finalist overcame large divisions to make to the grand championship. After watching all three of them I knew these kids had given all they had as sweat rolled off them and the color returned to their faces. Michelle Simms ended up winning in a truly tough competition.
Adult Hard Traditional forms was no less intense as Scott Wu, David Coppock, Jerico Cattura, Melissa Terpstra and Brandon Bertsch, all competed for the five hundred dollar grand championship money. The intensity was apparent as veins popped out of faces and screaming kiah reverberated throughout the convention center. Big Brandon Bertsch shook the whole stage as he wielded his heavy staff and slammed his feet. You could feel the energy as they progressed through the lineup. But it was to be the smaller Scott Wu with his powerful version of Gojushiho that the judges saw as the best of the best and he went home a little richer for the effort.
Next up was junior Korean forms as Jonathan Rios, Mia Caldwell and Dipankan Bhattachaya who were the champions of the earlier day’s competition in a showdown for the top junior Korean forms championship of the tournament. It looked like Dipankan Bhattachaya and his precision Koreo form would win, then one slip bumped him back leaving the door open for Mia and Jonathan to take the division. Mia Caldwell was edged out by Jonathan Rios as he was the judges pick for the top spot.
Point fighters were up last as millions of dollars was at stake, not really, but a respectable sum was for the taking for the guy and gal with the heart and skill to take it. In the women’s point sparring grand championship Jessica Corbravbiao and Brenna Clymer went head to head for three hundred dollars. Jessica pulled ahead and won the cash.
Men’s point sparring grand championship was a contest between Team DDX and the other guy. The other guy was Mike Pustyak of Utah. The first fight was Troy Whaley of Nevada and Mike Pustyak with Troy winning a decisive victory and moving on to the final match. Then Tim Gustavson and Marty Maye both from Oregon and members of Team DDX fought down to the wire. Tim’s long legs and reach proved to be the deciding factor in the match as Tim progressed to the last fight. The last fight between Tim Gustavson and Troy Whaley was a contest between light weight Troy and super heavy weight and tall Tim. Troy used his lightning fast reflexes and quick foot movements to counter Tim’s reach and kicking techniques. The points went back and forth then finally time ran out on Troy and Tim ended up winning seven hundred dollars.