Twenty-five students and instructors from four Graves Institute of Self-Defense dojos in Milford, Mars Hill, Presque Isle and Caribou recently attended Tracy‘s semi-annual karate and ju jitsu tournament in Bucksport.
This event is unique in that, along with individual point sparring and pairs throwing routines, it’s the only tourney in Maine to feature team fighting. The team sparring concept was conceived about 25 years ago by several black belt members of the Maine Ketsugo and Karate Association, and has become a unique event at only one tournament each year.
While most team members in various sports have the opportunity to practice together for weeks or even months, randomly selected karate teammates have no such luxury. Black belt teams are comprised of all black belts of various levels while underbelt teams generally have a brown belt as captain and some combination of four purple, green and white belts as members.
Team assignments are issued during check-in at the door and the first random matchup from a pool blind draw occurs within 45 minutes. It was a single loss elimination event with the winning quintet moving into the next round.
(Courtesy of Bill Graves)
This year‘s tournament featured seven black belt teams and 28 under-belt teams. Large trophies went to the five members of the top black belt team, as well as the first and second place under-belt teams. It would take a minimum of five winning rounds to reach that top tier.
Unlike regular sparring matches where men and women are in separate divisions, teams were comprised of both genders. As the day progressed, pairs of teams were randomly called to one of several rings and the members were matched into fighting pairs, by age, size, belt color and gender, if possible.
Each fight lasted two minutes or ended when one competitor scored a total of two points, and each team’s points were accumulated with the highest total moving on to the next round.
There were several times both teams had equal points, and then one member from each team was selected to fight again to break the tie. After numerous hard-fought matches, when the team numbers of the final four were announced, there was at least one Graves’ student on each.
After the finals, Jacob Wickstrom, a 15-year-old 4th degree green belt from Caribou, was on the first place team, and 12-year-old Jamison McDonald, a 3rd degree green belt from Presque Isle, was on the second place team.
After the team fighting award presentation, regular point sparring for more than 30 age and belt level divisions got underway in eight rings. The final events were the ju jitsu pairs competition, with over a dozen divisions and more than 60 pairs.
Several regional Graves students and instructors performed so well that they brought home a trophy in each event. Jaxx Bradbury and Jensen Larrabee of Mars Hill, both fourth-degree green belts, each won trophies in their respective fighting and throwing divisions.
From the Milford dojo, green belt Cory Ouellette won a first in both fighting and throwing. Brown belts Bryan Double and Travis Folsom, each won a first in sparring and a second in throwing in their respective divisions. Black belts who excelled included seventh-degree Master Jay Peavey who won the senior division grand championship and sixth-degree Master Malcolm Grant, who won first in the executive division.
A number of families have more than one member in the school’s branches, and a few had multiple winners at this tournament.
Travis Folsom and daughter Lainey each won awards, a feat they accomplished at the last tournament as well.
Dr. Jeff Hoeksma of Caribou and daughter Ayumi and son Hiroki all won sparring trophies in their respective adult and junior divisions.
Lincoln and Eleanor Hanson, brother and sister from Presque Isle and still novice white belts, each won a sparring trophy in their very first tournament.
The 25 Graves’ students and instructors who participated took home 27 trophies, 11 of which were first place awards.
For information on adult or children’s instruction, visit the school on Facebook or contact local recreation centers.
