It is inevitable that the Golden Gate Internationals offers a professional and classy atmosphere alongside a whole lot of fun. Promoters Jordan and Felipa Pallen are a couple that when combined provide just the right amount of crazy (Jordan) tempered by practicality (Felipa). Together, they presented the 2010 Golden Gate Internationals in Santa Clara, California the weekend of April 9-11, 2010.
The setting for the tournament was a great hotel and leading up to the event, the Pallens offered some great incentives for tournament-goers. From special pre-registration offers to an incredibly wide variety of divisons for the event, the level of innovation was outstanding. The event itself drew some of the best from across the county and throughout the state of California. With the 2010 NBL Supergrands announced as being held in Sacramento, California in December, competitors from the area were even more inspired to get to the Golden Gate Internationals to secure a seed for the end of the year championships.
Friday evening and Saturday afternoon the eliminations were run off for the black belts. Competitors worked hard to secure a spot on the finals stage to show their talent to the appreciative crowd. On hiatus from his new acting career in Hollywood, Sage Northcutt made his return to NBL competition without losing a step in any of his divisions. He flipped, tricked and kicked like he hadn't missed a day of training. Jerico Catura also made his ring return after not competing in much of last year's competition season. Catura cemented his return with a win in Korean forms, Contemporary Forms and Contemporary Weapons. Finally, a true star of Hollywood, R&B singer Shiela E. was a special guest judge for the Junior Kempo Forms Divisions (make sure to check out Mike Spizzuco's interview with Shiela E. exclusively on our site). On to the finals...
The finals opened with the crazy side of the Pallen duo - Jordan Pallen with a compelling Michael Jackson-themed musical number. Pallen's sequined glove, moonwalk and hip thrusts had the crowd roaring. After the performance we observed his wife Felipa fighting off a few music producers and scouts who clearly saw the incredible talent of her husband during his performance.
Following the opening demo, it was time for the competitors of the event to show their stuff as the Junior Choreographed forms grand championship got underway. Eric Rodriguez, Jordan Simon and Micah Rosecrantz all flipped and tricked around the stage to determine the winner. Simon, the older of the three, was declared the winner for his first championship of the evening.
Next on the schedule was the Adult Contemporary Forms Grand Championship. Jerico Catura, Todd Dunphy and Monique Magallanes - now an adult - completed their respective forms to determine the winner. Catura's amazing flips and tricks would be too much for the other competitors as he would walk away with the grand championship title and prize money.
The next competition was a Golden Gate Internationals-only event. The Pallen's martial arts school is kenpo based so in honor of that, the tournament provides a special grand championship division that no other NBL tournament offers - the Junior Kempo Grand Championship. Elizabeth Aquino, Ali Stevens and Dezmon Monroe all competed for the pride to call themselves Grand Champion. Hometown hero, Monroe, would effortlessly take home the title.
After a raffle drawing hosted by the King of Pop (Jordan Pallen), the night resumed with junior continuous sparring. Chance Maxwell and Shaun Northcutt duked it out for the Featherweight title. Northcutt would walk away with the win. Drew Beatty and Maria Tanate battled next with Beatty walking away with the win. Sean McNeil and Ken Do were next for the boys. Do's flashy jump and spin kicks led him to the win. Next, Lisa Spangler and Marissa Rojas fought with more tenacity than most boys. Rojas walked away with the win. Also, Ashlee Grant walked away with a win via bow out from Colbey Northcutt.
As if the kids weren't exciting enough, the next event on the schedule was the adult team sparring finals. Team All Stars sported their line up of Willie Hicks, Jack Felton and Jamal Albini. All Stars faced a California tradition of the Bay Area's Best team. Bay Area's Bests' line up changes often and at this event it was made up of Kyle Richards, Jason Holmes and Justus Lawrence of Utah.
First, Kyle Richards and Willie Hicks put on a clinic of speed. After that bout, All Stars led 2-0. The next fight was Jack “Iceman” Felton versus Jason "J-Dog" Holmes. J-Dog put up a valiant effort closing the gap by scoring six points, however, Felton kept the team lead as 10-6. Last up, Justus Lawrence and Jamal Albini fought to determine the winning team. Although Lawrence scored more points, he could not overcome the deficit created by Felton and the final team score was 13-10 in favor of All Stars.
