comBATON Players Forum

Flag Combaton: Final Games of 2011 on November 13th

2011-11-11T21:56:00.005-05:00

The final Flag Combaton games of 2011 will be held on Sunday, November 13th at Camp Challenge as part of the annual DC Turnbull Martial Arts Camp. Winner takes all. Everyone present will have a chance to play. Everyone who has played this year and didn't get a tee shirt yet will get one.

The games will start at 9:30 am at the camp in Sorrento, Florida. Flag Combaton is a no-contact version of martial arts football. Instead of stopping players with kicks and punches, Flag Combaton players are prevented from advancing the field by removing flags from the others player's belts.

See you Sunday!

Ashleigh Ruby in Kickpics Contest

2011-10-04T20:32:00.002-04:00

Ashleigh Ruby is in a contest to be in the Kickpics 2012 Calendar. Please Like Kickpic's page and vote for her photo! She's currently running as #4.

ComBATON at RDV in Maitland

2011-10-04T20:25:00.003-04:00

Teams were in high gear at the RDV Center on Saturday Sept. 24th

for the second round of games hosted by the Allen Martial Arts school.

Teams from as young as 4 years old and and as old as 46, male and

female, were racing and cutting back and forth on a reduced size field

designed for games inside any martial art school.

Teams were matched according to size for 14 years and under, and 15

years and older. Most teams are matched the day of the event, but the

most successful teams are those that are matched up for the season.

Anyone can come the day of the event and register. For the finals, the

teams with the most wins will be seeded at the top, while those with

fewer wins or no wins will faceoff with the best teams in the first round

of the finals. The finals are scheduled on November 13th at Camp

Challenge located on Highway 46 just past Sorrento and Mt. Plymouth in

Lake County.

Flag Combaton Teaser

2011-09-23T03:41:00.000-04:00

Stats for Flag Combaton 9/9/11

2011-09-19T16:51:00.009-04:00

Combaton players gathered at the Lake Mary, Florida YMCA for the first in a four game series leading up to the playoffs in November. The next game is September 24th and will be hosted by Allen's Martial Arts at the RDV Center in Maitland. Students may still join a team. The cost is $10 a season and details are available from Master Turnbull or Steve Blanton.

14 and Under Divisions

Game 1 - Boys 12 -vs- Dynamite 14

Game 2 - Cool People 7 -vs- Flaming Ninjas - 11

Game 3 - Sparks 11 -vs- Iron Bull 15

Game 4 - Valkyries 3 -vs- Bananas 11

Game 5 - Lightning Ninjas 6 -vs- I.T. 7

Game 6 - Valkyries 3 - vs- Team Domination 15

Game 7 - Dynamite - 4 -vs- Boys 8

Game 8 - Sparks 4 -vs- Banana 6

Game 9 - Boys 3 -vs- Cool People 4 (overtime)

Game 10 - Iron Bull 4 - vs - Lightning Ninjas 9 ( overtime)

Game 11 - Team Domination 0 -vs- I.T. 3

15 and Over Divisions

Game 12 - Bio Freeze Boys 0 -vs - Non Nom 15

Game 13 - Bio Freeze Boys 0 -vs- Team Kwon - 3

Game 14 - Team Kwon 8 -vs- Nom Nom 16

The history of ninja in three stages: Sneaky samurai, literary device, and school.

2011-09-15T06:47:00.006-04:00

The ninja question came up last week in my Samurai class — we were talking about possible writing projects — so I had to do my ninja spiel, which has become a bit of a set piece. The history of ninja in three stages: Sneaky samurai, literary device, and school.

I am sharing this post from on the origin of the ninja. Enjoy.

The first stage covers the history up through the Warring States, possibly including the early Tokugawa, and it’s the age when, as Karl Friday put it, ““ninja” denotes a function, not a special kind of warrior–ninja WERE samurai … performing “ninja” work.” Turnbull describes this period in some detail, and it’s fairly clear from his collected episodes that there may have been some warriors who were especially sneaky, but not a continual tradition. There are a variety of figures that are credited as “the first ninja”: I’m partial to the yamabushi theory, just because it does highlight the warrior-priest tradition, and because it attributes to the ninja magical powers and ethical principles which are clearly absurd. Ignoring, though, the origins snipe-hunt, there clearly was a place for stealth, surprise and spycraft in the free-for-all conflicts of Japan’s warrior ages, when samurai honor was based more on “victory or death” than battlefield procedure.¹ So some warriors did that.

As the Hideyoshi-Tokugawa peace takes hold, and Samurai become a more cohesive class with an interest in Confucian ethics, a more rule-oriented value system,² they become ashamed of the sneaky successes of their predecessors, and also start to become more specialized and formalized with regard to combat styles. Most schools of martial arts have both public and secret teachings, so the idea of a separate class of stealth specialists with secret traditions is entirely consistent with the Tokugawa-era samurai tradition. This is where the second stage begins: the cultural ninja.
Ninja were a lively part of the Tokugawa entertainment industrial complex: plays, fun houses, books, and visual art all explored the idea of the secret warrior, turning him in to a mighty, nearly mystical, foe, a haunting presence which could only be beaten through preparedness and righteousness by the mightiest samurai.³ Ninja become Robin Hood/Jesse James type outlaws, a friend to the common man — sometimes said to be of peasant origin themselves — and a blight on the establishment. By being a kind of anti-hero, occupying a rhetorical tactical space that the samurai could not, the ninja helped to legitimate the samurai as ethical warriors, as well as providing a kind of outlet for anti-samurai frustration and fantasy. This version of the ninja enters the western literary tradition through, among others, Ian Fleming’s James Bond novels.⁴ This stage is still very much in existence, of course, as the literary/cinematic tradition persists, even adding new themes like environmental consciousness.
The third stage overlaps the second — a common problem for historians attempting stage theories; perhaps ‘state’ or ‘thread’ would be a better unit — from the early modern to the modern. At some point in the Tokugawa or Meiji eras, depending on the form and who you believe, styles of martial arts became formalized more or less at the same time that they become largely irrelevant. As noted above, most have some form of “secret teaching” for advanced adepts, and a “hidden history” as well tracing back to a noteworthy ancestor-teacher, and most of them also have well-established rivalries with related schools. In that regard, Ninja as a modern “warrior way” isn’t distinguishable from other Japanese or Chinese martial practices. In the modern age, when combat techniques are as much a matter of market forces and fashions as military necessities, the secret traditions have largely become routinized; the mythology of the ninja requires an overlay of mystery, which is maintained both by the continuing use of ninja legends as entertainment⁵ and a passionate defense of the narrative of ninja as a secret, continuing tradition which has emerged into the light with modernity.
These three phases of the ninja tradition help separate out the fact from the fiction, clarify how and why ninja might be a substantial historical topic, and why the entertainment tradition has strayed so far from anything resembling reality.

Introducing "Flag ComBATON"

2011-09-07T20:38:00.005-04:00

ComBATON is introducing a new dojo-friendly form of the game called "Flag ComBATON."

Flag combaton is a non-contact game designed for martial art schools. It is played inside utilizing the space available in the school.

It's easy, it's fun and all ages and genders can play it. It is a great way to spark the students with a team competition that develops cardio, kicking skills, quickness, coordination, and strategy in a team format. It is fast paced and offers an alternative to the standard cirriculum.

Teams are 2 on 2 with flag belts worn by the players. Two wave master kick bags are used as the goals. The scoring is the same as on a combaton goal pole: 3 points for any standing kick, 4 points for any jumping kick and 5 points for any 360 degree spin kick.

The bags are set on each end of the space with enough room behind the bags so that players can circle around and attack from different angles.

A combaton baton is used by the offense to throw to their teammate. The defense must stop the baton carrier by pulling one of the three flags that hang from the belt.

The offense has three attacks after the Opening Attack in which to score on their opponent's goal. After that the baton is given to the other team with three attacks to try and score on their opponent's goal.

Flag Combaton

2011 Schedule - YMCA in Lake Mary

$10 per player for the season

Game 1

September 10th, Saturday

Registration 2 PM to 2:30 PM

14 and under 2:30 PM to 3:30 PM

15 and over 3:30 PM to 4:30 PM

Game 2

September 24th, Saturday

Registration 2 PM to 2:30 PM

14 and under 2:30 PM to 3:30 PM

15 and over 3:30 PM to 4:30 PM

Game 3

October 8th, Saturday

Registration 2 PM to 2:30 PM

14 and under 2:30 PM to 3:30 PM

15 and over 3:30 PM to 4:30 PM

Game 4

October 22nd, Saturday

Registration 2 PM to 2:30 PM

14 and under 2:30 PM to 3:30 PM

15 and over 3:30 PM to 4:30 PM

Finals

Location: Camp Challenge

November 13th, Sunday

Registration 8:00 AM to 8:30 AM

14 and under 9 AM to 10 AM

15 and over 10 AM to 11 AM

Where to sleep when training in Korea

2011-08-08T15:03:00.007-04:00

ComBATON's Korea Coordinator Guy Larke has an article in the July issue of Taekwondo Times titled "Where to Lay Your Weary Head." Aimed for taekwondo practitioners training in Korea, Larke gives succinct advice about finding a place to stay during their visit.

He includes some rather surprising options including "Love Hotels" where rooms can be rented by the hour and overnight stays in traditional Korean saunas. The article includes links for arranging stays during your visit.

If you're not a subscriber, let me say that TKD Times is well worth the cost of a subscription.

Dojo comBATON Video Shoot

2011-07-19T21:53:00.002-04:00

Master David Turnbull of DC Turnbull Martial Arts will be conducting a "Dojo comBATON" videoshoot at his school in Sanford, Florida July 23, 2011 starting at 1 pm. Master Turnbull and Steve Blanton are working on a DVD explaining the game.

