So if your brother is in karate and you are taking gymnastics and you hate it, what do you do? Go and start karate, almost pass your brother up in training, become one of the top competitors in the sport karate world and be one of the first juniors ever selected to Team Paul Mitchell. At least that's what Lauren Kearney did when in 1990 she decided that her brother shouldn't be the only one in the family taking martial arts classes.

Kearney started her first martial arts training in 1990 at the tender age of five at the East West Karate school in Coral Springs, Florida. Her instructor was Greg Silva. Her brother received his black belt on March 13, 1993 and a few months later, Kearney earned her first degree black belt on October 30, 1993. And, after 15 years of training, she remains a student at Silva's school, actively training, teaching and giving seminars and private lessons to martial artists. In addition to her involvement in martial arts training, Kearney is planning to graduate from Florida Atlantic University in 2006 with a degree in exercise science. Her ultimate goal is to write a book about the martial arts' relevance to exercise physiology.

Although Kearney started training at five, it wasn't until three years later, in 1993, that she decided to seriously try competition. She had competed once before as an underbelt against fellow Floridian Nick Begley. Begley won the big trophy that time and Kearney was really mad about the whole situation. She dabbled in competition a bit between 1993 and 1995 but her experience at the 1995 U.S. Open changed her life. She competed during the day, getting her "*bleep* kicked", as she so aptly put it. But she watched the night-time finals where she saw Casey Marks and Ashley Lane go head to head in competition and decided that she wanted to be on stage as well. She began training with Casey Marks and has been working with Marks for the past 8 years. Kearney reached her dream of getting on stage at the U.S. Open as well, appearing for her first time in 1999, and then every US Open thereafter, winning the 12-17 girls weapons title in 2002 and making stage appearances in the women's divisions in 2003 and 2004. In fact, Kearney's finals appearances are not limited to the US Open, Kearney has appeared on stage in the finals in nearly every NASKA world event in 2001 and 2003 and at every NASKA world event in 2002 and 2004. 2005 is starting off great as well with appearances on stage at the 2005 Compete Nationals in both adult weapons and women's forms. Overall, Kearney has won between 20-25 grand championship titles in NASKA world events. She also accomplished a feat that few have managed in getting picked up by Team Paul Mitchell while still a junior. She continues as a member of Team Paul Mitchell and is the team's stalwart and most consistent female competitor today.

In 2003, Kearney decided to expand her horizons and begin point sparring. With Roger Krahl and Paul "Stingo" Garcia as her sparring instructors, she was prepared for battle. Although she has had a few low points in sparring (like a bit of a knock out at the 2004 Battle of Atlanta from Joyce Blanco), Kearney has held her own and steadily improved in the division. She made it to stage to compete for the women's sparring grand championship at three world events in 2004 and expect her to be on stage in 2005 as well. With her participation in point sparring, Kearney now competes in nine divisions at tournaments and, more often than not, wins most of them as well as taking at least one grand championship in either weapons or forms. She continues to focus on forms and weapons but would love to win a grand championship in sparring in the future.

In 2004, Kearney was two divisions shy of her goal of nine NASKA world titles. She was the number one rated competitor in women's musical forms and weapons, 18-29 women's creative forms and weapons, 18-29 women's traditional forms and weapons and 18-29 women's light middleweight sparring. She ended up placing second in women's extreme forms and third in women's extreme weapons. Kearney's hard work has paid off so far as she continues to make an impact in the sport martial arts world. We look forward to seeing what she will do in 2005.