Impressive showing

Click to Enlarge Six students of Moore Martial Arts show off their trophies from the Rocky Mountain International Championships on March 16 in Lousiville. Back row from left to right: Sensei Janine Moore, Keira Lopez, William Mordell, Samantha Elliott and sensei Jon Moore. Front row: Javier Lopez, Madilyn Slocomb and Sydney Dunn. Photo by Sharon Dunn Browse Our Galleries

By Steve Puterski, (Bio) sputerski@mywindsornow.com
March 26, 2008

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Six students from Moore Martial Arts in Windsor went down to the Rocky Mountain International Championships in Louisville on March 16 and came away with some impressive finishes.

Windsor students Madilyn Slocomb, 9; Samantha Elliott, 10; and William Mordell, 10; Fort Collins student Sydney Dunn, 11; and Javier, 6 and his sister Keira Lopez, 10, of Severance, all competed at the championships under sensei Janine Moore’s watchful eye.

“It’s a great experience for the kids,” Moore said. “They get to meet kids from all around the world and country.”

Though the Moores teach self defense and real life situations contradictory to the tournament-style, Janine said her students gain confidence from a tournament atmosphere.

The tournament consisted of a kata, an extensive prepared art form, and sparring matches. Dunn and Slocomb each took second in kata and sparring while Javier Lopez placed second in kata and third in sparring.

Around 300 competitors turned out for the tournament and the first to hit the mat in front of a crowd of around 500 was the 6-year-old Lopez. Lopez, a white/black-stripe belt who has only been taking classes for less than a year, didn’t let the jitters faze him as he took second place in the kata and third in sparring.

“He was the first person in the whole tournament to get out on the mat,” Moore said. “Here’s a little boy, his first experience and first-time ever and he goes out and does a wonderful job.”

Lopez has been taking classes along with his sister. Lopez said he was a little nervous at the beginning, but quickly shifted his focus on the task at hand.

“It was good,” Lopez said. “I was really excited.”

Keira, a yellow belt, competed in her second Rocky Mountain tournament and enjoyed her experience. Keira said she enjoyed the atmosphere because of all the people in attendance and being able to talk to students from Italy to Venezuela.

“Other people were really different than us and that’s what I really liked about it,” Keira said. “I had a lot of fun doing the sparring and kata.”

In her fourth trip to the tournament, fifth-year student Dunn, a brown belt, made the most with a strong performance. She has taken first in the last three years in sparring, and second last year in kata. Though she said she was a little disappointed in coming in second this year, Dunn was still happy to have another strong showing.

Dunn said she competed hard and is proud of her accomplishment, but acknowledges the tournament isn’t nearly as uneasy as practice.

“The tournament is not as tense as it is in class,” Dunn said. “But when punches are being thrown at you it’s like, ‘Whoa, I’m about to be punched.’ ”

Location
Moore Martial Arts is located at 514 Main St. For more information call (970) 686-1247.