Dynamic Nash duo make history at 2008 Canadian Open

Trevor and Chelsea Nash won a combined four titles. When Trevor Nash started martial arts at the tender age of four, he had no idea that he would eventually become one of the best and most controversial fighters in sport karate. He also had no inkling that four years later he would become big brother to sister Chelsea. Following in her brother's footsteps, Chelsea also started martial arts lessons at age four. The siblings took different martial arts paths with Trevor staying dedicated to training and competition in a way that resulted in earning multiple world titles, spots on top sport karate teams, owning highly successful martial arts schools, promoting his own tournament and marrying another top competitor – Casey Marks (now Nash). Chelsea moved in and out of martial arts, quitting for an entire year at one point and competing off and on as she tried to discover what she wanted to achieve through martial arts. She was always successful in competition (with Trevor as coach) and highly skilled but was not as much of a junky for the sport as her brother. But the paths of this brother-sister pair diverged in an historic manner at the 2008 Canadian Open. In her first year as an adult, Chelsea became the 2008 women's sparring grand champion at the Canadian Open and also won the Elite women's fighting division. Brother Trevor did the same thing for the men, winning the overall men's sparring grand championship and accomplishing a dramatic win in the men's Elite fighting competition. This would be the first time in history that a sibling pair simultaneously won such honors at the same event. The Canadian Open, held March 14-15, 2008 in Hull, Ontario Canada, offered regular sparring competition with WKA rules and a special Elite sparring division for both men and women with huge cash prizes. Trevor Nash was the 2007 Elite sparring winner and was defending his title. The Elite sparring rules were a bit different and required real cardiovascular shape since each match was two, two-minute rounds. Players were instructed that if they fell down after scoring, they would not be awarded points and if they stepped out of bounds, their opponent was automatically awarded a point.

In the women's divisions, Chelsea plowed through a field of eleven women for the Elite title and a much larger panel for the women's regular weight divisions. Her smart footwork and explosive blitzes kept all of her opponents off balance and allowed her to easily overcome her challengers. In the women's grand championship match, Chelsea faced Marie Eve Dicaire and dominated, finishing with a 7-2 score. The women's Elite fighting final round was on stage in the night show and Chelsea faced Lace Godin. Nash came to win and showed it by ending round one with an 8-0 lead. Godin came more alive in round two but it was not enough as Nash took it easy and slid to a 13-2 win.

Trevor's journey to the winner's circle was a bit more sordid. Three months prior to the Canadian Open, Trevor suffered a hernia and was actually scheduled for surgery two weeks after the event. The injury had not bothered him much in training and he seemed completely unaffected during team sparring eliminations on Friday evening and Elite sparring eliminations and the sparring grand championships during the day on Saturday. What exactly is a hernia? It is when a part of your abdomen or intestine breaks through a weakened part of the abdomen wall. Sounds disgusting? It is. But a little piece of intestine hanging out of his abdomen was not going to stop Trevor Nash from reaching his goals. The injury did not rear its ugly head until the second round of Nash's first match in the quarterfinals in Elite sparring in the night time show. Nash was facing Robbie Lavoie in this fight. In round one, the two were evenly matched with Nash relying on his legs to get in close to follow with his hands and Lavoie working his speed and footwork to surprise Nash with blitzes when possible. The first round ended 3-3. In round two, Nash started to pull ahead until Nash threw a kick and collapsed on the mat writhing and moaning in pain. Somehow he recovered and not only managed to win the fight but to score some more points to assure an 8-5 victory. He made it through that match but he still had two, two-minute round fights he had to win to take the title.

