CANADIANS INVADE THE LONE STAR STATE (LONE STAR OPEN QUICK UPDATE) AND NASKA CANADA

--Andrew Cabilan

After a 14 year absence from the NASKA World Tour, the state of Texas made its big return with Greg Beaver’s Lone Star Open held on the weekend of January 29 and 30 in Austin, Texas. Having the distinction of being “The Live Music Capital of the World”, the music from this event came from the boom boxes of the Musical divisions rather than the speakers of local saloons and vocals were coming from the kiais of the competitors, not from the crooning from popular country music stars.

In his sophomore effort, Beaver moved the tournament date from August to January, making it the first NASKA World Tour event for the year. This move proved to work in Beaver’s favour as NASKA’s top rated competitors all made the trek to defend their titles and maintain their seeds and for newer competitors to earn their spot in the 2010 ratings. The event was held in its usual spot – The Renaissance Austin. This immaculate and spacious venue is located in a commercial area of Austin, adjacent to many restaurants and bistros. It came to no surprise that after the tournament, many competitors congregated at the nearby Cheesecake Factory, only steps away from the hotel corridor.

The Canadian delegation consisted of NMAC president Mike Palitti, veteran competitor Andrew Cabilan and representing Northern Toronto Karate, newcomer Jamie Kerr. Being a state in the south, it is almost always expected that the weather is hot and humid, much like how it was in Austin back in August. However, these Canadians were quite in shock when they discovered that the temperature in Austin was actually colder than it was in Canada! The cold weather definitely did not impede their quest for gold as all three of them brought the heat and walked away with some precious hardware.

Kerr, in his first major NASKA event, proved that his skills could test NASKA’s finest. Kerr handily captured a 4th Place finish in Japanese/Okinawan forms, placing behind NASKA seeds and World Champions Will Cornell and Scott Wu and Eric Cantu, an NBL World Champion. Kerr also placed 4th in Hard Style Traditional Unbladed Weapons placing behind the Top 3 seeds Ross Levine, Jarrett Leiker and Scott Wu. Kerr is definitely one to watch out for as he is promising to make 2010 a noteworthy year for himself!

Mike Palitti competed with fellow compatriot Andrew Cabilan in the 30 – 39 divisions. After a fierce battle in Creative Weapons, Cabilan squeaked by Palitti by .01. In both Traditional Forms and Weapons, both Cabilan and Palitti dominated with 1st and 3rd Placings respectively with Rodrigo Llauger of California placing 2nd. With NASKA now separating Traditional and Open Grands for both Weapons and Forms, Cabilan elected to compete in the 18+ Grands instead of defending the 30+ Grands which he won in the previous year. Cabilan fell short of winning the Grands as he was edged by Kalman Csoka in Weapons and Will Cornell in Forms.

An increased Canadian presence on the NASKA World Tour couldn’t have come at a better time with the official announcement that NASKA Canada will commence in 2010 with three “2A” events and one “5A” event. It goes without saying that traveling the entire circuit involves a great deal of financial commitment and to a certain degree, may be prohibitive for some. The objective of NASKA Canada is to give Canada’s Sport Karate elite an opportunity to compete with World Class competitors on their home soil and to crown NASKA Canadian Champions. Not only will these Champions be recognized at the National level but at the NASKA World level as well. Although NASKA Canada is currently in its building stages, a solid foundation is being put in place to have our Champions the recognition they truly deserve.

The NASKA Canada 2010 season kicks off with Pierre Saulnier’s NASKA 2A L’International Cobra to be held in St. Eustache (suburb of Montreal) on April 10. This will be followed by Canada’s “Grand Daddy” of all tournaments – Clermont Poulin’s NASKA 5A Quebec Open to be held on April 24 in Quebec City. On October 2, NASKA World Champion and WKC World Director Mike Bernardo will be hosting Canada’s Premier event, the NASKA 2A Ontario Grand Nationals (which happened to be a NASKA World Tour event back in the mid to late 1990s). NASKA Canada 2010 wraps up at the NASKA 2A and NMAC Elite AAA Toronto Tournament of Champions, hosted by Mike Palitti on November 27. Keep your eyes and ears open for future information about NASKA Canada and its events or contact Mike Palitti at mikepalitti@rogers.com.