The weekend of the Phoenix Group North American Championships was a huge success!  It was the first one and over 200 individuals took part in the events.  The weekend started off with an umpire refresher on Friday evening March 29th.  During the review students were given the opportunity to refine their skill at scoring a sparring match in regular time and then check their score by reviewing the match in slow motion.  There was a lot of great discussion and analysis from which everyone benefited. 

The next day Saturday, March 30th, was the 1st of what will become an annual Phoenix Group North American Championships.  Students from Canada, Alasaka, Arizona, California, Colorado, Kansas, Mississippi, Missouri, New Mexico, Pennsylvania, Texas, and Utah attended.  The competition was great.  Participants participated in patterns, sparring, power breaking, and specialty breaking.  Black belts also had team competitions in each of those areas.

Sunday, March 31st, was dedicated to team training.  This was a time for athletes to train infront of the USA coaches so the coaches could start looking at who is serious about wanting to represent the United States at the next World Championships in Russia, 2021.