Kids Karate Television Online
Dedicated to Kids in the Martial arts

Feature Story

Billy Leger

2005 Northeast Martial Arts Challenge
By Kids Karate Television Online reporter Mark Huard

youth black belt weapons grand champion Billy Leger with his dad

promoter Steve Lombardi with Billy Leger

weapons grand champion Billy Leger

On Sunday Feb 13, 2005, The North Providence Rhode Island High School was the site for some outstanding Sport Karate Competition.  The 11^th Annual Northeast Martial Arts Challenge sure did start off the year with a bang!  This is the first KRANE Rated event of the year and you can always expect a great turnout for this event.

The event Promoter Sensei Stephen Lombardi once again did an amazing job with this well organized fine New England Family Martial Arts Event.  Over 450 competitors from all over New England were in attendance.  The Northeast Martial Arts Challenge continues to grow each year.  This year the event was rated KRANE “AAAA” and also NASKA “A” Rated.  There were over 170 divisions with traditional and creative split!  I personally always enjoy this event very much.  Sensei Lombardi always makes people feel welcome to his events.   You couldn’t ask for a nicer promoter!

The event started shortly after 9:00 a.m. and was completed by 2:00 p.m.  Special thank you goes out to our wonderful KRANE Coordinators Don Rodrigues and Tony Cogliandro and all the other fine officials that helped out.

There was a very large showing from Team Straight Up at the Northeast Martial Arts Challenge and they really looked great.  These young junior competitors are truly amazing.  All the extra hours of hard training and dedication really shows in the arena!

Some of the top junior competitors I saw there included Ryan Wells, Francis and Daniel Saggal,  William Lucky, Billy Leger, Cory Lutkus, Robbie Andreozzi and many other awesome competitors!  One example of this that really stood out was Billy Leger.  This young man is on Team Straight Up and let me tell you his weapons form blew my mind.  Billy took the Junior Black Belt Weapons Grand.  Congratulations Billy on your great achievement.  Keep up the great work in the martial arts!!

The adult Black Belt competition was truly awesome as well.  Joey Greenhalgh fought some great matches to take the overall fighting title.  Robbie Andreozzi whipped that uniform top off and performed a grand championship winning form for all.  He had some great balance and looked really strong.  Krystle Ratamoza fought awesome at this event and won a grand championship as well.

Some of the teams represented were as follows but not limited too.  Team Rodrigues, Team Cerio of Warwick, Team Warwick PAL, Straight-Up Kicking, Boston PAL Karate, Shihan Patterson's Combined Fighting Arts, Team GKS, Twin Dragon Kung Fu, Team Red Tiger Dojo, Durning's Martial Arts,Team Ziwak, Gary Card's Karate Academy.

These are the grand champions from the 2005 Northeast Martial Arts Challenge

Men's fighting:  Joe Greenhalgh
Women's Fighting:  Krystle Retamoza     
Weapons:  Matt Caito
Kata::  Gary Card
Jr. Black Weapons:  Bill Leger
Jr. Black Kata:  Robbie Andreozzi  

Sensei Steve Lombardi would like to thank all competitors, judges and spectators for another wonderful martial arts event.

  The 7th Annual NORTHEAST MARTIAL ARTS CHALLENGE was held at the N. Providence High School in N. Providence RI. The Promoter, Sensei Stephen Lombardi, has done a wonderful job improving this tournament since I last attended it four years ago. Sensei Lombardi greeted all the competitors and spectators at the door, shaking hands, and welcoming them to the tournament, when is the last time you?ve seen a Promoter do that ?

The NORTHEAST MARTIAL ARTS CHALLENGE featured 135 Divisions and over 400 competitors attended. The NORTHEAST MARTIAL ARTS CHALLENGE was a KRANE AAA rated tournament and also sanctioned by the NCIMAA. This tournament featured two of the best tournament Coordinators in the business with Prof Tony Cogliandro and Shihan Don Rodrigues. Both men ran the 12 rings and two gymnasiums with great precision, and had the tournament completed by 2:30 PM.

Many prominent competition teams were in attendance such as: TEAM PAUL MITCHELL, TEAM CJB (formerly Team Elite), TEAM STRAIGHT UP, way too many to mention. The competition was excellent and truly a treat to watch.

Congratulations to Don and Christine Rodrigues, they will be expecting their second child (another boy) in June of 2001.

I want to thank Sensei Lombardi and his staff for their cooperation and hospitality, it made covering this tournament a pleasant experience.

By Kids Karate Television Online reporter Mark Huard