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Canada Sport Karate Media Services (CSKM) is an independent freelance media outlet to highlight and showcase the talents of Open Sport Karate in Canada.

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Monday 14 November 2011

TOURNAMENT REVIEW – EAST-WEST ONTARIO OPEN


 Mississauga, Ontario – On Saturday, November 12, Christina Magliocco and East-West Martial Arts proudly hosted the Ontario Open.  Held in the spacious Mentor College gymnasium, the relatively new tournament to the NMAC circuit boasted over 300 competitors. When word first got out that over 250 competitors pre-registered for this event, the local Sport Karate community was set abuzz and many were eager to see what this tournament had to offer.  Not only did the tournament have an abundance of competitors in attendance, the spectators seemingly made the gymnasium bursting from the seams and it was definitely standing room only.


Magliocco, who runs a very busy Mississauga-based Karate school with over 400 active students, had no problems finding volunteers to help the tournament run efficiently.  For those not familiar with Magliocco’s Karate program, her school East-West Martial Arts focuses on teaching children and teens and parents were more than willing to donate their time for this event - solid evidence indicating the tight-knit, family oriented community the school embraces.  Volunteers and tournament staff were easily identifiable as each proudly wore a black t-shirt emblazoned with a silver metallic East-West logo on the front.  With Magliocco being a student of Canadian Karate patriarch Don Warrener, it came to no surprise that the majority of the supporting schools all have roots or ties to Don Warrener.  Schools such as Don Warrener’s Brantford and Brampton AMA all showed up with well over 40 students each.  Also making the trek all the way from Windsor was Master Conroy Copeland – one of Warrener’s top ranking Black Belts – bringing in several students who competed in the Traditional Forms and Weapons divisions. However, once again, it was Adette Rice’s Driftwood Martial Arts from Kitchener which had the most visible showing with more than 60 students all sporting their new black and red competition uniforms.  In fact, prior to the official start of the tournament, the audience was entertained by a choreographed routine by members of the school.  In typical YouTube like “flash mob” fashion, the delegation from Driftwood party rocked to LMFAO and dazzled the on-lookers with a very pumped up routine which had the people clapping and bouncing as well.  Definitely a great way to get people excited for the competition.


As one can see in the picture above, many of the competitors were kids and teens – all of them filled with eyes-wide anticipation and excitement and for some, anxiety and parental pressure.  One might ask why there would such uneasiness at a local tournament – most of the Under Black Belts were beginners and this tournament marked their first entry into competition and I am sure that all competitors have experienced these emotions before.  Despite the enthusiasm and nervousness of the competitors, the judges were all set to go in the 8 rings available and the competition began promptly at 10 a.m. with the Under Black Belt divisions.  Casual observers would be the first to notice that judging these divisions would definitely be an arduous task seeing that each of these divisions had at least 15 competitors.  However, with Mike Palitti’s meticulous coordination, many of the Under Black Belt divisions were completed by noon, setting up the Black Belt divisions to begin immediately after.


The Junior Black Belt divisions were filled with up-and-coming talents but it was the fluid and exciting performances of Tressa Young which dominated the divisions, garnering her 1st Place wins in all of her Forms and Weapons divisions plus her respective fighting division.  Coming back with an 8 Gold Medal haul at the WKC Worlds in Spain a few days before, Young ventured onto the competition floor with a mission to win the Junior Forms Grands.  Why such eagerness to win the Grands?  Perhaps it was the $100 cash prize which served as her motivation – something rarely seen in Junior Black Belt competition here in Ontario.  When it was said and done, Young “kiai”ed her way to victory and earned herself the pocket change.  On the Adult side of things, notable performances were made by an up-and-coming talent named Ryan Potter.  The very reserved Potter proudly represented Driftwood Martial Arts and handily won both the 18+ Traditional Weapons and Forms divisions with his staunch yet precise traditional technique.  This provided momentum for Potter as he earned himself two spots in the Forms Grands which had a $200 cash prize attached to it.  However, experience prevailed this time around as veteran competitor Andrew Cabilan, still fatigued from his trek from the WKC Worlds, edged Potter by a mere .01 to capture the title this year.  This could possibly be the start of a new battle between “old and new” as Cabilan succumbed defeat to Potter at Mike Bernardo’s Ontario Grand Nationals this year.  With Potter on a steady climb, be on the lookout for this young gentleman to make a name for himself in NMAC.

On the Fighting side of things, couple of surprise appearances made the divisions very interesting to watch.  Making the trek all the way from Ottawa was WKA World Champion Victoria Marcotte.  Taking a short hiatus from competition to focus on her career, Marcotte decided to get her feet wet once again and step back into the competitive arena.  Winning her division quite easily, Marcotte won herself a spot into the Grands just to face another surprise entry and another WKA World Champion – Michelle Antolic.  Much like Marcotte, Antolic’s primary focus was outside of Karate but still managed to appear at several NASKA tournaments just for maintenance.  This provided for an interesting and seemingly balanced battle.  The match started off with the two ladies exchanging blow for blow and point for point – definitely the see-saw battle which most were expecting.  After the two minutes were up, the score was 5 - 4, with Antolic coming up on top and making herself $200 richer.  On the Men’s side of things, in his final year as a Junior, NMAC mainstay and multi-time World Champion Jake Haromszeki, decided to step up and battle the big boys in the Men’s division.  Haromszeki’s elimination bouts were seemingly effortless as he blitzed his way to victory in each round.  This set up a very interesting Grand final bout between Haromszeki and the much more experienced veteran competitor, Jason Brown.  Brown, almost twice Haromszeki’s age, used impeccable timing and precision to try and get past Haromszeki’s longer reach and much longer legs.  After an exhilarating two minutes, the score was tied 5 – 5.  Would youth overcome experience or would veteran know-how school the younger competitor?  The additional one-minute overtime would determine that.  In another see-saw exchange of strikes, Haromszeki managed to pull 2 extra points and earned himself his first ever Adult Grands, $200 cash and most importantly, the respect from a much more experienced fighter.  If this is a sign of Haromszeki’s future as an Adult fighter, current fighting champions need not rest on their laurels as Haromszeki plans to make a name for himself as an Adult much like he has already done as a Junior.





Photo credit: East-West Karate (via Facebook)

Overall, the Ontario Open is another tournament which makes itself accommodating for the entry level competitor.  With many divisions offered for all levels, equity and fairness for the beginning competitor is definitely preserved and this is one to mark on one’s calendar for next year.  It should be no surprise to anyone that the attendance to this event is growing year after year.  For the more veteran Black Belt competitor, the addition of monetary prizes for the Grands should attract experienced competitors wishing to sharpen their skills or try new techniques but at the same time, provide extra motivation for aspiring champions to train harder and perfect their craft.  All in all, Christina Magliocco, along with her tournament staff which included Helder Couto and many enthusiastic parents and volunteers from East-West Karate, provided a very hospitable environment which is necessary to keep competitors coming back to this tournament.  


Next year's Ontario Open is set for Saturday, October 20, 2012.  It is promised to be even bigger and better than previous years.  Be sure to mark your calendars now!

Photo credit: Linda Young


2 comments:

  1. Andrew, not quite sure where you got the idea but Tressa didn't give us gas money..lol.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks.

    As Canada's most trusted source for Sport Karate, removed that part :)

    Also, thanks to Michelle Antolic for pointing out the corrections on her fight. Thanks again!

    ReplyDelete