Dojo comBATON is a dojo-friendly simplified form of comBATON using kick bags for goals and is played inside a school's training area. It is ideal for summer camps and extended training sessions. It is also a fun way to wrap up a class on a positive note.

For schools wishing to avoid physical contact [yes, they exist,] there is a version called Dojo Flag comBATON where the players grab a flag loosely tied to the belt, and toss it on the ground instead of kicking and punching.

For more information on comBATON visit the website.

Because we're cooler than Kelvin

2011-04-28T05:46:00.003-04:00

Thanks for the props, Deuce of Davenport,

Glad to know we're cooler than Kronum. But we could have saved you the trouble and told you that our twitter friends think we're cooler than Kelvin.

Imagine a sport that combines elements from soccer, lacrosse, rugby, basketball and God knows what else and you have this new sport they call Kronum. Sounds insane? Well it yes, it is a little insane. But whatever, its a new sport and it looks interesting at least. Certainly cooler than Quidditch but somehow less cool than, say, Combaton. I’ll put it this way, its about as cool as you can get for a sport created in Philadelphia. Yeah.

For more information on ComBATON sign up for the newletter at http://combaton.com/contact.

ComBATON Article on Oddities Central

2011-04-27T22:21:00.002-04:00

A rather weird website called "Collecting Oddities" recently posted an article on ComBATON.

Do you like American Football but wish kicking was allowed in the game? Are you a martial arts student who wishes classes weren’t so darn boring? If this is you, comBATON will be your favorite sport.
ComBATON was invented back in 1998, by Steve Blanton, but the first practice game didn’t take place until November 2004. You see, although Blanton had a vision, he needed someone to develop the game into a playable version, and that person was David Turnbull, president of the Florida A.A.U. Tae Kwon Do Association. He had more than a few black belt students more than willing to play in a game of comBATON, and when he saw how naturally they acted as a team, on the field, he knew he had struck gold.
The word comBATON is derived from combat and baton, and“the object of the game is for the offense to move the baton down field and score on their opponent’s goal pole. The defense must stop the offense and end the attack by kicking the baton carrier.” The goals are more like poles from which the opponent’s baton hangs, and a member of the attacking team carrying their baton has to kick the opponent’s baton to score. Sounds a little confusing with all these batons lying around, but martial arts enthusiasts seem to love it.
Click here for the rest of the article.

YouTube Stat Update

2011-04-03T00:25:00.011-04:00

It was kind of cool to do a routine stat check on the YouTube page and see an exact 20,000 unique page views yesterday. The 108,200 video views were kind of nice too. If you haven't been to our page, please stop by. Please send us a friend request if you have a YouTube channel as well.

In addition you comBATON videos, we have a a few shot at various places including the annual Martial Artists Fighting Hunger events to benefit the Second Harvest Food Bank and one of Bill Wallace at the Martial Arts Super Show in Los Vegas.

Thanks for your support for comBATON, "the extreme sport, period."*

*moniker courtesy of Wicked Nemesis (@WickedNemesis on twitter.)

comBATON: The Martial Art Team Sport

2011-03-21T20:47:00.000-04:00

Practice Saturday

2011-03-21T20:35:00.004-04:00

There will be a comBATON practice Saturday, March 26, 2011 at the Lake Mary Soccer Field in Lake Mary, Florida. The practice host is DC Turnbull Martial Arts. CJ Vickers and Gabe Allen will run the practice. The practice hours are 2-5 pm.

Folks, We Have a Winner!

2011-02-05T15:03:00.015-05:00

Ashleigh Ruby was the winner of the photoshoot with Stace Sanchez of Kickpics. Ashleigh is an experienced comBATON player and earned her black belt with Master Brian Schneider of the comBATON Ninjas. This is one girl you don't want to mess with!

Anyone interested in a photoshoot with Stace can visit his Facebook Business Page or you can just stop by to see the kickin' photos his friends upload.

Ashley was entered in the Kickpics 2011 Calendar contest and would appreciate your vote. The 36 pics with the most votes will be included in the calendar. In order to vote you need to *like* the Kickpics page and *like* Ashleigh's pic. [The pic is much better than it looks on Facebooks page.] Thanks for your support.

ComBATON Practice in Lake Mary, Fl

2011-01-24T20:00:00.004-05:00

There will be a practice on Saturday, February 26, 2011 at the City of Lake Mary Soccer Field from 2-5 pm. We will be experimenting with the double goal system [2 goals on each end of the field.]The new goal pictured on the right was designed by Tommy Robertson, a student at DC Turnbull Martial Arts.

Kickin' It Courtesty of ComBATON

2011-01-01T15:13:00.009-05:00

A lucky martial artist will win a photoshoot with Stace Sanchez of KickPics and walk away with a 12 by 18 inch print of themselves [you get to choose the pose] and a CD of the photos taken. The photoshoot will be held at Bret Gordon's tournament on February 5, 2011. Stace will also be available on February 5th at Trio Martial Arts in Clermont, Florida if the 5th won't work for you.

To enter: make a comment or upload a photo on comBATON's Facebook page or make a comment below this blogpost. You may also enter by making a comment on a comBATON video on YouTube. The way you enter is your choice. All students of DC Turnbull, all comBATON fans, and all comBATON players, present or past are eligible. Each picture or comment comprises one entry. The person with the most entries wins. The contest ends at 8 pm on February 4, 2010.

Please use the hashtag #MartialArtsFootball* with each entry to simplify tracking. If you don't know what a hashtag is, don't worry. I know most of you and am pretty good at keeping track.

FYI: Stace will have a regular photo feature in TaeKwonDo Times starting with the March 2011 issue. Your pic could be selected for inclusion!

Now get started!

Kitty

*Sample entry: "Hey, enter me! #MartialArtsFootball"

Master Turnbull a "Selfless Sensei"

2010-12-18T19:01:00.007-05:00

Master Turnbull was nominated as the "Selfless Sensei"

You may VOTE DAILY BETWEEN

DECEMBER15th -DECEMBER22nd

by visiting his karatedepot.com page and help him win a $1,000 giveaway of martial arts equipment for his school from Karate Depot.

Could Martial Arts be a State of Mind?

2010-12-11T17:37:00.007-05:00

Did you ever notice that once someone does a stint of martial arts training, they are changed forever? Even years later, people are immediately transported back to the dojang and their training by something tangentially related that causes the memories to come flooding back.

Can it be that the dojang is so different from ordinary life? The respect, the bowing and the discipline are all to foreign to our culture. But could it be something more? As I think of martial artists from my past and in my present, I'm coming to the conclusion that part of martial arts practice involves a state of mind.

It makes sense, the repetitive drills and poomse surely rewire the brain to respond without conscious thought. We know that practicing forms mentally {if practiced physically as well} makes for a better martial artist. Wouldn't it be cool if someone could examine brain MRI's taken before and after training starts?

In the absence of such a study, I believe that part of martial arts practice involves a state of mind that allows the practitioner to transcend the physical realm. This is how fear is relegated away from conscious thought and people can break concrete blocks without injury.

So you say this occurs in all sports? Does this happen to any athlete who trains seriously? Maybe. But somehow I think not.

In closing, I'll ask one last question. What do you think?

Happy Holidays!

2010-11-30T21:44:00.002-05:00

Wishing you and yours all the best this holiday season!

JACKY DETAILLE WORLD KARATE CUP 1987 FINAL

2010-11-16T20:48:00.000-05:00

Our friend, Jacky Detaille, fighting at the 1987 World Cup Finals. Although he didn't win, he put on a spectacular fight and went on to be a champion in his own right. See for yourself.

Blast From the Past

2010-11-07T13:06:00.004-05:00

While looking for a video to send to WickedNemesis, I ran into a video from 2006 of the Lake Mary Samurai and the Spring Hill Ninja playing outdoor comBATON in Spring Hill, Florida. Those were the days of playing outside on soccer fields in the heat with the threat of thunderstorms popping up without warning.

There have been some changes since then. The field for indoor comBATON is smaller with only 3 players to a team due to the smaller field size. The playing time is variable as well. The game continues to evolve as the officials run into new situations that call for tweaking of the rules from time to time. The baton is now encased in a plastic lining and looks and handles better. The goal pole is continuously evolving.

One thing has not changed, though. ComBATON will continue to evolve and develop thanks to the players, officials and coaches that have contributed along the way. I'm ending out a sincere thank you to each and every one of you. Without you, comBATON would still be a dream on a piece of paper.

Yesterday at the Team Challenge

2010-10-24T14:04:00.007-04:00

We had a great time at the Team Challenge hosted by Richard Hoehn and held at Tiger Martial Arts in Longwood, Fl. The event was run by Master Hoehn and Sifu Dave Lewis. ComBATON sponsored a team of youngsters aged 11-13 from DC Turnbull Martial Arts in Sanford. "Team Turnbull" came in second in the kids group and, as the least experienced team in this type of competition, did quite well.

The belt rank and martial arts style did not matter and players competed with their teams. Each team tried to complete the challenges, done one at a time, in the fastest time possible. Challenges were athletic and included "Speed Relay," "Prison Break," "Escape," "Storm the Castle," "Board Breaking Mass Attack," "Aerial Assault" and "Flag Capture." Videos of some of the events are posted on a YouTube playlist. Others will be posted in the days to come. Photos of the event are posted on comBATON's Facebook page.

Team Turnbull came in second in their age group and did very well considered they'd never played the games in the challenges. Just wait until next year!

