The Texas AOK karate tournament circuit has existed since the late 1960’s. It has been the pattern for all other martial arts circuits that have came since. Many have come and gone but the AOK remains this is due to the organization of its producers who elect a board of officers that handle prime functions throughout the year. Barry and Mitzi Benton produced this 10th successful karate tournament as part of the AOK circuit. It has been an October event that many have looked forward to attending for years. The 15th of October 2005 was the date of this years BMA Northwest tournament and it was held at the North Harris County Community College in northwest Houston.
This tournament has always started early. At 8:30 AM weapons and specialties divisions were being called out for staging. After that the junior specialties started with many in attendance the divisions were full. Some great junior competitors were vying for first and this produced good competition to watch. In the adult black belt open weapons Johnnie Murphy, Manuel Serrano and Cesar Marin ran their best weapons forms with Johnnie Murphy edging out Manuel Serrano and Cesar Marin for the victory. Adult black belt Specialty came down to a battle between Jamal Hassan who just moved up to adult and Cesar Marin. Although Jamal was dynamic and powerful with his aerials and tricks, Casar’s perfection of soft style movements was to take the win.
Men’s black belt forms was a contest between some of the best in Texas. Jamal Hassan, Hubert Laws, Chris Galvez, Derrick Stenson, Kiboko Kazadi and Andrew Carrasco were all pulling out their best techniques in what was a truly diverse clash of styles. Andrew Carrasco pulled ahead for the victory in men’s black belt forms. Stacy Patterson won the executive black belt women’s forms division and Cassie Hendon was first in adult black belt women’s forms. In a large 35 plus men’s forms division Wayne Nguyen came out of retirement and took on the best current champions in Texas. With Tim Fuchess, Manuel Serrano, David Patterson and Mike Palomo also vying for the first place title. In hard pressed and close competition a tie between Wayne Nguyen and Mike Palomo arose and ended with the victory going to Mike Palomo. In the men’s senior executive forms division, Johnnie Murphy went up against Current state champion Donald Lawson and managed to narrowly pull out the win.
In the junior black belt forms divisions there were some impressive performances. Eric Cantu quelled the competition in boys black belt 14 – 15 years old forms while Ashley Wood took the girls 14-15 years old black belt forms division. Valencia Price won 12-13 years old girls forms. Garret Lee beat Jacob Teverbaugh in an impressive boys 12-13 years old forms division. The Vargus brothers ruled in boys 16-17 forms with Gabriel pulling out the first place spot in what was a startling display of talent. Dorathy Ramon was first in the girls black belt 16-17 years old forms division and by the way her mother Susan Ramon won the women’s beginner forms. This mother and daughter duo are everywhere this year and should do well at the AOK state championships and NBL world games in Buffalo New York.
Under belt sparring and forms divisions were full. Some of the divisions had so many competitors that time took longer to achieve an outcome but with so many good judges in attendance the whole event ran on efficiently. The usual list of up and coming martial artist included all styles and encompassed the entire state of Texas. The AOK has produced some of the best champions in the world these past thirty plus years. Many coming from the pool of rising under belt competitors who rose to the top in Texas competition.
Junior black belt fighters produced some exciting point sparring matches. One memorable division was in the boys black belt 14-15 year old sparring where Carlton Williams won. In the boys 16-17 years old sparring division the Vargas brothers took on Loston Smith. Loston’s fast blitz combinations proved to much for the Vargus brothers and after time ran out it was to be Loston Smith as champion. Gerett Lee won in 12-13 year old boys black belt sparring division for his ninth straight first place win in competition. Dorathy Ramon was again victorious in her second win taking first in girls 16-17 years old sparring. Ashley Wood also took home two first place championships winning the girls 14-15 black belt sparring.
Men’s Black belt point sparring was up last with Jamal Hassan first in the men’s light weight division. Senior Executive 45 years and older division came down to Texas legions Richard Dixon and Donald Lawson. In a most unusually eventful match Donald Lawson emerged victorious. The men’s black belt senior 35 years old sparring Mike Palomo, Wayne Nguyen, Derrick Wilson and Manuel Serrano fought it out for the championship. The final fight came down to Mike Palomo and Manuel Serrano with Manuel pulling up first place. Todd wheelock took out David Patterson to win the men’s black belt executive heavy weight point sparring.
Black belt men’s heavy weight point sparring was a large division with Tim Gregory, Derek Guiterez, Kazadl Kiboko, Derrick Stenson, Courtney Allen and D.E. Chambers vying to be the champion. Several hard fights ensued culminating with a victory by D.E Chambers over Chun Kuk Do World Champion Derrick Stenson. Another impressive division was the men’s black belt middle weight sparring group. The best Texas champions were represented in this showdown for the money. A Truly impressive group of athletes who rose the level of competition in this event to world class and I have seen the best in my thirty plus years of martial arts. This division ended with a remarkable fight between Jacobie Gilder and Andrew Carrasco. The fight went back and forth. This was a contest between the tall and dynamic Jacobie and the fast and experienced Andrew Carrasco. After an extended fight that had both fighters on the ground with minor injuries, Andrew arose as champion.
The last up was men’s sparring grand championship. The contestants were Andrew Carresco, Jamal Hasson, Todd Wheelock and D.E Chambers. First up was Jamal Hassan and Todd Wheelock where Todd was overtaken by the younger and faster Jamal Hassan. Then A war between D.E Chambers and Andrew Carrasco happened. True champions utilizing years of tactical skill and ring savvy. I was most impressed by the speed of Andrew and tactical actions of D.E. Chambers. This was youth against age and as the fight progressed it was clear that Andrews attacks were not going to be the deciding factor as D.E cut off the ring reducing the space between himself and Andrew. This served D.E well in averting the leg techniques of Andrew. As time ran out it was 5 to 6 with D.E. moving into the final match for the money with Jamal Hassan.
After a short rest D.E. Chambers faced off Jamal Hassan. Now knowing both fighters for many years I knew this was going to be an unusual fight. As the fight progressed it lent to a most unusual outcome. The fight went back and forth due to the different style of the two. This was due to the size of the fighters. As I reported earlier D.E. Chambers was a heavy weight and Jamal Hassan was the light weight champion with D.E towering over Jamal. This did not stop Jamal and he was undaunted by to powerful attacks of D.E. Chambers. Jamal began launching blitzes at D.E. and pulled ahead then D.E. countered with some well executed attacks that were placed to eliminate Jamal’s advantage in speed. This stopped Jamal and ended up running out time as D.E. scored the final point pulling him ahead and giving him the BMA Northwest Men’s sparring grand championship.
