STUDENT SPOTLIGHT 

ELIZABETH SIPES

FEBRUARY 2003

ELIZABETH SIPES

Congratulations goes out to Elizabeth Sipes for being chosen as the Student to Be Spotlighted for February 2003. Elizabeth Sipes, known as Lil’Bit by her karate friends, stepped into a ring for the first time in 1997 as a 7 year old competing in the Intermediate division. The only division she entered was Forms and the tournament was The Battle of Atlanta, one of the biggest tournaments in the US. The whole experience was overwhelming for all three Sipes, Elizabeth as a participant and her parents as spectators. There were over 30 competitors in her division. At the end of the division she was not called up as one of the 8 young martial artists that received the highest points. She asked her mom to go and find out where she placed among all the others. Her scores had given her a 9th placed. She smiled and said, “That was fun, I almost made it and I have to do it again”. And again she did, by 1998 she had joined NASKA as an underbelt and has not stopped competing since then. That first NASKA year she finished 2nd in Sparring and 8th in Forms.

She competed representing her school - Joe Corley American Karate - and in 1999 she joined Team Excellence, the prestigious group from one of Mr. Corley’s schools. At that time Team Excellence was ranked 3rd in the Nation for Team Demo. In 2000 Team Excellence was ranked 2nd and by 2001 they made it to No. 1, beating the all time favorite Team Charlie Lee who had kept that position for many years.

Traveling the NASKA circuit can be very stressing, traveling across the country at least once a month with a short break from November to January, depending on the circuit’s schedule. By the end of 2001 Team Excellence was no longer traveling to compete as Team Demo, but Elizabeth wanted to continue, so she did. She continued to represent her school, but competing without a team. In May of 2002 Mr. Joe Greenhalgh made the call, and Elizabeth became a member of Team Straight Up, one of the most sought after teams in the country, having among its ranks some of the best Martial Arts competitors in the country. Starting with Mr. Greenhalgh’s own children Jessica and Joey, and including her coach Kalman Csoka, and many world champions.

In 2000, 2001 and now in 2002, Elizabeth travels to all the NASKA World Tournaments taking her from coast to coast with her parents at least once a month. Her parents, Bob and Alesia, are also Black Belts and also compete. Bob competes with the Cane, but has been out all year due to injury and Alesia competes with the Bo. Since earning her Black Belt, Elizabeth has won many first places, the first one was in 2000 in the Cactus Classic, in Phoenix Arizona, that same year she also won a first in the Battle of Atlanta, something that she has been wanting to do since her first tournament there in 1997. In 2002, she is hitting the circuit by storm winning first places in the Southern American in Nashville, TN; Ocean State Grand Nationals in Providence, RI; and Bluegrass in Louisville, KY. Her performance in 2002 opened the door for an invitation to be on stage in the US Open Night Time Show, which is televised in ESPN2. Her strongest and favorite division is Open Weapons where the competition is very tight and very challenging. At any given day any of the top three competitors could win, they are all very good.

As for most athletes at her level, Elizabeth has a very rigorous training schedule. She practices on her own with her Mom assisting her 1-hour a day 5 days a week. In addition to her own practices and drill days, three times a week she meets with her coach Kalman Csoka a 4th Degree Black Belt who is a NASKA world champion, once a week she meets with her sparring coach Lynn Gregory who is also a 4th Degree Black Belt and which we know as one of the all time women sparring champions on the NASKA circuit, now retired. She also meets her gymnastics coach, Phillip Adam, once a week. When at home, you will catch her jumping on the trampoline to improve her endurance and practice her high jumping kicks and other tricks. She does all her conditioning and her stretching with her Dad.

In addition to karate, Elizabeth enjoys music and is a member of her school’s choir. She also plays basketball both on the court with her school team and on the street with the boys. Elizabeth is an "A” student, but enjoys PE, Music and Art more than any other subject in school, and when asked what she likes most in school she will always smile and say “Lunch”. And they do have the best cafeteria I have ever eaten in!

Elizabeth is very humble about her accomplishments. She is currently ranked No.1 in Open Weapons and Open Forms, No. 2 in Musical Forms, No.4 in Sparring (she had a head injury in February and was not allowed to spar for 6 months), and No. 4 in Traditional Forms. She does not think about the win, she is more interested in the social aspect of the tournament and getting together with her friends.