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Hiraldos 14th Annual Tournament |
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Friday, 17 April 2009 |
14th Annual Hiraldo Kai Tournament
After many invitations finally we were able to attend one of our good friend Ramon Hiraldo’s tournaments. For years we have wanted to attend but with travel issues and conflicts it was not to be. We now moved back to New York City and this was perfect a short bus ride down 2nd Ave. to the “L” train on 14th St. and we were off to Brooklyn. After a short walk we found the YMCA and to our surprise a room filled with karateka from not just NY but the Northeast and the Americas.
 The 14th Annual Hiraldo-kai tournament had 378 competitors and according to Ramon if he counted family it was closer to 300. His organization is comprised of 17 schools that purpose is to help each other. They have their own referee corps with 47 officials. The NY Judges and Referee Karate-do Association have 39 referees in NYC with Ramon Hiraldo as President, Bob Utsey is VP and Luis Ruiz is secretary.
This organization has developed a strong support in the metropolitan area and the Northeast as we seen in attendance people from New Jersey, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts and Rhode Island. What was surprising was the amount of international support with teams in from Canada, Puertorico, Columbia, Chile and Venezuela.
With WKF world Champion Davide Dubo along with several Pan Am Champions from Venezuela and Columbia in attendance made for an action packed day. Cleve Baxter, Tokey Hill, George Aschkar, Cedric Barksdale, Bob Utsey were a few of the many local instructors at the event.
Ramon is willing to work together and to support everyone. We have the referees and clubs. If you support us we will support you. He is bringing people into the federation by going to the dojos and inviting them to his events. “Every Saturday they practice officiating. Every three months we have a kata license course.” If someone comes to him with a club and wants to participate then they need to join the organization and become a judge. He encourages instructors to become officials, join the NGB for themselves and their school getting involved with local events then to Las Vegas for the USA Open and next to the Nationals.
After a 14year absence it is great to back in New York. Living and working in Europe then relocating to North Carolina was quite a change for our family. We are plugging back into the community here and will be covering more of the New York events. Ramon Hiraldo’s tournament gave a good indication of how much has developed. We were able to chat with George Aschkar and Christina Muccini at length both who run successful schools host tournaments and are active with the USA-NKF.
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Last Updated ( Friday, 17 April 2009 )
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