Ross MA team fares well at tournament
Ross Martial Arts & Fitness Academy fielded a small team of taekwondo practitioners and kickboxers Saturday, Mar. 23 at the 31st Annual Clairday Classic open martial arts tournament in Decatur, Ala.
A team of five competitors brought home 14 trophies, swords, and medals from the forms, weapons, point sparring, and kickboxing competition hosted annually by the Alabama Karate Circuit. The wins included seven first place finishes.
“Our most dominant wins came in the kickboxing and point sparring divisions,” Ross MA instructor Jay Russell said, “Five out of seven of those first places were in combative divisions.”
Russell said the Ross Fight Team led off the day’s events with Tristen Fitz-Gerald, Cordell Washington and Brett Schroeder competing in the youth continuous fighting divisions. He added that continuous fighting is simply kickboxing on a gym floor rather than in a ring.
Fitz-Gerald claimed the team’s initial first place for the day by defeating two opponents to claim a championship sword in the 15-17 year old continuous fighting division. Schroeder also claimed a first place in the 10-11 year old division, while Washington lost in the semi-finals to finish with third place in the 12-14 year old group.
Other members of the team who placed were: Jake Duke, first places in men’s intermediate point sparring and forms as well as second place in underbelt men’s continuous fighting; and Charlie Duke, second place in beginner boys 6 and 7 point sparring and third place in forms.
Fitz-Gerald also claimed first place in intermediate teens 16 and 17 point sparring and forms, Schroeder took another first in advanced boys 10 and 11 point sparring and second in forms, and Washington secured second place in intermediate boys 12 and 13 point sparring.
“I think our team performed extremely well for the first open martial arts tournament of the year,” Russell said. “I was also impressed with how the AKC has re-organized itself during the off-season. This tournament went very smooth.”
Russell said the AKC made some critical changes to competition rules that seemed to encourage more aggressive point sparring and streamlined the circuit’s judging and ring assignments. He added that the circuit has also begun to award samurai swords for first place finishes in combative divisions.
The team at Ross Martial Arts Academy, 1014 Highway 80 East in Demopolis, will spend the next month and a half ‘cranking up’ their training schedule to prepare for the next open martial arts tournament on May 18 back in Decatur.
For more information on tournament locations, dates, or rules, check the AKC website at www.alabamakaratecircuit.com.