On a Serious Note……

2010-10-12T05:54:00.004-04:00

Thought I'd share a post by Master Boozer of Texas. As usual his post is full of wisdom. Click on the link and read the rest on his blog.
Oan a Serious Note……
October 10, 2010 by sbnboozer
It’s unfortunate that the subject of bullying has been widely prominent in the news and media lately.

Regardless, it’s a topic that I think we all face at one point in our lives, regardless of age; and dealing with it is never easy. Children go through it. Adults can have to deal with it as well. I think each of us can tell at least one story from personal experience.

I remember the prime “bullying” years when I was a kid. At some point or another, it was from ages 6 – 13. Largely, it actually helped to shape the person that I am today. While I endured it, I chose not to allow the victimization to deter me. I was, and still am, shorter than average and wore glasses, so I was really quite the easy target. I can remember being ridiculed for my height, my limited vision, being thin, being black, being smart, and even my strange-sounding full name. I’ve heard all the jokes, believe me.

My mother, in all her wisdom, often came to my rescue when things got out of hand. Unfortunately, in the world of children, having Mom come to help can often result in the bullying coming back on you tenfold. Times may change; but politics among children is still very much the same. Kids will eventually find an opportunity when all adult backs are turned. It may be on the bus, in the playground, or ...

Playing comBATON with the kids

2010-10-07T06:21:00.000-04:00

Just Around the Corner!

2010-10-05T21:58:00.002-04:00

The Peanut Butter & Jelly Principle & Teaching Martial Arts

2010-10-02T05:58:00.006-04:00

This is an excerpt of a blog post made by Master Boozer, one of my favorite martial arts bloggers. Be sure to read the entire post on his blog.
"The other day, during kids’ class, I asked my children about their favorite kind of sandwich.
Of course, once you have all of the ingredients, you have to put them together correctly too. You have all these little steps that you have to take care of before you can sit at the table and eat your sandwich!"

Write down all the steps necessary to make a good pb&j. Did you forget anything?
"Martial arts is actually a lot like this. Often, students enter the training hall desiring to learn how to fight; and have little regard for learning the basics that make up the art itself. Unfortunately, we live in a world where everyone wants immediate gratification. “When do I learn to fight like those guys on TV?” they ask. Everyone wants a peanut butter and jelly sandwich without first getting all of the ingredients necessary for preparation. ...
Paying careful attention to your basics is like making that really satisfying peanut butter and jelly sandwich..."
Master Wayne Boozer

The Next Time You Feel Sorry For Yourself Watch!

2010-09-29T20:39:00.002-04:00

Why is comBATON great for training martial artists for tournaments?

2010-09-18T17:35:00.008-04:00

Below is part of a letter sent to Steve by Mr Duguay of Canada.

Mr Blanton,

I know that comBATON has the potential. Why is that so? I'm a martial artist as well as a teacher.

I've been training for many years. When I was younger I remember that I used to «play» with my fellow dojo members a game called « karaté-drapeau» which would means « karate-flag». There were not as many rules and it was not as complex nor refined as comBATON is but it was great way of training and you know what? It still is.

Now I've discovered something: it has a name, rules, and even teams in the United States of America and this name is comBATON. There were even matches at the DISNEY Martial Arts Festival! Wow!

Unlike « Karaté-drapeau» was, this is a beautiful sport. Why is that so? the kicks.

The rules you, sir, have made are the creation you may be the proudest of; because of those rules this has evolved in a way that kicks are important and, most likely, high flying.

This sport makes great martial artists and is great training for tournaments.

I would be glad to be the first Canadian to start a team (and National Director for Canada would be a great honor), so please let me be. I am sure that comBATON would spread twice as fast than in the states. Minimum.

Take Montreal (Montréal) for instance: there are MANY people (one of the biggest city in the world), many martial arts schools (from combato to the fast spreading muay thai, there are a lot of different martial art clubs, a lot of big, big, big boxing gyms and an incredible number of karate schools).

I live in a countryside town named Varennes (but work in Montreal). Just in my little town, we have 2 karate clubs , a world famous judo club, a boxing gym and about 16 different soccer teams. The taekwondo club is quite famous as well.

I know something you might not know about your own sport's name. In French, (French & English are both the national languages except in Quebec where French is the only official language. Still, English is widely used in the province) comBATON and «combattons» are homophones. They sound the same.« Nous Combattons» means « We Fight» and« Combattons» alone means « Let's fight» so when a francophone hears the name of this sport he actually hears « let's fight!»

Thank you very much,

Francis Duguay

Diane Pucin's View of Sports and 9/ll

2010-09-12T12:03:00.003-04:00

Diane Pucin is a sports writer who had a seat on American Flight 11, the first plane that crashed into the World Trade Center. She changed her reservation because she "isn't a morning person." Her observation on the importance of sports in our lives speaks volumes.

NEW YORK — The little park on the corner of 35th Street and Second Avenue holds two basketball courts, two handball courts and a couple of benches. On Wednesday afternoon, pick-up basketball games were played on both courts. Four men each were on the handball courts. Two older men sat on one of the benches. Joseph Leslie, 80, a World War II veteran, and his best friend, Jerome Goldman, 81, remarked on the talents of one of the young men who had just dunked a basketball.
"I'm a Knicks fan, all my life," Leslie said. "He's a Celtics fan, always has been. I tell him he should move to Boston."
"I tell him to shut up," Goldman said. "It's a free country and I'm living in New York and I'm rooting for the Celtics."
I came on this small park while walking to Bellevue Hospital. The day after terrorists crashed hijacked planes into the World Trade Center, my assignment had changed. On Monday there had been a Yankee-Red Sox game to cover. On Wednesday the story had changed.
At Bellevue were hundreds of men and women, young and old, standing in line so they could fill out missing person forms and maybe, always being hopeful, find the names of husbands or wives, fiances or girlfriends, sons, daughters, cousins, uncles, best friends, life partners, on a list of injured who had been identified at a hospital in Manhattan or Brooklyn or Staten Island or New Jersey.
In between the baseball game Monday night and the walk past the park to Bellevue Hospital is my little story.
First, an admission. An editor I very much respected told me many years ago that he hated nothing more than writers and columnists who start every sentence with the word "I." Or any sentence, for that matter. "Nobody cares about what happens to you," he said. And so I'm writing this understanding that my story is no more important than anyone else's, and much less important than so many stories, but it is the only story I have to tell this week.
Sports is the reason for this story.
Sports and a realization that there are so many great people in our country, people we will never know, people who don't think what they are doing is extraordinary. These people are firefighters and policemen, paramedics and ambulance drivers. They are the volunteers, thousands of them, who want to sweep the dust off the street or make coffee or bring steaming plates of pasta into Ground Zero, as it's called, even though there is a chance that another building might collapse. They are the counselors who are listening, over and over, to the distraught people who are missing their loved ones. These New Yorkers I've met this week, the fans people love to hate, these are people to admire.
If ever we make our athletes out to be any more special or heroic than a fireman, somebody should make us shut up.
Tuesday morning I was still in New York because that's how it is when you cover sports. Word of the trip came suddenly, late in the afternoon on Aug. 29. Leave Sept. 1 for a football game in State College, Pa., go on to New York for the second week of the U.S. Open tennis tournament.
But this was a holiday weekend. Air fares were high, $2,500 to $2,800. Except for one flight, a red-eye from Los Angeles to Islip, N.Y., via Boston, on American Airlines. It was $1,500. I took it. And my route home, on Monday, Sept. 10, would be the same. American flight out of Islip, through Boston and back to Los Angeles.
On the final Saturday of the Open, I was asked to stay in New York an extra day and write from the Yankee-Red Sox game on Monday night. Roger Clemens would be trying to win his 20th game in 21 starts. History-making. The Red Sox were a mess too, a compelling story in itself. Of course, I'd stay.
When I called American to change my flight, I had the option of keeping the same 3:05 p.m. flight out of Islip to Logan Airport that I'd had Monday. Or I could take a 6 a.m. flight to Boston and connect to Flight 11 into LAX. I'd been gone for 10 days, was eager to be home, and decided to take the early flight so I'd be back in Los Angeles before noon. I asked if upgrades from coach to business class were available. Yes, there were. So I took that. I had a seat, 15B.
At the very last moment, just as the agent was giving me the new itinerary, I apologized and asked if I could change to the afternoon flight. I'm not a morning person and I knew that I'd end up staying awake all night to get a limo for Islip. Oh, and one last thing. I wanted to make sure I could upgrade on the later flight.
"No problem," the agent said.
"Good," I said. "Otherwise, I'll keep the morning flight."
The Yankee-Red Sox game was rained out Monday. I wrote a Red Sox column, went back to the hotel and packed. My phone rang shortly before 9 a.m. Tuesday.
"Are you awake?" my husband asked.
"No," I said. "I told you the limo wasn't coming until noon."
Dan Weber is my husband and he told me to turn on the TV.
"Right now," he said. "There's been an explosion at the World Trade Center."
As we talked, the second plane flew into the other tower. I saw that the New York airports were closed and told him I would call American to see if Islip was still open.
"Yes," the American agent said. "Your flight is still scheduled."
I called Dan back and at that moment, a crawl ran across the bottom of the TV screen saying that the FAA had closed all airports in the country. And another crawl said it was believed the first plane to hit the World Trade Center was American Flight 11.
"Dan," I said, "that was my flight. I had a seat on that flight."
My sister, Terri Pucin, was in a meeting in an office building on 15th and Ninth Avenue. She watched both planes hit the World Trade Center. She saw people jumping out of windows. "What if," she said later, "you had been on that plane and I had watched it?"
There was no answer to that question.
After speaking to an editor, who told me to go out and see what I could see, I left the Grand Hyatt. Subways weren't running. The street outside the Hyatt, 42nd Street, was strangely quiet. A limo was outside. The driver asked where I was going. I told him I wanted to see as much as I could see.
"For $400," he said, "I'll take you wherever you want to go."
I ran across the street to a cash machine, got some money, gave it to him and we drove. We drove through Times Square, where people were standing around cars parked in the middle of the street with radios on. Men in business suits, women holding babies, three high school-age students with their backpacks who had been heading to school. Everybody was listening to car radios.
On top of a Toys 'R Us building under construction, workers had made, out of sheets, two signs. One read "God Bless America." The other said, "Pray for Victims and Families." About a mile from the area where the World Trade Center had been, Fran Martin, a 46-year-old woman, stood covered in white soot. She had been walking on a street less than three blocks from the WTC when the first plane hit.
"It was an earthquake-like feeling," she said. "And then there was eerie silence. There was paper falling from the sky. There were neckties landing on the street. I saw people jumping out of the building." Martin broke down for a minute and then continued.

