Emily Cooper
President |
| Emily Cooper has been involved in the martial arts since 1987 and holds black belts in Tae Kwon Do and American Kenpo. She started the site with little website design experience and figured it out along the way. "I started competing in 1987 and had to stop in 1993 for school. When I returned to the competition scene in 1997, I was amazed at the caliber of martial artist on the scene but also disappointed that the athletes were not getting recognition beyond the one or two days of the tournament. I started the website for fun, just to see if I could help martial artists and the general public see the true talent that is out there competing in sport martial arts events," saidn Cooper in a September, 2003 interview. "I never expected it to get so big so fast. I hope we can keep to our overall goal of bringing more recognition to the sport and its incredible participants." Cooper now works heavily in the areas of marketing, backend programming and content for the site. |
Jeff LaFrance
Vice-President |
| When Cooper (see above) realized she had little web design experience, she turned to Jeff LaFrance, a graduate of the University of Michigan with a degree in Computer Science. LaFrance has been training in martial arts since 1992 and holds black belts in Sho-rei ryu and Tae Kwon Do. He has been competing since 1998 and still competes periodically. LaFrance focuses his site work on graphic design, video production and website functionality. He also writes many stories and does video and photography at various events. |
Nick Schneider
Master Reporter |
| Let's here it for Nick. He's survived major tournament traumas and still come out alive. Nick is one of our national reporters and he's a competitor. Nick is taking over a lot of the video editing work and cataloging which is a great help. |
Mallory Woods
Programmer at Large |
| When Cooper and LaFrance started on the website, they of course sought out advice from everyone they knew who had knowledge about web design. A good friend, Mallory Woods, had vast experience designing in the programming language of Cold Fusion. He was kind enough to help Cooper and LaFrance learn all about it and helped with tons of backend design work. He continues to answer the call for assistance to this day as the Webmaster bug him on a constant basis. Woods is also a competitor, former member of Team CJB and now a member of Team Charlie Lee Karate. Despite his complaints about us bugging him, he loves this site! |
Joe Abboud
Videographer |
| Joe is Nick's partner in crime and he loves to press record on that video camera! |
Jeff Doss
Author: Sushi's Skoolin' Session |
| Jeff Doss has been competing since before he could walk and is a former member of Team CJB. His greatest interest today is in the competitors of yesterday and their accomplishments. In his Sushi's Skoolin' Sessions, a Members Area exclusive, he introduces us to competitors and trends of the past and highlights the history of the sport. |
Jeremy Epstein
Author: Music Section |
| Jeremy is the Music Kid. He contributes new music ideas for those looking for music to work out to or for musical forms. He figures out what top competitors are using so that you can go out and get the tunes for yourself. His section is a Members Area exclusive. |
Damon Gilbert
Author: Gilberts' Gripes |
| Damon Gilbert is one of the premiere fighters on the national level of competition. He is a former member of Team CJB and has been competing for many years. He provides and authors all of the Gilbert's Gripes articles for the members section and gets you thinking! |
Lauren Kearney
SportMartialArts.com Spokeswoman |
| Lauren was involuntarily thrust into the spotlight at a tournament in 2003 when we forced her to get on stage and announce the SportMartialArts.com website at a finals and throw out t-shirts to the audience. She did such a wonderful job that she is now the official Spokeswoman for the site and is always asked to do the announcing when she present. She is a great supporter and contributor to the site and an awesome competitor and her representation is greatly appreciated. |
StevenP Kenny
Photographer |
| Steven has helped out at a number of national and regional events with photography and videography. He is best known for his killer nunchuck routine which almost killed him and for his excellent coaching skills, like telling Lauren to go and "do that sticky thing you do". He is most interested in meeting the Miss Teen Filipina contestants. |
Victor Potrell
The French Guy |
| Victor is helping us out as part of his internship. He's from France and he is reporting on events in France and translating stuff so that our French friends can read stuff too! |
Will Valentine
The Insider |
| Bordering on outrageous, Will Valentine brings us the inside information from the competition scene such as lingo, ettiquette and best practices. Don't show up at a tournament without reviewing Will's important advice! This is a Members Area exclusive. |
Mark Huard
New England Reporter |
| Mark Huard is the promoter of the Battle of Maine, a school owner and a regular contributor of stories and photos from the New England area. His coverage includes KRANE, IPPONE and SMART events and more. He's also working hard on starting a new profiles area where he will highlight various competitors. |
Alesia Sipes
Florida Reporter |
| She humbly competes, raises her kid, designs websites and travels all over. Once Alesia moved to Florida, she took it upon herself to become the SportMartialArts.com Florida representative, providing us with updates from FAME2k, FBBA and other events that she attends. |
William "Dad" Canonizado
Supporter |
| Sometimes he films for us while we take a potty break, he brings us treats and he does great laundry. |
The Dechelles
Supporters |
| We gotta give props to the Dechelles for letting us use their palace when we travel to Florida. They are gracious hosts with a Noah's Ark atmosphere (lots of pets). We just might move in! |
Kathy "Mom" Kearney
Psuedo-Mom |
| She feeds us, she gives us water and she doesn't put up with any crap! |
Asian World of Martial Arts
Supporter/Sponsor |
| AWMA has been backing us on a lot of new ideas, sponsoring t-shirts and sponsored all of the Offline Quarterly flyers in 2004. They have been very great to work with and we appreciate the support! |
Casey's Mom
Supporter |
| Some think there is something going on between her and Jeff. Only time will tell. |
