KICKgen School News

TWIN TOWERS CLASSIC

First and foremost, we at KICKgen would like to thank everyone that joined us in watching the competitions as they took place in New York as well as taking part in our live chat on our KICKgen LIVE! channel. It was great being able to interact with the members of KICKgen, competitors such as Lauren Kearney, parents of competitors like Mr. Lutkus and school owners/tournament promoters as well. We couldn't have made the event as successful without your support and interaction!

KICKgen's very own Tracy McCoy (wife of U.S. Open's Mike McCoy) were both in attendance at the tournament and were the one's that provided the LIVE feed to all of us that were not able to make it to New York. So, a round of applause to them and their hard work in bringing this event to us and the opportunity to watch the competition as it happened. As we all saw, at least everyone that watched the live feed, the Twin Towers Classic was a great tournament, that showcased established as well as up and coming talents. We were also able to watch some entertaining demos from the Chinese dragon dancers as well as a group of break-dancers. Hopefully all of you enjoyed the experience as much as we did!

Well, thanks to the success of the broadcasting of the Twin Towers Classic, KICKgen is working on bringing to all of you members more chances to watch such events which may include COMPETITOR INTERVIEW/CHAT SESSION, TOURNAMENT FEEDS & SCHOOL PROMOTIONS. So keep your eye out for these events at KICKgen.com!

A PERFECT KNOCK OUT!

Story contributed by Tracy McCoy

In case you were interested….This picture depicts something that doesn’t happen every day in sparring – it is a true knock out. A knock out is a perfect strike to the base of the jaw bone that temporarily knocks the jaw out of alignment and causes the inner ear to become unbalanced. When this system is knocked out, the person doesn’t know which end is up, which is why they fall and their eyes roll back in their head temporarily. After a few minutes the inner ear corrects orientation and the fighter is just fine. This can be confused with a concussion but it is not at all the same. However, it is strongly recommended that anyone who is knocked out to avoid fighting for 30 days. We don’t know who the young fighter is but would like to – so if you know his name, please reply to this post.

This shot was taken at the Twin Towers Classic, Sept 6th 2008.

SAY HELLO TO TEAM FULL CIRCLE
Story contributed by Tracy McCoy

If you have hit the tournament scene at all this year, you may have noticed those “bold gold” shirts of the Full Circle team from North Florida. It is not just the color of their shirts that stand out but they are a serious up-and-coming team.

They have participated in around 30 individual divisions and of those 30 divisions they are in point contention in 16. So far they have rated points in 20 - not bad - for a first year team!

Team Full Circle, an all black-belt team, is a very diverse group in terms of age, background and styles, including: Shotokan, American Freestyle, Shor-Rin-Ryu, Yoshukai, Wado Ryu, and Goju students.

Have a look at their current roster and stats.

-Ronnie Smith, 10 Gainesville, Fl - Dynamo
-Daniel Pickard, 14 Jacksonville, Fl - Thumbs the text-a-holic
-Mia Kelly 15, Jacksonville, Fl - Text-a-saurus Rex
-Melanie Ortiz, 16 Orlando, Fl - Twizz
-Houston Thomas, 17 Orlando, Fl - No problem
-Cory Hester, 18 Jacksonville, Fl - Hello Kitty
-Robert Ingram, 23 Jacksonville, Fl - Chuckles
-Dakeyan 'Dre' Graham, 24 Gainesville, Fl - Cold-blooded
-Drew Derrick-Bisbee, 40 Jacksonville, FL - Dre-dub
-Rick Rosenbaum, Coach - Rickman
-Tom Kelly, Owner and Bus Driver

The KICKgen team had a chance to chat with the Full Circle coach, Rick Rosenbaum, who said, “We are a young team, but we're hungry. We love to compete and have a blast when we are together. You can expect big things from the Gold in the future."

As their first year in full national tournament circuit competition is coming to an end, they feel their success is due to their diversity and family environment. Rosenbaum stated, “This has been a learning process for all of us, from team owner to coaches to athletes. We are having the time of our lives traveling to some new and some not so new tournament cities. Our tour consists of the local Jacksonville circuit (NFMAA), Florida circuit (FAME2K) and the NASKA World Tour.”

Rosenbaum is proud of the entire team, but wanted to spot light four young athletes who are about to go on the journey of their lifetime: Mia Kelly, Daniel Pickard, Melanie Ortiz, and Houston Thomas who are headed to Naples, Italy September 19th-28th to compete for the 2008 World Championships. They will be competing in both point and continuous fighting competition. Team coach said, “I am very proud of the hard work and dedication these young athletes have displayed all while being full time high school students.”

The picture you see is from the Twin Towers Classic Sept 6th in NYC. The team was gracious enough to include me in their picture as well as allow us include the additional candid shot. Good luck Team Full Circle!