Ninjas at 2010 Martial Artists Fighting Hunger

2010-09-02T21:52:00.000-04:00

Martial Artists Fighting Hunger – The Combine Challenge

2010-08-29T16:43:00.003-04:00

PRLog (Press Release) – Aug 29, 2010 – The Tae Kwon Do Club at UCF hosted Martial Artists Fighting Hunger's 2010 Challenge Saturday, an athletic skill competition event. Martial artists of all ages and levels participated in the event in which athletes were timed in a sequence of challenges. The contestant with the fastest time overall won.

Once the officials started the timers, the contestants raced through 6 phases of skill testing: accuracy, agility, kicking accuracy, take-downs, jumping and speed.

There were 1st, 2nd and 3rd place trophies for the contestants in each division. There were six divisions, starting with ages 5 thru 7 up through the over 40 group. Seperate awards were given for males and females in each division until the Grand Championship. All participants will got a free t-shirt sponsored by Logos Promote.

Karate Depot, Tan Dao Kung Fu, comBATON, Jackie Detaille and others donated some great prizes and an iPod Touch was raffled off. There were other goodies as well.

The overall Grand Champion was Colton Blake of the 14-17 year olds who bested last year's Grand Champion, 21 year old CJ Vickers by one-tenth of a second. Colton won a $25.00 Olive Garden gift certificate, a chest protector and a backpack, all donated by comBATON as well as a sparring gear set donated by Karate Depot. He will also receive a Tiger Claw Kung Fu DVD donated by Tan Dao Kung Fu. Colton is student at Richard Hoehn's MMAT Academy in Winter Springs, Florida.

The Division winners were given a choice of a backpack or chest protector donated by comBATON. They also received trophies. Competition was fierce and several competitors won by less than a second. The winners were:

Nina Moyer
Michael Choujian
Ryan Spidell
Kate Eckstein-Schoeman
Hunter Weathers
Iris Johnson
Megan Moore
CJ Vickers
Gayle Goretsky
Joel Perez
Nina

Donations to benefit Second Harvest Food Bank included a conference table full of food and $355.00 in cash. For every dollar donated, Second Harvest Food Bank can provide up to $9 in food value for people in need. An amazing 96% of all financial contributions go directly to programs feeding our hungry neighbors rather than to administration or fundraising.

Martial Artists Fighting Hunger thanks the Taekwondo Club at UCF, the donors, the volunteers and the officials for making this event a success. September is Hunger Action Month and we kicked it off a little early to avoid competing with the football season as many of our competitiors are multi-sport athletes. We look forward to repeating this event in the future.

Tiger Claw Kung Fu

2010-08-28T21:02:00.003-04:00

Master Lawrence Tan has designed an updated kung fu tiger style as part of the TanDao System – combining the best of Shaolin Animal Kung fu and Bruce Lee’s JKD with exercises and core moves to take your martial skills and techniques to the next level.

I have been watching his videos on YouTube and have developed quite a deep respect for the Tan Dao Kung Fu teaching style and technique. If you are interested in finding out more, you may contact them through their website. There is also a free newsletter you can subscribe to.

As you know, I seldom make recommendations such as this [the other being Goju Shorei.] I must thank Master Sam Winters, whom I met at the Disney Martial Arts festival through Andy Ching, for introducing me to the power of kung fu. Although time restraints preclude me from practicing right now, I hope to do so in the future.

Check out the links if you are interested in more information.

Martial Artists Fighting Hunger – The Combine Challenge

2010-08-19T04:47:00.004-04:00

On Saturday August 28th, the Tae Kwon Do Club at UCF will host an event in the Ferrell Commons Auditorium at the University to benefit the Second Harvest Food Bank of Central Florida. The sponsor is comBATON, the martial team sport who also sponsored the event last year.

Martial artists of all ages and levels can participate in the event in which athletes are timed in a sequence of challenges. The contestant with the fastest time will win the combine. After the combine athletes will be matched up in short combaton games of three on three. Combaton, also known as martial art football, uses kicks in the same way a football player would block or tackle their opponent.

There will be a short demo game by the Combaton All Star Team before the combine begins at 10 AM.

Once the official starts the timer for the combine, the contestant will have 6 phases to go through, starting with accuracy (throwing a combaton baton), agility (going over and under a set of hurtles), kicking ability (kicking a combaton goal pole), take-down ability (kicking a grappling dummy twice and throwing it to the ground with a judo throw), quickness in cutting (running around orange cones) and a full out sprint to the finish line.

There will be 1st, 2nd and 3rd place trophies for the contestants in each division. There are six divisions, starting with ages 5 thru 7 up through the over 40 group. All participants will get a free t-shirt.

Karate Depot has donated some great prizes and an iPod Touch will be raffled off. There will be other goodies as well.

The event registration starts at 8:30 AM and the event ends at 3 PM. Admission is two or more cans of food, if you are a UCF student, and for all others, the same plus $5. So, support the local food bank and come out and be challenged.

comBATON 2009 Introduction

2010-08-06T22:13:00.000-04:00

Weapon Safety

2010-08-05T07:58:00.007-04:00

This post is raw and unpolished. Maybe I'll revisit it and clean it up or maybe not. I don't know.Here is what I do know: Jeff Norton, a family friend, was murdered last month with a weapon found in his home. The suspect is in jail with no bond charged with capital first-degree murder.

People in the martial arts have a confidence that we can take care of ourselves. We pride ourselves for being able to use our training to stay calm in the face of disaster and believe we are invincible. We often have weapons used for training in easily accessible places. The last thing that crosses our minds is that they could be used against us.

We need to reconsider this possibility. It is not my place to say what anyone should or should not do. But I can't bear the thought of losing any of you, so please just think about this. And spend some time today with a friend, having that long put off chat because you were just too busy.

Usually, I run everything posted here by Steve. Not today. I woke up this morning and had to get these words out for something positive must be found in this tragedy.

Respectfully submitted,

Kitty Breed

TanDao Fight Lab #2 - Hard/Soft Palms

2010-07-17T14:21:00.000-04:00

Tires, Sledges, Ropes

2010-07-15T21:22:00.000-04:00

Martial Artists Fighting Hunger is Back!

2010-07-12T20:43:00.004-04:00

Once again, DC Turnbull Martial Arts and comBATON will sponsor Martial Artists Fighting Hunger. The TaeKwonDo Club of UCF is hosting the event. Master Turnbull and Steve are working on the challenges but one thing certain, someone is going to win a new iPod Touch. Kitty is donating the iPod Touch and is working on getting other prizes as well.

Save August 28, 2010 from 9am-3pm and more details will be posted as they are available. Again there will be an event newsletter coming out. If you are not on the list from last year, have a new e-mail address or just want to be sure, send an e-mail to: combaton@cfl.rr.com.

Robot Taekwondo Battles!

2010-06-22T12:52:00.006-04:00

Via Weird Asian News

The battles will pit two programmed robots against each other in a bloodless match designed to demonstrate and promote the art of taekwondo. The robots will react with programmed thrusts, jabs and kicks depending on what their sensors detect.

“They would fight each other based on their embedded sensors, which help predict assaults and attacks by its opponents,” said a member of the Ministry of Knowledge Economy (MKE), which is the group responsible for sponsoring the event.

The MKE will provide the robots, while university students will be charged with programming them. Obviously, the robots will not initially perform as well as human taekwondo challengers, but Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) researcher Roh Sung-su guarantees that their performance “will improve” in due time.

What will remain the same, however, are the rules. “A game is composed of three rounds lasting nine minutes with three referees to oversee the bout,” said Roh. Whosever robot garners the greatest number of points will take the win.

Also included at the conference are nine other competitions that according to Korea Times will involve “humanoids, robotic football matches, rovers as a variety of combat machines.”

Interested parties who read Korean may register at Robot114. There is over 147,000 USD worth of prizes at stake, so if you don’t read, write or speak Korean, I suggest you start learning right away!

Link to article

ComBATON Demo at Orlando Predators vs. Oklahoma City Yard Dawgz Game

2010-06-20T23:09:00.004-04:00

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

PRLog (Press Release) – Jun 20, 2010 – Kung fu Football aka comBATON will meet Arena Football on July 24, 2010 at the Orlando Predators vs Oklahoma City Yard Dawgz game as part of the pre-game activities for tailgaters and others outside the Amway Arena in the last home game of the season.

The comBATON demonstration will be conducted in the grassy area visible as ticket holders enter the arena on the north side. ComBATON is a fusion of martial arts and football headed up by all around athlete and martial arts master David Turnbull of Florida. Master Turnbull is the national director of comBATON, owner of DC Turnbull Martial Arts in Sanford, Florida and President of Florida AAU TaeKwonDo.

