Thank you to so many awesome martial artists that have supported this event over the years!
February 2017 was the biggest turnout to date with 168 competitors and between competitors, spectators, and judges, we had roughly 500 in total attendance! We follow the public school system calendar. What this means is there are three tournaments with a Fall, Winter, & Spring. The Spring Tournament is the final tournament for the competition year.
Notice! In an effort to make the tournament run smoother, as with last year, all weapons and musical must preregister the preceding Monday (Sept 24, Feb 18, & May 13). You can still pay at the door. School owners, emailing a list of your weapons & musical competitors with respective divisions will suffice for preregistering. We will start those divisions at 9AM sharp.
Also, as of 2017-2018 tournament year, competitors cannot do musical AND weapons. Chose one of them. A few competitors wanted to do both and it slows the tournament way down.
As of 2018-2019 tournament year, no one can compete in a color belt skill level for more than two years (meaning beginner, intermediate, & advanced). Five year color belts get bumped into black belt division.
A little history: Starting in 2004 and for the first eight years, we hosted a Fall tournament. Starting in 2012, we started hosting a Spring and Fall tournament. We’ve had from 100-150 competitors and up to 400 in total attendance. 2014 we started with the crowning of a NWFL Champion. We had special guest with Mr Martin Kove. We first started talking to Mr Kove (aka Sensei John Krease from Karate Kid) in January 2014 and was able to iron out the specifics by April 2014 for him to attend the 2014 Northwest Florida Championships for the October 18!
For 2015, we hosted two tournaments to get us on track to basically follow the school calendar. At the prodding of Mr Ferguson, we contacted Master Joe Poff and asked permission to use the name that he and his wife (Master Terri Poff) used for many, many years with Gulf Coast Martial Arts Championships. And we’re pleased that it was granted for us to use the name! So from Hub City Invitational to Northwest Florida Championships to Gulf Coast Martial Art Championships!
UFC Legend, Dan “The Beast” Severn May 19, 2018
Michael DePasquale Jr from “The Operative” from May 20, 2017
Aaron Gassor aka “Ginger Ninja Trickster” from May 14, 2016
Bruce Sisters from May 16, 2015
Martin Kove aka “Sensei John Krease” from Karate Kid!
The tournament is held at Davidson Middle School and very easy to find with three major road ways (Highway 90, Highway 85, & Interstate 10) coming through Crestview. We are only 30-45 minutes from the beautiful white beaches yet inland enough to avoid the touristy pricing.
There will be approximately 72 divisions in sparring, forms, weapons*, self defense, and musical forms*! We will combine or eliminate smaller divisions.
Rules for sparring
Rules for patterns/forms
Rules for self defense
*For musical, starting in 2014, we no longer provide sound system. Too many format variations from jump/thumb drives, CD’s, Iphone, MP3 player, etc. Musical form may include use of weapon if you choose. Judges MUST inspect weapon before competition (when your name is called to compete, present weapon to center judge). No sharpened blades!
| Schedule of Events: 8AM-10AM is registration 9:00AM will be the start of weapons and musical forms 9:30AM is Black Belt meeting 10AM is national anthem, prayer, & bow in.Start with Black Belt Adult Forms so they can judge. Then Colored belts & Junior Black belts followed by self-defense division. Adult Black Belt sparring wraps up the day. Please preregister. As always, we want to have the best event possible and try to keep things running smoothly. |