May 11, 2005
NMC contest still kicking
Tae Kwon Do open tournament held at college since 1976
By Carol South
Herald contributing writer
Showcasing months and years of hard work, discipline and dedication, 55 people kiyahed and kicked their way through the Northwestern Michigan College Tae Kwon Do Tournament.
Held Saturday at the college's Physical Education building, the tournament featured forms, sparring, weapons forms and weapons sparring for numerous levels and age classifications.
Northwestern Michigan Martial Arts Academy hosted the open karate tournament, an event that has been held at the college since 1976. Clubs from around the region and state brought competitors ranging from novices at age nine and under to adult men's and women's black belts.
Despite the intensity of the competition, fun was a central feature of the day for both organizers and participants. Trophies were granted to the first through fourth places in each category, but the name of the game was learning.
"The first thing we do is have the tournament because it is a good opportunity for fun," said Dale Inman, director of the tournament and an instructor with the Northwestern Michigan Martial Arts Academy.
Over the decades, participants in the NMC Open Karate Tournament boost their training by watching and competing against students of other martial arts styles.
"The biggest thing it provides is giving them an opportunity to see how they will compete against other clubs and other styles," Inman said.
Hayley Avery participated in the event, her second ever tournament, for the first time as an adult. The tenth-grade student at St. Francis High School has been studying karate for two years and plans to continue to the black belt level. Saturday she took home a second place finish in fighting and a fourth place finish in forms.
The chance to spar with new faces is a big plus of tournaments for Avery.
"Tournaments are a mixture of fun and competition," noted Avery, who studies karate at the college. "Plus you're stuck with your club all the time and at a tournament, it's a mystery about what's going to happen because there are so many new faces."
Gaining his first top placement ever, Marty Lamain of Gaylord took home a first place trophy in the junior weapons division competition. Lamain, a tenth-grade homeschool student, has studied Tang Soo Do for two years and began his study of the sword, called an Iaido, three months ago after attaining his red belt.
Studying two hours a week at the New World Karate Club in Gaylord, his martial arts training has helped him focus in other areas of his life.
"This is something that you're forced to discipline yourself at such a level you know what you're doing with such power and control," Lamain said. "Because you're so focused, you have to keep all other parts of your life in focus."
Dazzling the crowd and judges with his high-speed demonstration of a three-section staff, Michael Stivani took first place in the black belt open forms division. A student of martial arts for more than two decades, Stivani currently studies Filipino Kuntaw, what he termed a "soft" or fluid style.
"That does not refer to easy or hard but that they accomplish the same thing but in a different way," said Stivani, who studies and also teaches private lessons at the Northern Martial Arts Academy in Traverse City.
The three-section staff is a challenging weapon to master because users often injure themselves during training or practice sessions. Stivani precisely times his martial arts movements with the staff to keep it moving and not battering his body. Over the years he has given himself many bruises while learning to use it.
"If it stops, moving I can injure myself, hit myself," noted Stivani, who has competed with this weapon for three years, who gives himself another handicap with it: "It's hard to do without my glasses on."