Instead of a football, the players battle over a 14 inch baton and attempt to score on the opposing team's goal by dislodging a dangling baton from a goal. The game is designed to showcase martial arts kicks as part of the scoring points. A standing kick is worth 3 points, a jumping kick is worth 4 and a jumping spinning kick is worth 5 points. Additional information about the game may be viewed at comBATON's website at http://www.combaton.com.

# # #

comBATON is a Martial Arts Team Sport. It is also known as Kung Fu Football. All players are martial artists and may be trained in Karate, MMA, Taekwondo, Kung Fu or other kicking art. Although not integral to the sport, there is an MMA component players may choose to gain advantage upon the opposing team. Similar to football, comBATON may be played by various age groups at different skill levels.

What Does "The Karate Kid" Have to Do with Karate?

2010-06-11T15:55:00.006-04:00

I haven't looked a in a phone book lately, but the first time I tried to find a TaeKwonDo school in the phone book there were no listings. In fact there was no heading for the topic at all. When I asked my friend about how that could be he laughed and said, "You have to look under 'Karate and Other Martial Arts.'"

Things have changed since then. I have no idea if you can find "TaeKwonDo" in the phone book but I can on the internet. Now the original "Karate Kid" has been remade and I personally can't wait to see it. (Here is a link to the official trailer.) Just a little aside, when the master says "Focus" I remember my master, Grandmaster KJ Lee sternly admonishing students to focus except I thought he was saying "Poke eyes" during Koyro.

Probably everyone reading this has an involvement with martial arts but possibly won't know why the movie is called "Karate Kid" when the "kid" is doing kung fu. An article published in Slate magazine addresses this quite well and has a good review of the movie as part of the article.

When you read it be sure to check out the comments and possibly make your own.

Nashville Tennessee Flood 2010

2010-05-21T20:11:00.001-04:00

Reposted from the Florida TaeKwonDo Federation website:

Dear Family, Friends, and Martial Arts Community,
Two weeks ago, one of our own lost everything including her home and most of her processions in the Nashville floods. Master Kathy Wieczerza, better known as "The Wiz" to her students, friends, and family, woke up on Sunday, May 2nd, 2010, in the wee hours of the morning, to find that she would have to evacuate her family from the home they loved. They had to make their way within minutes, as the water quickly rose, and find their way to higher ground on which to wait out what has now been recognized as the single-most costly, non-hurricane flood in our National history, having caused the most damage that Middle Tennessee has suffered since the Civil War.

The rain continued all day. It only began to clear after 10 pm. By the time the storm finally subsided, it had poured more rain on this one day than had ever been recorded in Nashville for the month of May.

The Nashville flood has been declared a National Disaster, yet the National news has given it very little attention.

What can you do to help?

A Red Belt is always "the first to help and the last to leave." Please make a donation of money, gifts-in-kind via our online registries, or of your time, so that we can give a little bit back to a family that has given us all so much. A trust fund has been established to help the Wieczerza family.

And, please, pass on the information about the effects and aftermath of the Nashville Flood. Tell your friends, tell your family, tell everyone.

Go to RedBeltHeart.org to donate, see photo, read the whole story, and to find out how you can help the "Wiz".

Sincerely,

Bobby Stone

ComBATON and the Art of War

2010-05-06T22:32:00.005-04:00

Written by Sun Tzu, "The Art of War" is among the oldest books on military strategy. It's had an influence far beyond its original purpose. Sun Tzu thought that strategy requires quick and appropriate responses to changing conditions. In his view, planning works in a controlled situation, but in a changing environment, competing plans collide and unexpected situations occur. He addresses this view in the fourth chapter of his book, "Tactical Positioning."

This chapter explains the importance of looking for opportunities while defending a current position until you can advance them and how you must recognize opportunities, not try to create them. Reading Sun Tzu's view immediately brought CJ Vickers "Mr Smooth" to mind. While some players have to develop this skill, CJ seems to come by it naturally. Here is an example of CJ at work scoring at the last seconds of the video. See if you agree with my assessment.

A Brief Guest Post: Note About How Honor has Changed Over the Years

2010-04-26T22:55:00.006-04:00

This is a guest written by Master Boozer (yes, that's his real name) on the topic of honor. Master Boozer owns and runs Texas Coast Karate and writes the "Be The Master: A Journey in Tang Soo Do" blog. I regularly read his posts and recommend it to anyone interested in martial arts. He posts on twitter as "@MasterBoozer."

Ever read the story about the 47 Ronin? It’s an excellent Japanese classic story about a group of samurai that hatch a plot spanning years to avenge their fallen master. I’ve actually read the book a couple of times, and I highly recommend it. You see, back in the feudal days of Japan, dying in servitude of one’s master was an honorable act. That kind of ultimate sacrifice went a long way for generations to come.

If you ever get a chance to watch or read the story about the "47 Ronin", do so. It's a great grate tale about the ultimate sacrifice in the name of honor....but would it work by today's standards?
Of course, back then, it was easy to pick a fight to the death as well. Indeed, in many cultures (Asian, European, American etc…) there are well documented cases of duels to the death simply because someone’s honor had been slighted. Heck, we even lost a US President that way once.

Fast forward to present day and we no longer fight for those reasons. Well, I take it back…..we’re not supposed to. Honor is kind of a tricky thing, especially when you’re involved in martial arts. Unfortunately, even I see the lines get blurred sometimes. Not to pick on MMA (again), but how many times have you seen a fighter get riled up because his opponent insulted him in some fashion? Sure it brought the fight out of him, but for the right reason? Hmm….

I like telling stories about the “old days” (ha, ha) when I worked as a bouncer in a local Baton Rouge night club. It was a fun social experiment because I got to observe my fellow-man when he wasn’t exactly at his best. it never failed to amaze me how a simple insult could result in someone going to the hospital. It seems to me that somewhere over the years, “honor”, got mixed up with saving face. You see it in night club fights, you see it in popular sports. You see it in school yard fights. Someone gets in your face. Is it an insult to your honor? No. It’s a test of your patience. Someone insults you or a family member. Have they tainted your honor? I’m not going to sit here and tell you that ill words about my wife or children would not illicit an emotional response from me…..but someone’s poor choice of words do not endanger my family. They’re damaging, but no one’s going to lose a limb over it.

Honor? Nah....that dude's just pissed off.
Then what, by my definition, is honor? I can define it with a simple story.

My first Tang Soo Do instructor, the gentleman that introduced me to the art, had to give up training because of a rather aggressive bout of cancer. While he survived, it ended his training days for good. By the time he had hung up his belt for the last time, he had actually amassed between 8 & 12 students (including myself) that managed to reach the rank of Cho Dan (black belt) in the art under the guidelines of the International Tang Soo Do Federation. Of those students, I am the only one that still remains in the federation, training, and teaching some of the exact same things that he taught me. To me, that’s the best way I can pay homage to the man who started my journey…….and that’s honorable.

I have a tattoo on my back that quotes a famous saying from one of my senior masters, Joe Goss Jr. . It says “flesh for bone – bone for life”. Literally, it means “tear my flesh, I break your bones, break your bones, I take your life”. That only applies if my life, or the life of a loved one, is in danger. I’m not going to take a swing at you just because you told a “yo mama” joke.

Master Wayne Boozer

ComBATON Mentioned in May 2010 Issue of TaeKwonDo Times

2010-04-17T18:52:00.006-04:00

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ComBATON was mentioned in the May 2010 issue of TaeKwonDo Times. The accompanying photograph was shot by Wendi Turnbull of 2 Dog Photography and edited by Paul Allen of Allen's Martial Arts.

For more information on comBATON, click here.

DC Turnbull Martial Arts Ribbon Cutting

2010-03-26T07:37:00.003-04:00

Sanford, Fl,

DC Turnbull Martial Arts had a ribbon cutting ceremony to celebrate the new school on Tuesday, March 23, 2009 at 1662 W. Airport Blvd in Sanford, FL 32771. There were demonstrations and refreshments followed by an extreme workout. Anyone interested in lessons my call the school at 321-356-9299, send a message through Facebook or send an "@" message on twitter.

Master Turnbull Goes Over comBATON Rules

2010-03-14T21:29:00.001-04:00

Master Turnbull introducing comBATON to new students at his school in Sanford, Florida in the Riverboat Commerce Center. He is assisted by black belt Molly.

Sanford, Fl

2010-02-25T18:19:00.003-05:00

ComBATON in Long Island

2010-02-17T21:27:00.001-05:00

ComBATON's newest state director, Bill Wisotsky of New York State got started with martial arts in grade school doing SHIMA Jiu-jitsu. Bill moved into wrestling during his junior high and high school years. After college, he started studying American Kempo Karate where he began to become interested in reality training and the application of Kempo techniques to reality situations. Bill's interest in reality training has also led him to train in the Russian Martial Art of Systema and V-FORCE Scientific Fighting Concepts, the latter of which he is a Certified L1 Instructor.

Bill believes exercising the mind is just as important as the body as shown by his academic education attaining a BA in Psychology/Criminal Justice, an MA in Experimental Psychology and a second MA in Biopsychology/Behavioral Neuroscience.

By day Bill is an analytical software consultant. He also owns Long Island Mixed Martial Arts, a multi-disciplinary organization focused on brining all different martial artists together to learn, share and attend each others events. We're glad to have him on board.

Slideboom comBATON Presentation

2010-02-14T21:13:00.001-05:00

Intro to comBATON ppt

View more presentations or Upload your own.

