On Friday, January 26 th 2007, Samurai Spirit Martial Arts traveled to Las Vegas to participate in the "USA Open" Martial Arts Tournament that was to be held the next day Saturday the 27 th .

That Friday evening at a party in honor of last year's Champions, three of Samurai Spirit's team were given an award for their championship wins in last year's tournament, the recipients of the award were Riley Kennedy, Breanna Bickle, and Ryan Livigni. The next day at 8 am a team consisting of twelve students from Samurai Spirit Martial Arts began their accumulation of trophies. The team was lead by their instructors' third degree black belt Rebecca Greenough and sixth degree black belt Anthony Calvino both full contact and forms world champions..

The Students were led by the black belts: Riley Kennedy, Breanna Bickle, Ryan Livigni, Kelly Eastwood, and Megan Perez, followed by the lower ranks: Jaimie Miller, Zander Stigens, Tyler Tetef, Marisa and Nathan Blomenkamp, Scott Brantner, and Katie Loss.

The Samurai team competed against teams and students from all over the US, beginning their winning streak early in the morning and continuing on till 7:30 pm when the tournament ended. The number of first places was almost unprecedented, continuing with several second, third, fourth places and fifth. Everyone of the Samurai Team came back with at least one trophy. The line up of the awards is as follows:

Black Belt Breanna Bickle: with five first places in traditional forms, open forms, weapons form, point sparring and continuous sparring, Black Belt Riley Kennedy: with four first places in traditional forms, open forms, musical weapons, and continuous sparring. Black Belt Ryan Livigni: one first place in open forms and two 2 nd places in traditional and continuous sparring. Black Belt Kelly Eastwood: one first place in continuous sparring. Black Belt Megan Perez: one first in point sparring, one 2 nd place in open forms and one fourth in traditional forms. Brown Belt Marisa Blomenkamp: with two first place in point sparring and continuous then one 3 rd in traditional forms. Brown Belt Tyler Tetef: First place in traditional forms and one 3 rd in continuous sparring. Brown Belt Nathan Blomenkamp: Second place continuous sparring, third place in point sparring and fifth in traditional forms. Brown Belt Zander Stigens: Third place in continuous sparring. Blue Belt Jamie Miller: Second place in traditional forms. Green Belt Katie Loss: Second place in traditional forms third place in continuous sparring. Orange Belt Scott Brantner: Two first place in traditional and continuous sparring. Sensei Anthony and Rebecca were extremely proud and feel that this group of warriors deserve their recognition and awards.

Congratulations to Simi Valley's Samurai Spirit Karate School Of Martial Arts.