In the next match, Nash faced Jason Grenier. Nash looked fairly recovered from the prior fight but he was looking at four minutes of fighting against the versatile Grenier. As the fight progressed it was clear that Nash was still nursing his injury and that it was bothering him. Nash played it safe in round one as Grenier took a 2-0 lead. Grenier's step in back fist was working for him as he matched Nash point for point in round two. Nash's injury hurt his timing but he pushed through. As time wound down in the second round, Nash came alive to get within one point (6-5) with 3 seconds left in the match. The fighters let time run down and it went to overtime (you had to win by two points in Elite fighting). A strong side kick by Nash tied up the score but further damaged him, causing him to groan in pain. Another kick by Nash put him up by one. Nash then hit with a two point head kick and in his excitement (and pain) he dropped to his knees. There was controversy as the center ref determined that Nash had fallen down after the technique and was going to refuse to award the point. This was reversed after a consultation with the judges who pointed out that Nash had been on his feet when break was called and had purposely fallen to his knees at that point. Nash was ultimately declared the winner with a 9-6 score. One more round was left.

When it came to the final match, Nash faced a very smart fighter in Jason Brown. Nash was focused but whether it was on his injury or the prize money was hard to tell. Nash left little to chance, coming out strong from the bell – even kicking Brown right into one of the corner judges (the poor woman had been drilled twice in the Elite fighting division so far). Nash was visibly in pain but he still managed to open up the points with a two point head kick. At the end of the first round it was 3-2 for Nash. Two minutes of fighting remained for Nash as he worked to take his second Elite championship title in two years. Another two-point head kick for Nash helped him remain in the lead. Brown mounted his comeback but it was not enough as Nash somehow kept his front leg pumping. Although Brown got within one point, Nash scored at the bell to win 6-4 and take his second title in two years and create sport karate history. During Trevor's onstage ordeal, younger sister Chelsea watched with a look of concern on her face. When asked later if she was worried about whether her big brother would win despite his injury, Chelsea stated with the confidence of a younger sister who looks up to her older brother, “there was never a doubt in my mind.” And she was touched later to find out that Trevor showed his tender side by revealing that what really drove him to keep on fighting was the thought that “this would be the first time that a brother and sister won both the grands and Elite fighting at the same tournament”. With his outspokenness, Trevor Nash has definitely caused some in the martial arts world to dislike him, but after his performance at the Canadian Open, no one can question his warrior heart and drive as he proved that he deserves to be called a champion.

The Nash saga was the big story from the Canadian Open but there were also a lot of great moments in competition history coming from other competitors at the event. For instance, men's team sparring was ironic as Team Gray Beard – a newly named version of last year's team sparring winners – defeated Team UFMA's (aka Team United) Trevor Nash, Joey Dacunha and Shane Baker in a nearly identical way as last year during the men's team sparring eliminations. This time it was Trevor Nash facing Matt Perrins in the final round which ended in a team score tie. The fight had been unbelievable with both men taking it to each other throughout the entire match. In overtime, Perrins scored with a last minute side kick that ended the fight similarly to Dominic Aversa's side kick to Shane Baker in overtime last year. Team Gray Beards advanced and would face Team Wasuru in the finals.

Finals

The finals not only started on time, they started a couple minutes early. Event promoters Mike Bernardo, John and Peter Douvris definitely ran a great event. After a nice four hour break between the eliminations and finals (and an hour and half nap) we were ready to cover the night show with enthusiasm. The girls' forms grand championship was the first event for the evening. The young ladies entertained the crowd with a variety of musical and traditional performances. It looked like Marie-Pier Labreque might have a bite at the apple with her strong traditional performance but a slight bobble was enough to take her out of the running for most of the judges. Instead, it was Vanessa Crousette of Quebec who would win the crown with her musical performance. Croussette's win was her second in two years at the Canadian Open. Traditional ruled in the boys' forms competition which highlighted only one open forms competitor in the mix (Ryan Young). It was the Japanese routine of Erik Depatie that would win this evening.

When the weapons competitors were called to the stage for the junior boys' grand championship, you could see that the favorite weapon in the country of Canada is definitely the bo. When we spoke with 9-year-old Dre Rice before the grand championship, he told us that if he won the boys weapons grands, he would use his prize money to buy a new playstation. Rice broke the mold by bringing kamas to the stage but despite his strong performance and his desire for a new electronic gadget, he was unable to topple last year's grand champion Nicholas Merlin as Merlin's musical bo routine was the overall winner for the second year in a row.

