For the last ten years Cindy and Chris Gallio have been heavily involved in sport karate. Chris has evolved from the cute little kid running forms to a seasoned adult world class point fighter. Cindy has not only supported his endeavors, but has helped a multitude of others with the sponsorship of Team GOP. GOP has become one of the premiere professional karate teams in Sport Karate.
Years of involvement in sport karate with a passion for competition has led the Gallio’s to promote their own NBL regional tournament. The last few years they have produced The Battle On The Beach in Corpus Christy, Texas. This years June 17th tournament was located at the Omni Hotel. Competitors from across Texas and as far away as California attended and vied for a chance to win some of the great prizes and grand championship money.
Cramming a two day event into one day took some work and planning, but Cindy Gallio was able to utilize members of her large competition team to help run and officiate. Arbitrator Darrel Stewart and other top officials added to the impressive list of martial artists in attendance.
Top competitors from several national teams attended and elevated the level of competition. Mexico’s Luis Jimenez and his new bride Dawn Kabela fielded an impressive team of blackbelts and top under belts. Team Focus, Team K2, Team Alchemy, Team Langley and Team GOP added to the mix of great competitors. Throughout the day intensity in many divisions ran high.
Clarissa and Marco Villanueva were in peak performance winning in multiple junior divisions and entertaining the crowd as they won in open forms, soft forms and weapons. Other junior multiple forms champions were Joseph Pruiett, Jacob Holguin, Renato de Leon and Zachary Blundell. Brittan Kabela’s staff form topped a large crowd for an impressive victory. Rex Dewees emerged as the junior breaking champion and Alonzo Ruiz took home the adult breaking divisional title. Johnnie Murphy was the top adult forms champion with eight divisional wins.
Some of the junior blackbelt fighting was nothing less than all out battles. James Davidson and Ryan George had the walls shaking, literally, as the they collided into the partitions of the rooms in an attempt to outscore each other. After several time-outs and medical checks, the fight finally ended in a victory for Davidson. His brother Charlie was no less intense, with his last match ending in an overwhelming win. Jonathan Rios in boys 10-12, Shavaun Langley in girls 15-17 and Andre Parrott in boys 12-13 were all champions for Team Langley.
Junior continuous sparring provided the ultimate excitement with too many calls for the medic. The action was non stop and left no doubt as to the skill of these kids as they put it all on the line. Champions included Beau Burns, Jonathan Rios, James Slade, Joshua Romero, Zachary Blundell, Andrew Duhon, Noah Jones, Charlie Davidson and Krystle Seley.
Susan Langley and Regena Thompson put on an exciting exhibition of skill and competitive prowess as they went at it in the women’s point sparring grand championship. In the end Thompson pulled ahead and took home the money. Langley later came back to win in the women’s senior point sparring division.
Norman Roberts of Team Focus emerged as the senior sparring grand champion and continued on in the men’s point sparring finals as he also was first in the men’s heavy weight division. Roberto Torres, now in adult competition, came out of retirement and made it to the sparring finals winning men’s feather weight point sparring. Sean Roberts and Chris Gallio put on a real show in a contest of tactics and unusual combinations with Gallio running the “duck and pop”, California blitz and a couple of new moves in his attempt to overcome Sean Roberts’ long leg reach and speed. As time ran down Gallio was firmly in control and won the men’s middle weight division.
Luis Jimenez of Mexico managed to pull a rabbit out of his hat, winning with an impressive display in the light middle weight division. Other divisional champions of the day were Derrick Wilson - senior men’s middle weight, Bryan Young - men’s light heavy weight, Dona Pettway - men’s super heavy weight and Johnnie Murphy - senior men’s 45 and over division, Jason Holmes - men’s continuous sparring and Jaime Kerley women’s continuous sparring. Team GOP won the men’s team sparring division.
The forms grand championship ended up being a showdown between Luis Jimenez with his strong Japanese form Kanku Sho and Johnnie Murphy’s dynamic bo form Chikara Dai. Murphy was crowned the traditional forms champion after a close score from the judges. Murphy also won the contemporary forms grand championship.
The men’s sparring grand championship came down to an amazing fight between Roberto Torres and Bryan Young. As time ran out Torres was the big winner taking home the big money and his first adult grand championship.
This competition can be viewed on line at Texas-sport-karate.com. This is a new website dedicated to competition primarily in Texas, Mexico and Louisiana. However, stories, videos and pictures from as far away as Portland and Salt Lake City can also be viewed.
