Dewey Sutton had his 11th DFW Karate Championships on October 9, 2010. This Texas AOK sanctioned event ran for another year at the Will Rogers Memorial Center’s Amon Carter Jr Exhibit Hall. Luckily for all us gun enthusiast the Fort Worth Gun Show was going on in the adjacent exhibit hall. Thousands of people were at the show with many of them stopping in to check out the Karate tournament.
The tournament started on time with a packed exhibit hall. A large contingent of the Texas AOK promoters and supporters were there to help with the officiating and running of the tournament. Barry Guimbellot with Mike and Sharon Hill coordinated the divisions.
Black belt kata and specialty was up at 9AM. Martha Garcia won the black belt women’s 18 to 34 years old kata division. Other black belt adult kata champions were Alfredo Bustamante 18 to 34 men’s kata, Wayne Nguyen 35 to 44 men’s kata, William Sheldon 45 plus men’s kata and men’s 18 plus traditional kata , Carol Parenti 45 plus women’s kata and Amy Seeling was first in the women’s 18 plus traditional kata.
In the specialty divisions Courtney Allen was first in the adult black belt self defense. Matt Tyler won 18 to 34 years old specialty division. William Sheldon won first in 35 years old black belt specialty and 35 years old plus black belt weapons making him the unofficial forms grand champion with 4 kata first at this years DFW Karate Championships. An honorable mention for the adult under black belt specialty champions who were Wesley Robinson, Jenifer Jackson, Joel Quebec and Kathy Clark,
In the junior kata and specialty divisions some familiar names were once again on top. My buddy and favorite champion Sean Nguyen (White Ninja Junior)won the 6 to 7 adv/black belt kata division. Other junior black belt kata champions were Christopher Tramell 8 to 9 boys kata, Sebastion Pedroza 10 to 11 boys kata, David Tate 12 to 13 boys kata, Ciara Garcia 12 to 13 girls kata, Isaac Jones 14 to 15 boys kata, Autumn Gummings 14 to 15 girls kata, Rommell Paul 16 to 17 boys kata and Elizibeth Martinez 16 to 17 girls kata.
The junior specialty divisions were the largest ever with old and new competitors emerging as this years DFW champions. Sebastion Pedroza was the 11 and under black belt specialty champion. David Tate ended up first with him and Rommell Paul dueling it out for the 12 to 17 years old black belt specialty championship. Both ran excellent kata but it was to be David’s dynamic staff form winning for him.
The junior under black belt divisions were equally as exciting with Paul Cole, Devin Tinkham, Chase Williams, Ayden Kooyanagi and Drake Chalmer putting on great performances in there junior under black belt specialty championships.
Sparring divisions rounded out the event. Ciara Garcia ended up in a final match with Tabitha Wilson. Both have duked it out before for first and after a close fight Ciara Garcia took home the win. Other junior black belt sparring champions were Autumn Cummings 14 to 17 girls, Sean Nguyen 6 to 7 boys, Christopher Tramell 8 to 9 boys, Sebastion Pedroza 10 to 11 boys, Timothy Wiggins 14 to 15 boys and Rommell Paul had another tough divisional championship win that ended up a nail bitter in his final fight with Nathan Sutton.
The adult sparring in both under black belt and black belt divisions were awesome. In the adult black belt women’s sparring divisions Martha Garcia was first in the women’s 18 plus feather weight division and Ashley Wood won the women’s light weight sparring. Executive women’s black belt sparring champions were Karen Schroeder women’s 32 to 44 and Wendy Terrell won the women’s 45 plus division. Men’s point fighters were up last with Matthew Tyler winning the men’s 18 plus light weight division. Other Adult black belt men’s sparring champions were Jeff Dunn men’s middle weight and Jason Matthews was first in men’s heavy weight.
Executive black belt men’s point fighters were phenomenal. Anthony Allen had his hands full. Wayne Nguyen was moving like the White Ninja as he attempted to take out Anthony Allen. But Anthony was not going to have any of that and took control after a close contest for his win in the executive men’s light weight division. Courtney Allen and Frank Lopez ended up going head to head in the men’s executive point sparring division championship with Courtney pulling ahead in a narrow victory over Lopez. Mike Hill was the men’s 45 plus black belt point sparring champion and well on his way to being this years men’s executive black belt Golden Greek winner.
The men’s point sparring grand championships finalized the tournament as Jason Matthews won the men’s 18 plus grand champion. Mike Hill won the men’s executive point sparring grand championship and Martha Garcia also on her way to winning this years women’s Golden Greek award, won the women’s point sparring grand championship. This completed the whole event. Matthews Martial Arts was the most supportive school. Tony Jordan, Derrick Hayes and Chris Vedda were named as the hardest working judges. Special thanks to Dewey Sutton for another great DFW Karate Championship.
