In less than a week, it’s off to Vegas, baby, for Greenwich-based Devita Karate.
Master Instructor and owner of Devita Karate, Joseph DeVita, along with a handful of his students, will be experiencing some of the best Tang Soo Do from around the world.
“This is very exciting,” said DeVita, who was born in and raised in Greenwich. “I’m actually looking forward to being out there and being with the kids. I am really excited for them. Obviously, I want them to win and want them to perform and do well, but I want them out there and competing. That’s really exciting. They’re going out there, giving it their best and showing their courage. That’s what we like.”
Bally’s Las Vegas Hotel and Casino will be hosting the 4th Worldwide Tang Soo Do Worldwide Family World Tournament and the 20th All Tang Soo Do National Championships. Over 350 competitors from 13 countries will be in attendance from July 30 to Aug. 1.
“For me, it really means a lot that people think that I’m good enough to go there,” said Greenwich resident Peter Negrea, a first-degree black belt. “It’s going to be a huge challenge for me, but I am really excited.”
DeVita Karate will be arriving on July 29. The next day, master belts from around the world will be teaching classes for three to four hours at a time. It’s during this time that the competitors build a community and get fired up for the competition.
On July 31, the opening ceremonies, in which countries display their flags, kick off. They introduce the high masters and grand master. Since the United States is hosting the event, the grand master is Grand Master Chris Ferraro.
In addition to the United States, England, Malaysia, Scottland, Holland, Germany, Greece, South Africa, Aruba, Chile, Ireland and Belguim, among others, will be represented.
“It’s a pretty exciting event because you see people from different countries,” DeVita said. “They speak different languages, but they are all Tang Soo Do practitioners. There is a brotherhood and sisterhood with us all. Whether they are from Germany or the Netherlands or from South Africa, they are all Tang Soo practitioners. We all do something very similar.”
Then it’s off to the forms competition, such as weapons forms competition, sword form competition, and team form competition. From there, the competition moves to individual form competition.
Aug. 1 is the sparring portion of the tournament, which will have international sparring competitions, in addition to the international women’s and men’s team competition. After that comes the U.S. national competition, consisting of four men and one woman per team. Individual fighting follows, in which the best fighters in each division fight to be named the grand champion.
At the banquet on Sunday night, competitors get the opportunity to celebrate their accomplishments and enjoy some dinner and music.
“Anybody can compete, as long as they are a part of our association and part of our style of martial arts,” DeVita said. “In order to compete in team forms, you have to train, go to classes, and you have to be picked to be one of the people to spar and be on the team.”
In addition to Negrea, others from DeVita Karate will be in competition. Sarah Heines is a third-degree black belt who will be testing for her master belt in January. Tim Tobin is a red belt, Chris Riberio is a second-degree black belt, and Master Lewis Cohen is a fifth-degree back belt.
Heines will be competing in the International team, national team, individual form, individual fighting and individual weapons.
“I’ll be exhausted after the event, but it will be worth it,” Heines said. “The last time I was at this event, I got grand champion in forms, so I would like to hold that or at least get first place. I would like to place in my weapons form. It’s a new form for me, and I get turned around a lot. I would like to finish the form and do it well. For individual fighting I think I could do well for that and expect to place.
Heines will be a part of the international women’s team as one of three fighters representing the United States. She did that last year for the first time, and said it was quite intimidating.
For Heines, competing with the best throughout the world is nothing new. In addition to traveling the country for national events, Heines has seen a lot of the globe. In 2009 she had just got her black belt and went to Holland for competition. In 2011 Heines stayed in America and traveled to Orlando.
While at Orlando, Heines picked up first place for fighting and second place in team form. Two years later she traveled to Amsterdam, where she scored grand champion in the Chil Sung form.
“This is so much fun,” Heines said. “I’ve gone to basically every national competition since I got my black belt at 14. I’ve been to Texas, Disney World, Las Vegas and California. This is my fourth international competition and it’s an eye-opening experience to see everybody else who actually likes the same art as me. It’s really cool.”
In addition learning the craft, Negrea teaches two classes a week at Devita Karate. In Las Vegas, Negrea will compete in national team form for the first time, since he just picked up his black belt. He will also compete in the individual sparring division and in Chil Sung form.
“Going into this tournament, I am expecting to compete,” said Negrea. “I’m not necessarily expecting to place, but I’m going to really learn the different type of people that practice this martial art from all around the world. I want to meet some friends and learn from different people.”
Riberio will compete in Chil Sung form, Bo Staff form and individual fighting. Tobin will battle in individual fighting, individual form like Bassai and sword form.
“We do a lot of sparring practice and we do a lot of drills,” Negrea said. “We also do a lot of forms. We have other people who know them better than you do edit them, change them up, and try to help make them better.”
Most of the athletes going to the tournament have been training three to four times a week. Some of them are going extra days for sparring classes.
“They are doing the extra time, and myself and Ms. Heines are helping them even more in class and trying to get them to the next level of competition,” DeVita said. “We all know what it takes to get to the next level, which is practice and prepare yourself for competition. We are preparing them physically, mentally and spiritually for competition.”