The girls' weapons grand championship was another bo fiesta with three bos and a sword on stage. This time the creative styling of Sierra Lourenco caught the eye of the judges as she received the highest scores and the award. Joey Greenhalgh opened the adult weapons grand championship with his shiny green bo. But competition was closed out by the intensity of Keith Weston who made a rare appearance at this event. This evening he was wielding an oar for his traditional performance. Weston's performance was the favorite of the judges which meant a $500 cash prize for Weston.

Sammy Vasquez gave Keith Weston a run for his money in the adult forms grand championship. Weston was obviously the favorite but Vasquez let loose with all he had in his extreme musical routine. Two of the five judges voted for Vasquez but that was not enough as Weston went home with his second grand championship title of the evening. Trevor Nash's fights were not the only ones on stage as the seven other men gave strong performances as well. In the quarterfinals, Jason “the Sleeper” Grenier and Marc Monsour were the first two fighters on stage. Monsour had had a ton of success at the event against much larger opponents all weekend but somehow Grenier stymied him. Grenier's long legs kept Monsour at bay and Monsour didn't seem able to time Grenier's movement. It ended with Grenier winning with an 11-4 score.

Shane Baker and Ross Levine, the sole American to make it to the stage, faced off in another quarterfinals match. Levine had been fighting smart all weekend as well as coaching most of his Team Wasuru teammates. But Baker had also been in the zone, especially in Elite fighting. The two were tied nearly all the time throughout the match and the time ran out with Levine up 7-6. But you had to win by 2 points so the fight continued. Baker scored right off the line to tie up the match but then Levine turned on the heat and put himself ahead 9-8 and then scored again to win this very close match. Jason Brown and Rene Perrault were the final two for the quarterfinal match ups. Brown was a master of using the ring but Perrault's power style definitely had its advantages. Perrault opened up the match by scoring two quick points. Brown slowly worked his way back to find himself up 4-3 at the end of round one. As time ticked down, Brown began to pull ahead in the second round scoring with both hand and kick techniques. Once Brown hit a 9-6 lead, it was all over and the final score was 11-7 for Brown.

Ring technicians Ross Levine and Jason Brown fought in the semi-finals (along with Trevor Nash and Jason Grenier). This was another close match-up with the first round ending 3-3. A two point kick by Brown with only a few seconds to go put him up 8-7 as time ran out. Levine had his work cut out for him as the match moved into overtime. Levine tied it up but Brown managed two points on blitzes to go up by two and advance to face Nash for the championships. The final event for the finals was men's team sparring. Team Wasuru faced Team Gray Beard – the old guys who were fighting to retain the title that they won last year. Jason Grenier faced Fortunato Aversa in round one. This one started with Grenier getting hit in the eye and losing a contact to bring it all to a screeching halt. When fighting resumed, the two spent a lot of time dodging the other's techniques. The match ended with Aversa up 2-1. Ryan McGriff faced Dominic Aversa in round two. McGriff is all leg and was content to chase Aversa around the ring with his right foot while Aversa worked side steps to try and find the opportunity to get inside with his hands. It ended up 3-2 in favor of McGriff which meant it was all tied up and the score of the final round would decide it all.

Young Ross Levine faced the seasoned Matt Perrins for the final round in men's teams. Perrins opened with the first point and Levine responded in kind and more kind and more kind as Levine pulled ahead 6-2 by the midpoint of the match. As time wound down, Perrins mounted a huge comeback, getting within one point with only a few seconds left. In a final exchange, Perrins had the chance to tie it up to force an overtime but Levine smartly stepped back and threw a defensive side kick that scored and ended the match with a 9-7 score to give Wasuru the win and $2000 cash prize.

As the finals ended, a light snow began to add to the many feet of snow already in Hull. An exhausted Trevor Nash retired to his room to nurse his wounds and eat pizza while Chelsea headed for the lobby to hang out with friends. Two completely different personalities had shared one common accomplishment this weekend and both knew it. However, Trevor celebrated by resting quietly with cable television while Chelsea was dunked head first in a snow bank in front of the hotel. Nice work Nash siblings, nice work.

Written by sportsmartialarts.com