Jesse Crouch: Street fighting

2010-02-10T08:16:00.004-05:00

You might remember Jesse Crouch the Martial Arts blogger who wrote about combaton a year or so ago. Well he's got a new post you want to check out about going to the ground in a street fight. The first video is supposed to be funny but the second one is exactly what can happen in a street fight.

Here is a link to the other article he wrote.

Master Turnbull Opens School in Sanford, Fl

2010-01-26T23:32:00.011-05:00

ComBATON's National Director, Master David Turnbull is opening a new school in Sanford, Fl at 1662 W Airport Blvd. Classes will start on February 1, 2010 and the Grand Opening is slated for mid March 2010. Classes include yoga, pilates, weapons, Tae Kwon Do, Ju Jit Su, kickboxing, self defense and comBATON. Master Turnbull and his wife Wendi run a quality school with age appropriate instruction from young children to senior adults. Character education is emphazised in all classes for the younger set. No contracts are required. Call 321-356-9299 for information.

New comBATON Director for New York

2009-12-28T17:53:00.004-05:00

The next comBATON newsletter will detail Bill Wiscotsky, the new comBATON Director for the state of New York. Master Wiscotsky owns Long Island Mixed Martial Arts.

LIMMA is the premiere organization dedicated to promoting the multidisciplinary approach to the Martial Arts on Long Island and New York City. LIMMA allows practitioners of diverse styles to bridge rifts through providing information, seminars, tournaments, etc. allowing individuals to develop further through multidisciplinary approaches. LIMMA specializes in three main areas:

Classical Martial Arts
Martial Arts for Sport
Reality Based Martial Arts

Win a Bear for New Years

2009-12-26T15:36:00.005-05:00

The person who tags the most photos of themselves wearing a comBATON tee shirt "comBATON" on their MySpace or uploads the most photos of themselves wearing a comBATON tee on the comBATON League Facebook page will win this bear. Winner will be announced on New Years Day. Elvin Lopez won the last one. This one could be yours...

Just a Taste of the Year Ahead

2009-12-19T02:14:00.010-05:00

ComBATON is in the beginning stages of planning a DVD to explain the game for people to play without having to come to Florida to see a game. Other plans for 2010 include using yellow batons to increase baton visibility during games and a line of comBATON equipment. As regular readers know, Jacky Detaille is starting a team in France and Bill Wisotsky along with Tommy DiLallo are interested in starting a team in Long Island, New York. Jeff Underwood, the Iowa State Director is working on establishing comBATON there. Once again, the Championships are slated for the Disney Martial Arts Festival in October. More to come later...

Logo for comBATON France

2009-12-10T20:56:00.006-05:00

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Jacky Detaille, pratiquer le comBATON en France, is the president of the France Karate Association and has adapted the comBATON logo using the French Language. Jacky is already planning comBATON demos. Below is an excerpt from his blog. We look forward following his progress in developing a European league.

Le comBATON, le nouveau sport de combat qui affole les américains, vient de faire son apparition en Europe!

C'est sous l'impulsion du Champion du Monde de Karaté Jacky Detaille qu'une première section de comBATON est en train de voir le jour dans le Gard, puisque le Karaté Club Bellegarde propose déjà cette activité depuis plusieurs semaines. "C'est au cours d'un de mes voyages aux Etats-unis que j'ai découvert le comBATON; j'ai très vite manifesté un grand interêt pour cette nouvelle discipline fondée par Steve Blanton. Le nouveau refus du CIO d'intégrer le karaté aux Jeux Olympiques, m'a poussé à réfléchir sur de nouvelles formes de développement pour le karaté, et les sports pieds-poings en général; j'ai toujours pensé que les sports de combat pieds-poings auraient dû collaborer afin de proposer une formule globale au Comité Olympique (en particulier les sports de "touche" comme le Karaté, le Taekwondo, le Kung Fu, le Viet vo dao et d'autres...)."

Win a Stuffed comBATON Bear

2009-11-24T12:22:00.004-05:00

ComBATON is planning a kids league and we need a kid-friendly name and is having a naming contest on Facebook. The best name submitted before Midnight November 25th will win a plush white comBATON bear with a removable vest. I have 13 more after that so keep your eye open for more chances. Facebook page If you are not on Facebook and want to submit a name, just enter it as a comment to this post. The winner will be announced here and on comBATON's Facebook page.

Update:★Elvin Lopez is the winner of the stuffed teddy bear★

"Parlez-vous français?"

2009-11-19T04:04:00.006-05:00

Jackie Detaille of France, a long time traditional karate practitioner, interested in renewing the image of traditional art there with a fusion of modern practices, has contacted comBATON for information on bringing comBATON to France.

Although comBATON is currently played by TaeKwonDo stylists, it works for any style. Steve Blanton, comBATON's commissioner, started out in Shotokan, then went to Kung Fu and ended up in Tae Kwon Do. He also had a short stint with Shito Ryu and believes that bringing in other styles rounds martial artists out by developing them in different ways.

Master Detaille became aware of comBATON through YouTube and possibly through the French video channel Daily Motion where Kitty posts some videos. He has conducted Karate seminars in Belgium, Morocco, and France. His initial goal is to establish a local league in Bellegarde, France. We look forward to working with him.

Canada, Anyone?

2009-11-14T00:30:00.007-05:00

Some videos on YouTube just stick around. "Kung Fu Football" at McArthur High School edited by Bruce Marcho of Digital Solutions is one of those. It was made as an ad for EPSN broadcast in the Miami area before the first Tournament of Games in the greater Miami area and just put on YouTube. We have a more well, commercial promo video but it doesn't get near the hits that "Kung Fu Football does which had several hundred hits this week from Canada. This is the first time that another country has beat out the United States for video views on our channel.

Welcome to Martial Arts Football

2009-11-10T04:34:00.001-05:00

Championship Report

2009-11-02T21:10:00.004-05:00

On October 16, 2009 the comBATON games were held on the 2nd level of the Milkhouse at Disney’s Wide World of Sports. We had the whole area to ourselves and had use of the dual scoreboards and P.A. system. The music was pumping and there was good action on the field.

The first game was Division 1A, adult men, with the Samurai vs. the Ninja. Coach/Player David Turnbull of the Samurai with CJ Vickers, Tyler Townsend, Gabe Allen, Tom Robertson, Elvin Lopez and Morris Johnson, against Coach/Player Brian Schneider of the Ninja with Seth McKinley, Joe Schneider, Josh Stechenfinger and Nick Richartz, the first two teams in comBATON history. The game consisted of two 10minutes halves. The time ran fast, so next year we will have two 15 minute halves. The game was originally intended to be made up of six 10 minute periods, but was shortened in order to accommodate more games from different divisions. The game ended with the Samurai on top with 6 points and the Ninja 0 points. CJ Vickers scored all 6 points for the Samurai. It was a low scoring game for comBATON, but that attests to the defensive battle that was going on between the teams. Both teams always put on a smorgasbord of action.

The second game was made up of coed teams with Iris Johnson and Mitch Michalak on one team, and Elvin Lopez and Megan Dalhberg on the other. The third game was made up of the Ninja regulars: Brian Schneider, Seth McKinley and Joe Schneider against a mix of the Samurai: Tom Robertson, Morris Johnson, and Elvin Lopez. This was Morris Johnson’s first combaton as was for his daughter, Iris, in the game previous. They are the first Father/Daughter combination in comBATON history.

FIRST DOUBLE OVERTIME RECORDED AT DISNEY

The third game resulted in a 3 to 3 tie after the regulation period. Rules state that an additional period of 5 minutes will be played to resolve the deadlock. However, after that period of play there was no change in the score. Therefore, rules state that after the overtime period, the format to resolve the tie will be a round robin rotation of one-on-one at the goal.

How this works:

The Referee goes to each team captain and asks who will be first, second and third in the rotation. Neither team knows who on the other team is first in the rotation. Then the Referee calls the two names of the players listed first. The Referee flips a coin and the team captains call to see who starts on offense.

The object is for each player in the rotation to face the other team’s player in a one-on-one to score on the goal. The player starting with the baton begins at the strike zone line and has 30 seconds in which to score on the goal pole.
First up was Brian Schneider against Tom Robertson. They fought at full throttle for 30 seconds. No score. Next up was Seth McKinley and Morris Johnson. Seth was able to score a 3 point goal. Third in the rotation were Joe Schneider and Elvin Lopez at full throttle for 30 seconds. No score.

Then it was the Ninja team to be the defenders and the Samurai to take to the offense. All fought the full 30 seconds each and, I can safely say, were pretty much completely exhausted.

SPECIAL THANKS
To David Turnbull who blended music and voice over to spice up the games. The officials: Paul Allen, the National Director of Officials, Mark Koster, Ginger Allen, Tom Koster, Renee Vickers and Cathy Townsend. Also, to Bill and his son Kyle as Officials-In-Training.

Grappling at Disney Championships

2009-10-31T11:01:00.002-04:00

Players of the Samurai and Ninja comBATON teams, grapple during the Championships at the Disney Martial Arts Festival in Orlando, Florida. According to league rules, players may do take-downs and grapple in the red zone if they have either kicked twice or been kicked twice by the other player. The objective of grappling is to take a players out of play to enable the remaining team members to score by kicking the other team's goal. Additional information is available at comBATON.com.

2009 Disney Martial Arts Festival Showcase

2009-10-20T23:29:00.002-04:00

Megan, Nick and Gabe did a demo for the showcase Saturday night. Thanks to Wendi Turnbull of 2 Dog Photography for her fantastic photos!

