Surrey’s Chief Master Karpiuk takes 4 Gold at ATA’s Tournament of Champions!
Surrey’s Chief Master Karpiuk takes 4 Gold at ATA’s Tournament of Champions!
During the week of July 22nd – 27th in Phoenix Arizona, ATA hosted the Tournament of Champions. Top 10 Black Belts from around the globe attended to compete for Gold in their respective divisions. Out of the 25,000 active Black Belts in the ATA, only 1600 qualified for the TOC. The three-day tournament saw Black Belts and Masters from Canada, the US, South Africa, South America and Europe all in attendance.
Chief Master Karpiuk, director of Surrey Black Belt Academy, qualified in four categories within his division. He finished 1st place in points for Traditional Form and Weapons and in the top ten for Creative Form and Creative Weapons. It was the first time that Master Karpiuk had competed at the Tournament of Champions. He also had two of his students who qualified and competed as well. His Academy Director of Leadership Development, Mr. Timothy Millard, competed in several Top 10 Competitions but came up short this year. On the weekend he captured a 3rd place for forms. Mr. Phil Pollard, a Legacy Student from the Academy, also qualified in 4 Top competitions and came away with Bronze in Combat Weapons Sparring! He won several more medals on the weekend as well. Canadian ATA schools took about 35 students to Phoenix for World Championships with many of them competing in the TOC as well.
Master Karpiuk had tweaked a knee injury about 3 weeks before competition and is thankful to both Trifecta Rehab and Performance Health Group for getting him prepared. Shout out especially to Wyatt at Trifecta who worked his magic on Master Karpiuk’s knee! He felt good going into competition even though he was up against some Masters he had not gone against in the past.
Traditional forms competition was first. Master Karpiuk watched a strong field of top 10 competitors warm up and perform before he went last. He had never gone head-to-head with Master Murdock from St. Louis. As Master Karpiuk watched Master Murdock perform, he knew it wasn’t going to be easy. Although the mats were a bit slippery, Master Karpiuk performed strong with the centre judge giving him a perfect score of 9! But the kicks and stances judge only gave a 6, which tied the two competitors. It was most likely due to the corner judge being a lower rank and not knowing the form that Master Karpiuk was doing that had some unusual stances and kick motions not found in any other Black Belt forms.
For the tie breaker, both Masters repeated their forms again. This time all three ATA judges judged “overall” and not specific elements. Both competitors were then called up and stood side by side waiting for the judges to score by pointing to first place. The centre judge didn’t point to Master Karpiuk this time, even though he had given him a perfect score previously, but nonetheless, the other two judges pointed to him for first place! Relief!
Next up was the Traditional weapon competition. Chief Master Karpiuk had been competing all year with his Jee Pahng Ee, or cane. Again, because of his points total from the tournament year, he was able to watch all his competition and go last. He knew that if he didn’t make a mistake, he had a good chance at winning. But he forgot one small element, realizing it just after the second half. Speaking later, as he performed, he wondered if he should leave out the same element again towards the end, thinking maybe the judges just don’t notice. Or do the element but risking that the judges go “ah, he missed that first one” and marking him down. He decided to go for it and not make any more mistakes. The judges scored and he won first place!
The next day was Creative and Extreme TOC competition. Even though Master Karpiuk didn’t have enough points to go last, his creative form scored high enough for the judges to award him Gold! Creative weapons were next, and Master Karpiuk used his Jee Pahng Ee in a creative self defense performance. Non of the competitors dropped their weapons, which happens, and lowers the overall score. One of his long-time students was competing and didn’t have the best day of performance, bobbling his Bo staff a few times. In the end, Master Karpiuk scored high enough to win Gold for the fourth time, to his surprise. It was a clean sweep!
Next up, the Super 20 Tournament on Saturday, the start of the new tournament year and some new competitors to the division!
Submitted by
Black Belt Academy Staff
