June 13, 2009 — The fighting was intense Saturday during the first day of the Battle at the Beach martial arts tournament, but it was difficult to tell who was having a harder time, the young fighters in the ring — some of them as young as six — or their parents.
"It's difficult, it's very difficult," said Geryl Miller as she watched her eight-year-old son N'Kosi Benjamin sparring, trading kicks and punches with a boy half a head taller than him. "You don't want them to get hurt, but you want them to do well. You want them to do their best."
The fourth annual Battle at the Beach is being held in the Good Hope School gymnasium. Saturday's action featured younger, less experienced fighters, with competitors ranging in age from 4 to 16 years at all levels of skill and experience, and adults up to the level of brown belt. The action resumes Sunday with the most accomplished martial artists, those with red and black belts, competing.
This year's version of the battle has drawn about 120 competitors, and masters representing more than a dozen martial arts schools are competing in the two-day extravaganza, with several teams arriving from Puerto Rico, one from the Dominican Republic and a few teams from St. Thomas. About 80 percent of the competitors are from St. Croix.
According to tournament volunteer Liz Goggins, the tournament has gotten bigger and better every year.
For eight-year-old Cassandra Guzman, Saturday was a chance to practice her technique. In her match, her opponent was very aggressive, chasing after her, throwing flurries of kicks and punches in an effort to score points. So Cassandra gave ground, keeping her away and watching for her openings. And she scored enough to win the match.
For Cassandra, who has studied martial arts for about two and a half years, martial arts isn't about fighting. It's about learning her techniques and her own abilities.
"It teaches me to learn what other people are doing, what's true about life," she said.
Her father, Ivan Guzman, said Cassandra and her own brother study martial arts to learn self-defense, but it's taught them much more. Neither has ever been in a fight at school, or anywhere except when they're training.
"All of these kids here, they're never in fights in the real world," he said, because martial arts have taught them the self-discipline to avoid troublesome situations along with the skills to handle those situations if they're unavoidable.
The Battle at the Beach continues Sunday, with the grand championship fights taking place around 1:30 p.m. Several highly regarded masters will give demonstrations between competition Sunday, with a special appearance by Grand Master Ronald Van Clief, a 10th degree black belt who starred in the Hong Kong martial arts movie "The Black Dragon" and who helped choreograph some of martial arts legend Bruce Lee's movies.
Entry is $10 at the Good Hope gymnasium door.
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