Disney Martial Arts Festival Championships

2009-10-12T20:55:00.004-04:00

Players are responsible for bringing their own protective equipment: chest protector, helmet with face guard, pads, mouthpiece, cup and martial art shoes.

Paul Allen - Director of Officials

There are two changes in the rules that we will apply for the comBATON Championships at Disney. Also, listed are a few of the basic rules to remember:

New:

After the Opening Attack, there will be only two attacks (plays) to get down field.

Each team will get three warnings before penalties will be assessed by the officials.

Procedures and Rules:

comBATON - Friday night, Oct. 16
Officials Meeting - 6:00PM
Player's Meeting - 6:30PM
Ninja vs Samurai - 7:00PM; (2) 10 minute halves

First Game:
Home team - Samurai
Visiting team - Ninja

Mix-and-Match Games after Samurai and Ninja:
Players will be placed on teams based on size, gender, age and experience for balanced teams. There will be approximately 5 games played at 10 minutes per game.

Opening Protocol:

Each team will line up facing each other.
I will call out the home team captain and present the baton.
I will call out the visiting team captain.
Home team captain will present the baton to the visiting captain. They step back, all will bow to each other and then shake hands
The starting 3 for each team will take their places at their respective strike zone lines on each end of the field for the Opening Attack.

Points:
3 points - standing kicks
4 points - jumping kicks
5 points - 360 spinning kicks

Basic Rules:
· (3) warnings per game, per team
· (3) attacks includes opening attack
· (2) kicks then grapple; must begin grapple in strike zone
· (3) timeouts (up to 30 seconds) per team
· Target area - front and sides of torso and head
· baton is "LIVE" if it touches anyone while being thrown
· baton is "DEAD" if it touches no one during a throw
· where you throw the baton (after advancing) and it lands DEAD, that is where it will be played from on next attack.

Unsportsmanlike Conduct:
· foul language
· talking back to officials
Results in - Penalty Box for 2 minutes with no substitutes during that time. Once the 2 minutes has ended, penalized player must wait until a break in the game to enter back into competition.

Clock Stops only when:
· there is a score
· infraction/foul
· timeouts (team or official)
· injury

Whistle Blows only when:
· stops
· score
· out of bounds
· dead baton

Additional Notes:

A defensive player can stop the shooter (baton carrier) with a punch to the torso target area. However, no hands to the head.

Kicks can wrap around the torso, but no direct kick to the spine.

If a player pushes an opponent, then must follow with a kick.

Any defensive player standing in the goal zone (12 X 12 blue area under goal pole) for more than 3 seconds without engaging in fighting will be called for a foul.

Incidental grabbing and pushing okay, but if your opponent is redirected or taken out of the play by the force, then will be a foul.
Simultaneous possession for two or more seconds results in a fight-off to determine possession.

Before an attack may begin, the Referee will hand the baton to an offensive player and toot the whistle for the 20 second clock to begin. Only after the Referee toots the whisltle can the offense initiate the attack.

The offense has up to 20 seconds to initiate the attack. When 10 seconds of the 20 seconds has expired, the announcer will say aloud "10 seconds". When time winds down to 5 seconds, the announcer will count down aloud.

If the offense does not initiate the attack within the 20 seconds, a delay of game will be called.

Once the baton carrier enters the defense's strike zone area, the offense gets 3 more attacks. All attacks begin at the strike zone line.

Players are responsible for bringing their own protective equipment: chest protector, helmet with face guard, pads, mouthpiece, cup and martial art shoes.

Martial Arts Tournament 09

2009-10-11T21:47:00.001-04:00

This was shot by a volunteer at the Martial Artists Fighting Hunger Gauntlet. After the swordfight clip are some clips of comBATON which was station 10.

Disney Martial Arts Festival Championships

2009-10-09T19:16:00.001-04:00

Just uploaded today: promo for the last games of the season at the Disney Martial Arts Festival at the Disney Wide World of Sports. We'll be in the Milkhouse at 7 pm.

Action Shot From 2008 Championships. Join Us In 2009

2009-10-08T23:59:00.000-04:00

Orlando, Florida ~ Join Us at the Disney Martial Arts Festival

2009-09-22T20:17:00.004-04:00

See us in the Milkhouse at the Disney Martial Arts Festival October 16th at 7 pm for the 2009 comBATON Championships. This will be the fourth year comBATON has had a presence at the festival and the second year we've been a discipline. The first year we did a short demonstration. The second year we did a day-long demonstration in the rain. Last year we held games for the first time. Come join us in the Milkhouse on Friday night, October 16, 2009 at 7 pm.

Second Harvest Gauntlet Food Drive

2009-08-26T20:04:00.001-04:00

Gauntlet Grand Prize

2009-08-12T19:05:00.003-04:00

The Grand Prize for winning the Martial Artists Fighting Hunger Gauntlet is a custom variation of the belt shown above being donated by Eosin Panther, maker of custom martial arts belts. They are internationally known as the best and we are appreciative of their offer. The belt will say "Gauntlet Champion." There is a link to register online on the event's website.

Copy, Paste, and Share!

2009-07-30T20:35:00.004-04:00

Are You Ready for the Gauntlet?

2009-07-25T19:05:00.007-04:00

The Gauntlet is a 10 station athletic challenge designed to suss out the best martial artists of any style and to help the Second Harvest Food Bank at the same time. Food will be collected as entry and spectator fees. A donation of $5.00 may be made instead. Competitors are asked to register online to assist us with staging you with others of similar rank and belt level. Click here to register.

The event will be held on September 5, 2009 at 9 am at Lyman High School in Longwood, Fl, 32750. If you are unable to attend and wish support the cause, you may make a donation to the cause at Second Harvest’s secure website. There is a link to their donation form from the registration link above. Please indicate that your donation is for the Martial Artists Fighting Hunger food drive.

Martial Artists Fighting Hunger are also seeking volunteers to assist with running the event. The greatest need is for someone to help the athletes get to the correct stations by directing them. There will be a meeting in the morning of the event to familarize volunteers with the procedures. Please e-mail them at MartialArtistsFightingHunger@gmail.com if you can be of help. Thanks for your support.

Martial Artists Fighting Hunger

2009-07-25T18:45:00.003-04:00

Martial Artists Fighting Hunger’s first event will be held at Lyman High School in Longwood, Fl, 32750 on September 5, 2009. It will start at 8:30 am with registration and the official’s meeting. The featured activity, called “The Gauntlet” will start immediately after the opening ceremonies at 10:00 am.

The Gauntlet is a 10 station challenge competition for martial artists of all styles. It allows individuals to test their power, balance, speed, technique, accuracy, self defense, and team work in a safe environment. Tournament directors are David Turnbull and Steve Blanton. David Turnbull is well known in the TaeKwonDo community and has extensive experience as a tournament director. Steve Blanton is an experienced martial arts event director and the developer of comBATON, a martial arts team sport. Online registration is encouraged to allow the athletes to be staged in advance.

As with any event, there are countless people behind the scenes making this happen. Paul and Ginger Allen, veteren martial art tournament officials, contributed in a myraid of ways from helping with developing the concept to creation of artwork. Wendi Turnbull contributed her expertise in tournament planning and Kitty Breed videotaped some of the promotion clips for the event . Students of DC Turnbull’s TaeKwonDo helped develop the stations. None of this would have been possible without Sasha Hausman of the Second Harvest Food Bank of Central Florida.

Now it’s time for us to ask the Martial Arts community for help. We need volunteers to manage stations (3 per station, so you won’t be doing this alone) and schools to sign up to participate. This is a totally non-profit event. All food and any money donated will go to the Second Harvest Food Bank. We are also seeking sponsors to help defray the costs of renting the gym. Please contact us at MartialArtistsFightingHunger@gmail.com.

Martial Arts SuperShow

2009-07-15T01:05:00.007-04:00

comBATON was represented at the largest martial arts trade show in the United States recently. David Turnbull, National Director, Wendi Turnbull, National Coordinator, Samurai player Megan Dalhberg and Kitty Breed, Director of Operatons, attended the Martial Art Industry Association's 2009 Martial Art SuperShow at the MGM Grand Convention Center in Las Vegas, Nevada last week. They attended seminars taught by Bill Wallace, Matt Hughes, Ricardo Liborio of American Top Team, among others. They caught up on industry trends between seminars and enjoyed the trade show booths. Kitty is pictured on the left with Chuck Liddell after an MMA seminar taught by John Hackleman, Liddell's trainer. More pictures will be posted soon.

comBATON 2009 Introduction

2009-07-11T20:10:00.001-04:00

Check out the lastest comBATON Promotional Video. Footage was shot at the 2008 Disney Martial Arts Festival Championships.

New Openzine Article for Martial Artists Fighting Hunger

2009-06-25T17:51:00.004-04:00

ComBATON Players Megan and Molly are on the cover of the second issue of "Openzine Martial Artists Fighting Hunger." I guess that makes them "Covergirls." [smile] Master Paul Allen of Allen's Martial Arts and VP of GA & Associates designed the logo. I think he did a fantastic job. It says so much about the cause without being too "busy."

Temporary Tattoos are In

2009-06-13T16:45:00.002-04:00

We just got some temporary comBATON tattoos in and we're looking forward to getting pics of players and fans wearing them. The picture is not really clear but the tattoos themselves have sharp edges and the color is great. Look for them at an event near you soon.

Random Sports: comBATON

2009-06-04T23:31:00.004-04:00

Check out the OpenZine article on comBATON in Random Sports.

Pocket-sized Official's Handbook

2009-05-25T01:26:00.008-04:00

Steve and Master Paul Allen are working on a pocket-sized Official's Handbook. When it is ready it will be a handy resource for officials during the game.

