Held October 3-4, 2014 in Orlando, Florida, the BLITZ Championships was the final event of the season for Florida’s BLITZ League and is also the only NBL event in the Florida area. The event drew top schools and teams from all around Florida as well as from surrounding states and demonstrated the deep talent pool in the Florida area. Friday night highlighted some excellent under belt performances by competitors from Team Intensity, Florida Sports Martial Arts and 5 Tenet Martial Arts. Even the kids in the beginner divisions were tearing it up!
With top competitor Jeff Doss in the house with some of his kids, you knew the competition would be tough. Haley Glass and Aaron Bailey lit up the junior black belt divisions. Relly Valentine of Florida Sports Martial Arts took a big win in the 12-14 extreme forms division to demonstrate that he is a force to be reckoned with.
It was great to see appearances by Hakim Walker and Kevin Walker (no relation) who both flew or drove in from out of state. It was even more of a surprise to see Eli Thompson walk in to compete in the men’s extreme forms division. Thompson later watched his 5 year old daughter cartwheel kick her way to a win in the 5 & under sparring competition. Friday night also showcased the junior and adult team sparring competition and super fight competition. In the end, it was Team Velocity with both the junior and adult team sparring wins. Velocity also had two more wins in the junior and adult super fight categories as Micah Williams won for juniors and Ramon de la Cruz won for adults.
The highlight of the Friday night competition was the demo team challenge. Five huge and incredibly talented demo teams went head-to-head in a great battle. In the end, the kids from Florida Sports Martial Arts (Marc Canonizado’s former school) took the coveted win.
Saturday was the time for sparring and Floridians love to fight! In the junior divisions, Mekhi Greene came out the winner in a tough 12-14 black belt boys division. Peyton Fender defeated all challengers to win the girls 12-14 competition. Elena Persio got the win in 15-17 girls sparring.
The BLITZ Championships offered under belt grand championships in forms and weapons and the competition was hot! Christian Bayonne and Jonathan Garcia were 11 & under beginner weapons and forms winners. Mia Lang was the double winner for 11 & under intermediates and Javier Maldonado and Hector Otero were the 11 & under advanced winners. Giancarlo Corto and Trinity Davis were two of the 12-17 year old winners.
In the final grand championships for youth and adults, Jonathan DeJesus, Kevin Walker, Ramon de la Cruz and Hakim Walker all moved into the finals to fight for the men’s sparring title. Eli Thompson went all the way with the adult forms grand championship title with his extreme routine.
Haley Glass was the double 11 & under forms and weapons champion while Carson Chavez was a double winner for the 12-17 competition with wins in both forms and weapons as he also took home two grand championships. In fighting, Ramon de la Cruz and Kevin Walker went head to head for the overall grand championship title. It was a close match but Kevin Walker held on to his legacy as he won the grand championship title for his second year in a row.
The BLITZ Championships was a great time for all and a great way to end the season. Get prepared for a new BLITZ season starting in January, 2015!
