3rd Mexican Open – Acapulco 2005

2005_acapulco_013

One of the hottest vacation playgrounds in Mexico is also host to a highly rated NBL national. Luis Jimenez and his fellow promoters made this September 2nd and 3rd international tournament a complete success. Acapulco has been the place to party for several decades. Before Cancun, Xtopa and the rest of the Mexico’s current vacation spots were on the map, Acapulco was the prime destination of many Americans. These days it doesn’t seem to get the press of other vacation destinations. This is due to the proliferation, development, and marketing of other places. But for a time this was the place of the rock’n roll elite. It was not unusual to capture a glimpse of your favorite rock or pop star hanging out somewhere in this beautiful paradise. The scenery is breathtaking, surrounded by steep mountains, it gives off the appearance of one of those steamy Latin movies with the ambience of an exciting trip to an exotic place.

As far as what to do, well use your imagination. There’s hundreds of night spots that cater to everything from disco to cliff diving. Or you can rent a jet ski for the day and go crazy. Other favorite activities are the boats, they will take you out to scuba dive or just watch the scenery. And lets not forget the main attraction, the beaches. Having many miles of beautiful volcanic topography the sand has a fine and unusual appearance. It’s also great between your toes with an ice cold drink in your hand while laying around hanging out with some of your friends.

Friday Night A Test Of Skill

2005_acapulco_009

There was an abundance of help from north of the border, no wonder, who wouldn’t jump at a chance to be there. I was no exception and was glad to be there. Friday night found us in the large ground floor ball room that was so packed it was hard to move around. There were many hundreds of competitors and spectators in attendance. Some of the first to go were Junior black belt weapons and contemporary forms. The Guatemalan junior black belt contingent was led off by Jorge Martinez, an amazing athlete who has won six world titles. The Americans had powerhouse performers like Colby and Sage Northcutt, Mia Caldwell, Eric Cantu, Jared Bernal and Shawn Promar. The Canadians and Mexicans added to this international mix of sport karate’s greatest junior competitors. As the evening proceeded it was apparent this was going to be a long night of competition.

Adult black belt competitors filled the rings on line up. In some cases there were two rows so as to accommodate them all. I was not in every ring and can only apologize for having not been able to report on them all, but I can say from my vantage point there were large groups around all eight rings during the height of the event Friday night. Adult traditional weapons was one of those big divisions. The division came down to a close contest between Nick Bateman, Dann Baker and Johnnie Murphy in the top three spots with Nick pulling out the win by a narrow margin. Adult musical and choreographed weapons was nothing less than spectacular and a definite highlight of the evening. All of the top NBL competitors were there. As could be expected the entertainment was such that it should have been on ESPN. Corkey Sikes, David Johnson and Edgar Cordova of Guatemala were in the top spots. Edgar and his strong kama form took the division in what was truly awesome weapons competition.

2005_acapulco_016

In the adult black belt senior weapons, Wayne Nugyen made a come back from retirement for a shot at a first place win but David Johnson narrowly won the division. By the way these senior divisions are all seeing the former 18 plus champions entering in them and raising the standards of the 35 plus groups to new heights. Continuous sparring divisions ran consecutive with the forms and was dominated by the large and strong Mexican teams. There was no lack of excitement in the continuous sparring divisions. Some continuous sparring took forever due to the time involved in a large division.

Saturday In Acapulco

It always amazes me how so many people can stay up all night long and drag themselves down to the tournament, drink a bunch of coffee or whatever, then get down to business. I think that we as human beings have this internal insane streak that drives us to extremes. Lets face it, normal people don’t do the unnatural and exorbitant activities that we as martial artist do. Which leads me to believe there must be something more to all this than just a few moment of exhilaration. It must be that facing death is a part of living and that is what make us all feel alive and gives us a since of worth. Saturday’s competitors were slow starters at first, but after a while the place came alive and was thronged with double the people that showed Friday. Many people were packed not just around the rings but in the foyer and out to the registration hall. They were talking, hanging out with friends and enjoying themselves.

2005_acapulco_005

Up and running were traditional divisions and some contemporary divisions. Like the night before, black belt competition was fierce. Again Corkey Sikes and Edgar Cordova ended up head to head in non musical contemporary weapons, again Edgar was victorious. Wayne Nugyen took first in a large 35 plus traditional forms division for his first national win since coming back from retirement, he also had tough competition in black belt middle weight sparring and defeated his opponents narrowly in what was some of the best sparring competition of the tournament.

