We spent Friday night and much of Saturday in Boxborough, MA for the IPPONE KickOff Tournament. This tournament is the first of the year in the New England area and it generally attracts a fair number of competitors. Fortunately it's held in a large ballroom so there's plenty of room for everyone.
We debuted our new sponsored team - Team Rapidforce - at this event. I've been friends with the coach for a long time, and we even competed together back when we were kids. He's a good man, and I'm happy to help out with his students. The best of his competitors have been selected for this team honor, and seeing our name and logo down the side of the pants was pretty great. We're the exclusive sparring gear line for this team, which is a big move for us.
Photo Credit fred gabert, Facebook
I took a lot of photos but I must not have been wearing my photographer hat, as they didn't come out well. Fortunately a lot of other people did take and post photos, so those are the ones you're seeing here.
The team took home quite a bit of hardware. While we've never asked any of our athletes to do any more than their best, it's nice to see those medals around their neck!
Tristan, Kaleb and Rylee show off their medals. Photo credit fred gabert
Though I wanted to, we weren't able to stick around for the 2014 IPPONE and Twin Start Martial Arts awards banquet. From the photos I saw on social media later, however, everyone had a great meal and a great time. Congratulations to all of the competitors and award winners.
photo credit ippone
The next event we'll be attending is February 7th at Conval High School in Peterborough, NH. If you're interested in competing you can get more information here. We should have some new apparel for then - including the often-asked-for sweatpants!
Until next time, keep training and stay warm.
Jeremy
Founder