MBBA Goes Western at Founder's Day

After several months of preparation, practice and sweat the moment has finally arrived. The Maricopa Black Belt Academy will be presenting what they claim is their greatest demo performance to date on Saturday October 11 at the upcoming Founders Day celebration. The event will be held at Pacana Park and promises martial arts action, drama, and comedy for all to see. “The kids have worked so hard and deserve all the credit” says Mr. Eyman, the head instructor of the academy. However, this year they have involved and cast many other known figures from the Maricopa community to everyone’s upcoming surprise in a play they call “East Meets West”. Don’t forget to stop by the Maricopa Black Belt Academy display booth to win prizes and candy for breaking boards!

Our demo times are 3:30pm and 5:00pm in the Kidz Zone. See you there!

Mesa Tournament Results

What a great turnout to the Mesa Tournament on Saturday, September 27, 2008. Here are the tournament results for all competitors from Maricopa Black Belt Academy who participated:

Kevin McDill Jr. - 1st forms, 3rd sparring, 1st weapons
Rachel Hall – 1st forms, 1st sparring
Haylee Menter – 3rd sparring, 1st weapons
Caitlin Kim -3rd forms, 3rd sparring, 1st weapons
Kyle Kim – 1st forms, 3rd sparring, 2nd weapons
Zachary Huskey – 3rd forms, 3rd sparring, 2nd weapons
Ambrelle Abbott – 2nd forms, 1st sparring
Ashelle Abbott – 3rd forms, 1st sparring
Kevin McDill – 2nd sparring, 3rd weapons
Justin McBride – 1st weapons, 1st sparring
Taylor Griffen – 1st form, 1st sparring, 2nd sparring

UPDATE: Unleash the Champion Within

On Saturday, September 6, 2008, GilBride's ATA (Phoenix) and Maricopa Black Belt Academy (MBBA) participated in an in-school tournament hosted at MBBA. The inter-school rivalry continued as GilBride's ATA sent over 30 students to try and take the inter-school tournament title from MBBA.

What a great time had by all and a huge thank you to everyone that participated; you all made our first in-school tournament of the year a huge success and a great experience. There were many close matches, intense sparring, impressive free-style weapon forms, and plenty awards and prizes given away.

The numbers are still being tallied but it does appear the MBBA will be keeping the home the school trophy so GilBride's ATA: start polishing it up!

The Official MBBA Mailing List

Our mailing list is up and running and we're excited at the opportunity to send you great information soon! This is the best way to stay up to date on the latest and greatest going ons at Maricopa Belt Academy. Sign up today by to ensure you receive all our information.

Dallas Tournament Results

The reports are in for our four competitors that completed at Sr. Master Sustaire's tournament in Allen, Texas. They were K. McDill Sr., competing for the first time alongside son K. McDill Jr., 2008 State Champs Z. Huskey and C. Kim.

Here's the wrap-up:

Z. Huskey - 3rd in Weapons, 2nd in Sparring
K. McDill Jr. - 2nd in Forms and Weapons, 3rd in Sparring

K. McDill Sr. and C. Kim did not place at this tournament, each facing a tough ring and competition category. Everyone, keep up the training and hard work will pay off!

Bringing home trophies...

The results are in for our three students that competed today at the Littleton, Colorado tournament.

Congratulations are in order for new competitor K. Kim, and returing state champs C. Kim and Z. Huskey. Great job showing up in Colorado and taking care of business early in the competition year. Hope you have closet space for all those thropies coming back!

Here's how they placed:

K. Kim - 4th in Forms, 1st in Weapons
C. Kim - 1st in Forms and Weapons
Z. Huskey - 1st in Forms and Weapons, 2nd in Sparring

In School Tournament Announced

Mark your calendars! The date has been set for our first in-school tournament of the new year where once again we can come together with our Phoenix school (GilBride's ATA) in friendly competition.

MBBA will host this tournament event on: SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 2008

This is an official ATA sanctioned tournament of which earned points shall count towards state / world champ rankings. This tournament is open for ALL MBBA and GilBride's ATA students.

Competition categories will include forms, weapons, and sparring. Stay tuned for more details coming soon.

Black Belt Tournament Results

On Saturday, August 2nd, the ATA Arizona Region hosted the first tournament of the year, a BLACK BELTS ONLY tournament event. This tournament proved to be a great benchmark for our new black belts that participated which included state champs Z. Huskey and C. Kim.

Also competing for the first time in a long while was Mrs. Delgadillo, Mr. Garcia (myself), R. Nguyen, J. John, and E. Sezen.

The competition was tough in many aspects but it gave us all the opportunity to preview what the tournament year might look like, things we need to work on, and fellow competitors we need to keep an eye on.

Here are the tournament results for our students that placed in competition:

Mr. Garcia - 2nd in Forms
J. John - 4th in Forms and 4th in Sparring
C. Kim - 3rd in Weapons and 4th in Sparring
Z. Huskey - 4th in Weapons and 2nd in Sparring
R. Nguyen - 2nd in Forms & Weapons and 4th in Sparring
E. Sezen - 2nd in Forms, and 3rd in Sparring

Website Enhancements

Over the next few days you will start noticing some major changes to our website's look, feel, content, and functionally. Learn about your instructors by reading their bio's in the Staff section, watch MBBA event videos in the Media section, and stay up to date with the latest MBBA news in the News section! Check back often to see what other new features are added. Let me know what you think!