Other sparring divisions were big and took some time to finalize due to the usual things that happen in a big contest where so much is at stake. This event was the only required tournament in the NBL PanAm conference and that’s why so many showed at this last chance to get a first place seed at the world games. Unavoidably, Sparring ran late due to the numbers of competitors, if you do the math a division with eight people takes about twenty five or thirty five minutes to run including line up and bow out. With so many large divisions time was running over.

Finally The Finals

After some adjustments to everything from the carpets to sound systems, the finals began. Yes it was late, so what, this was Acapulco where everything starts late and runs late. Besides, this gave us all time to eat and dress nice. Everyone was having fun and I didn’t hear one complaint because if you were a martial artist this was the best show in town.

2005_acapulco_003

The finals began after a well choreographed open forms routine by some of Mexico’s best competitors. First up was the junior contemporary forms grand’s with competitors Mia Caldwell, Felepe Alvarez and Jorge Martinez with Jorge unavoidable winning as he flew through the air with his usual unmistakable trademark dynamic techniques. Up next was adult contemporary forms grand’s with Bear Loebe pulling off his shirt to win over Michelle Fuentes and Izac Nunez.

Then came a most unusual demonstration by Kieth Weston. Keith showed up on stage with a box, a six pack of beer, a blanket, a hammer and two thin poles…..now the only thing that I can remember running through my mind was that joke about the monkey, a pack of nabs and a jar of Vaseline. But no, this was not some bizarre joke as he calmly laid out the blanket, set the box on top of the blanket, pulled out the beer bottles and put them into the box. Then he proceeded to break the bottles with the hammer. Next he cut all four corners of the box and folded them out. He then stood in back of the box took out some prayer bead’s and meditated for a few moments. He stepped on the glass and ran a form, jumped up and down on the glass then had Allan Torres break the poles across his torso. Kieth then calmly stepped off the broken glass and bowed.

Now remember this was Acapulco and people do strange things there, you know like Vegas only in Mexico. Besides this was one of the more extreme demonstrations of mind over glass I’ve ever witnessed and don’t try this at home. What a night time show.

2005_acapulco_014

Next up came junior continuous sparring, first up was Derrick Torres against Garret Sheldon and after a tough fight Garret came out on top in points and was declared winner. Then Diago Perez took on Jorge Martinez, Martinez came out like some kind of possessed windmill overtaking Perez in a Mexico verses Guatemala all out battle. Shawn McGinnis won over Jose Gurrero and Migel Soto beat Alderick Torres. Eddie Villanueva lost in a complete war that had to be stopped several times with both contestants going off stage and people jumping out of their seats yelling in this US verses Guatemala fight. Then came a female junior continuous sparring match between Krystie Sally against Tracy Martinez where Krystie was victorious in another hard continuous fight.

Men’s team sparring was up next followed by the junior weapons grand’s. Where Eric Cantu was amazing as he demonstrated phenomenal dexterity winning over Mia Caldwell and Jared Bernal. Then adult weapons grand championship pitted Edgar Cordova against David Johnson and Michelle Fuentes. Edgar was great as he ran a powerful musical kama form to overcome David and Michelle.

The junior Japanese/Okinawa forms grand championship was showdown between Jordan Simon, Sergio Calva and Eric Cantu. All pulled out there best in an effort to impress the judges. This was to be Eric’s night and he was awarded the championship. Junior Korean finalist were Shawn Promar and Luis Carlos. Both Ran Gaybeck but it was to be Shawn Promar’s version the judges picked for first.

One of the most intense divisions was adult traditional forms. First up was Daniela Barrientos who performed an intensely perfect Japanese form. Then Bennie Smerinda ran his championship Kenpo form. Next Nick Bateman woke everybody up and got our attention with his powerful staff form. Last up, Andria Valanious ran the Korean Gaybeck form. All had there own appeal and strong points. However it was Daniela’s intensity with perfection that the judges felt was best and awarded her the grand championship.

2005_acapulco_008

Women’s point sparring grand championship winner was Michelle Fuentes. The last divisions of the finals was men’s point sparring where Augusto Barrera won his first fight. That left Edgar Torres and Luis Moralis to battle it out. There dithyrambic efforts were joined by the whole crowed in the ball room and after an extreme effort on both sides Luis was victorious.

Then came the final Men’s point sparring match between Augusto Barrera and Luis Moralis. As could be expected it was all out war. Both men fought on and off the stage with the fight having to be stopped several times for the judges and scorekeeper to make adjustments. To say this fight was intense would be putting it lightly. When the smoke cleared and everybody climbed back down off the walls, it was Augusto Barrera the 2005 Mexican Open men’s sparring grand champion. This fight finalized a weekend of great competition and fun in Acapulco.