Next up was the Junior Choreographed Musical Weapons Grand. Jordan Simon was back and his competition was Karina Hipolito and Sage Northcutt. Hipolito's unnatural flexibility was one of the highlights of her performance. Northcutt was intense with his muscular routine but Simon's patented "Welcome to the Jungle" routine with the bo won him the grand championship and his second title of the evening.
Following the kids was the Adult Contemporary Weapons Grand Championship. Jerico Catura and Monique Magallanes were back and joined by Robert Lyons. All spun and tricked all over the stage with the master tricker, Catura, joining Simon by winning his second grand championship title of the night.
Next up was Junior Point Sparring as the kid fighters had a second opportunity to show their stuff on stage. Christian Guzman squared off with Jordan Pallen, Jr for the boys 14-15 divisional title. With a title on the line, Pallen, Jr. was a little more serious than his father and stayed intense throughout the fight to walk away with the win. Ally Stevens and Marissa Rojas faced off for the girls 15-17 female point sparring title with Stevens pulling out a stunning upset win over Rojas. The 16-17 boys division was up next as big Daniel Del Valle and Juan Mesa squared off. Mesa put up a valiant effort, but it would be El Paso's Del Valle who would take home the win.
Before returning to more forms, the men's Executive Point Sparring Grand Championship came to the stage. There were two large men representing the executives as Paul Mendoza and Sylvester Youngblood entered the ring. The two walloped each other with some hard blows and displayed determination and grit. Neither backed down and exchanged points with Mendoza scoring a last second point to secure the win, 6-5.
Next on the plate was the Junior Japanese Forms Grand Championship. Adrianne Angat, Mara Hipolito and newcomer Jack Goodwin all demonstrated finesse with their respective forms, but it would be the diminutive Angat who would take home the win. Not only did the youngster win Japanese, but she would also defeat Colbey Northcutt and Mara Hipolito to take home the Korean Grand Championship as well, joining Simon and Catura in the double winner circle.
The last forms division of the evening was the Adult Traditional Forms and Weapons Grand Championship. Derek Bentley (Japanese), Brandon Bertsch (Weapons), Jerico Catura (Korean), David Coppock (Kempo) and Rochelle Aquino (Female Japanese) all represented their respective divisions well. Bertsch was also nursing a horrible illness that made him nearly unable to do anything over the weekend. He was able to pull together enough strength to win the traditional weapons division. He then pulled more strength out of somewhere unmentionable to put together a powerful bo routine that was too much for the other competitors to overcome as he took the grand championship title. Clearly disoriented and dizzy as he accepted his grand championship award, the pale and lifeless Bertsch could only mutter something about "going towards the light" as he stumbled off the stage.
Once the forms and weapons competition was completed, the evening ended with good old fashioned FIGHTIN'. For the woman's point sparring grand championships, Texas' Regina Thompson came to the stage to face Jocelyn Esposito. After a flash of gloves and foot pads, the underdog Esposito fell to the veteran Thompson by a score of 10-3.
The last event was the men's point sparring grand championships. Earlier in the finals Sean Arceo lost to Jack Felton (6-5) and Michael Jefferson beat Matt Okada (6-5) with literally a second left on the clock. Those semi-final match ups set up a final face off between Felton and Jefferson - both teammates but both wanting the title very much.
The fight was a classic speed versus power match up. Southern California's Felton moved well and was able to dodge the long legs of Northern California's Jefferson. As the old saying goes, speed kills, and Felton's deft moves helped him to claim the prize this evening.
With the end of the fighting, the NBL portion of the Golden Gate Internationals concluded. Sunday would bring another day of underbelt competition and judges realized that they had to behave a little bit in order to be on top of things the following day. However, that didn't stop anyone from having a great time Saturday night as another successful and entertaining Golden Gate Internationals came to an end.