Master Gohring - Tai Chi Breathing

2009-05-16T12:29:00.001-04:00

This is a great way to destress as well as prepare for training.

Self-defense How to use a Rear Head Throw

2009-05-06T17:04:00.001-04:00

This technique looks effective for self defense in a tough situation.

Disappointing News Re:ESPN

2009-05-01T13:26:00.002-04:00

RE: Jim Rome Is Burning/ESPN

I called back to inquire why the clip was not shown on the designated date. The representative stated that it was cut from the show due to time constraints.

He apologized and stated that it probably will not be used.

Next time when this happens I will wait and record the show before sending out information.

Commissioner

"Kung fu Football" at McArthur High School

2009-04-28T23:50:00.001-04:00

comBATON YouTube clip to be on ESPN's Jim Rome Is Burning at 4:30 PM EST/1:30 PM PST on 4/29/09 on ESPN1 which is Channel 29 in the Orlando market.

ESPN:Rome is Burning

2009-04-28T19:35:00.002-04:00

I got this e-mail from Steve today:

RE: comBATON YouTube clip to be on ESPN's Jim Rome Is Burning at 4:30 PM EST/1:30 PM PST on Wednesday 04/29/09

I was contacted this morning by Chris Castile of the show asking for permission to air YouTube clips of comBATON for the Wednesday or Thursday show. More likely for tomorrow, which is Wednesday. He said, he'd never seen anything like it.

This is a national broadcast and will be good exposure for comBATON.

Samurai Team Photo

2009-04-26T00:17:00.002-04:00

This is a photo of the Lake Mary Samurai comBATON team taken by Wendi Turnbull of 2 Dog Photography. Pretty cool shot, don't you think?

Additional photos by Master Turnbull may be seen on her MySpace page.

comBATON at Disney

2009-04-12T22:34:00.001-04:00

Here are a few highlights from the Disney Martial Arts Festival in October 2008.

Fight Geek: comBATON

2009-04-10T19:22:00.002-04:00

Just ran into this repost of "Controlled Chaos," one of the first comBATON videos.

Improved Practice Kickstick

2009-04-09T22:11:00.004-04:00

Steve picked up the new practice kicksticks today. They have rubber shrink wrap over the cushion and more importantly, are a new version that can be hung from a rope. The end of the magnet has an eyehook so that a stand is not required to support the kickstick. This new version, made by Michael Londo, will be much easier to ship and much less expensive for a team to use during practice.

TKD Scrimmage at Lake Mary YMCA

2009-04-05T13:32:00.004-04:00

Masters Paul and Ginger Allen hosted an AAU Taekwondo scrimmage yesterday at the Lake Mary, YMCA in Lake Mary, Florida. Master David and Wendi Turnbull were present as well. Participants came from as far away as Miami to get coaching for the AAU Nationals Qualifier which will be held later this month. Participants practiced forms and sparring. All in all, it was a good scrimmage with everyone coming away with a feeling that this was a worthwhile experience.

comBATON Samurai Photoshoot

2009-03-28T18:56:00.002-04:00

2009-03-24T18:58:00.001-04:00

Wendi's newest pictures You have to be logged into your MySpace account to see these pictures.

Collaborative Annotations on YouTube

2009-03-15T20:56:00.004-04:00

Do you have a YouTube account? Did know that you can now make annotations on other's videos? Below is a link to the Samurai vs Ninja game at Disney Martial Arts Festival. Feel free to add an annotation.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XxY68dlWoY4&layer_token=d8bfe63b2725d04c

Photoshoot with 2 Dog Photography

2009-03-14T23:20:00.004-04:00

The comBATON Lake Mary Samurai had a photoshoot with Master Wendi Turnbull of 2 Dog Photography at 2 locations today. The first location was the Lake Mary YMCA and the second was the dock at Molly's house. Master Wendi took around 800 photos so it will be a while before she goes through them all. Steve Blanton took the photo on the left. 2 Dog Photography is best known for action martial arts tournament photography but does all all types of photoshoots. Interested parties may book photography services through her website.

Wreckreation Nation

2009-03-14T11:19:00.007-04:00

This is part of an e-mail Steve sent to the Discovery Channel TV Show producer of "Wreakreation Nation," a show about new and unusual sports. Discovery has not determined if the show will go to another season yet, but you never know.

"I certainly hope there is another season. Dave is doing a great job.

If you do have another season, you might want to consider our sport: comBATON

It's martial art football. We call it comBATON. It's like football going down the field but instead of blocking and tackling we use martial art kicks to attack their opponent. Around the goal the dynamics are similar to basketball in strategy.

The focus of the game is a baton, like a football or basketball would be for their games. The baton can be thrown to other teammates and only the player carrying the baton can score on their opponent's goal pole.

The baton carrier (known as the shooter) has to kick the goal and disconnect it from its mount in order to score points for their team. The defense stops the baton carrier by kicking them in a target area (front and sides of the torso and head). But anyone can kick opponent at anytime during the course of the game. So, the mantra is "defend yourself at all times". Everyone wears protective gear, including a helmet.

It's a full contact game and the kids love it. Divisions start at 5 and 6 year olds, male and female, up through adults. Most of the players are high level belts from Tae Kwon Do."

If you'd like to learn more about Wreckreation Nation, visit the show's website. Sports previously featured in the show included Pumpkin Chunking, Mini Moto Racing, and Alligator Wrestling.

Thanks For Your Support

2009-03-06T19:47:00.002-05:00

Thanks to you guys, we're back at # 1 on Google. Now that we got the domain name straightened out, it's time to work on the new video.

comBATON's Facebook Page in Japanese

2009-03-04T16:56:00.003-05:00

Kitty ran into this when she was looking around the internet. It's kind of weird to find one of your webpages in Japanese. In This case, it's Facebook.

Could You Help Us Out?

2009-03-04T13:34:00.001-05:00

Now that our website is back up, we see that it was down long enough to fade off of Google's radar completely. We want to be at the top position again. Could you help us out and visit the page so that Google knows that we're a viable website? Thanks for your help.

comBATON Website is Back Up

2009-03-03T20:09:00.002-05:00

The comBATON website is back up. We switched hosts and there was confusion over renewing the domain name but it's all fixed now.

Website is Down

2009-02-26T20:47:00.002-05:00

The comBATON website is out of commission for undetermined reasons. We're working on getting it back up asap.

comBATON Players Forum

Flag Combaton: Final Games of 2011 on November 13th

Ashleigh Ruby in Kickpics Contest

ComBATON at RDV in Maitland

Flag Combaton Teaser

Stats for Flag Combaton 9/9/11

The history of ninja in three stages: Sneaky samurai, literary device, and school.

井の中の蛙

Introducing "Flag ComBATON"

Where to sleep when training in Korea

Dojo comBATON Video Shoot

Because we're cooler than Kelvin

ComBATON Article on Oddities Central

YouTube Stat Update

comBATON: The Martial Art Team Sport

Practice Saturday

Folks, We Have a Winner!

ComBATON Practice in Lake Mary, Fl

Kickin' It Courtesty of ComBATON

Master Turnbull a "Selfless Sensei"

Could Martial Arts be a State of Mind?

Happy Holidays!

JACKY DETAILLE WORLD KARATE CUP 1987 FINAL

Blast From the Past

Yesterday at the Team Challenge

On a Serious Note……

Thought I'd share a post by Master Boozer of Texas. As usual his post is full of wisdom. Click on the link and read the rest on his blog.

Oan a Serious Note……

Playing comBATON with the kids

Just Around the Corner!

The Peanut Butter & Jelly Principle & Teaching Martial Arts

The Next Time You Feel Sorry For Yourself Watch!

Why is comBATON great for training martial artists for tournaments?

Diane Pucin's View of Sports and 9/ll

Ninjas at 2010 Martial Artists Fighting Hunger

Martial Artists Fighting Hunger – The Combine Challenge

Tiger Claw Kung Fu

Martial Artists Fighting Hunger – The Combine Challenge

comBATON 2009 Introduction

Weapon Safety

TanDao Fight Lab #2 - Hard/Soft Palms

Tires, Sledges, Ropes

Martial Artists Fighting Hunger is Back!

Robot Taekwondo Battles!

ComBATON Demo at Orlando Predators vs. Oklahoma City Yard Dawgz Game

What Does "The Karate Kid" Have to Do with Karate?

Nashville Tennessee Flood 2010

ComBATON and the Art of War

A Brief Guest Post: Note About How Honor has Changed Over the Years

ComBATON Mentioned in May 2010 Issue of TaeKwonDo Times

DC Turnbull Martial Arts Ribbon Cutting

Master Turnbull Goes Over comBATON Rules

Sanford, Fl

ComBATON in Long Island

Slideboom comBATON Presentation

Jesse Crouch: Street fighting

Master Turnbull Opens School in Sanford, Fl

New comBATON Director for New York

Win a Bear for New Years

Just a Taste of the Year Ahead

Logo for comBATON France

Win a Stuffed comBATON Bear

"Parlez-vous français?"

Canada, Anyone?

Welcome to Martial Arts Football

Championship Report

Grappling at Disney Championships

2009 Disney Martial Arts Festival Showcase

Disney Martial Arts Festival Championships

Martial Arts Tournament 09

Disney Martial Arts Festival Championships

Action Shot From 2008 Championships. Join Us In 2009

Orlando, Florida ~ Join Us at the Disney Martial Arts Festival

Second Harvest Gauntlet Food Drive

Gauntlet Grand Prize

Copy, Paste, and Share!

Are You Ready for the Gauntlet?

Martial Artists Fighting Hunger

Martial Arts SuperShow

comBATON 2009 Introduction