Karate tournament to honor late Virginia grand master
A tournament honoring one of the world’s top martial artists and a beloved local mentor will take place Saturday, Oct. 7.
Registration forms must be postmarked by Wednesday, Sept. 20, to compete in the first annual Grandmaster Trower Memorial Tournament, held in honor of the late Elton Trower, who died in 2015 after more than 60 years in the martial arts.
The public is invited to watch competitors from across the country during the inaugural event.
A member of the World Martial Arts Hall of Fame and a nine-time East Coast Grand Champion, Trower always returned home to the Eastern Shore, where he mentored scores of students and dreamed of hosting a tournament.
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“Before my dad had passed, he always said that he wanted to have a tournament,” said Trower’s daughter, Felicia Trower-Matthews.
“He never was able to do that. It’s just something I want to do in honor of my dad, because it’s something he wanted to have done,” she said.
The United States Breaking Association and World Breaking Association — referring to the martial arts practice of breaking boards — will host the tournament.
Regional director for the group, Trower was renowned internationally for his block-breaking skills and powerful demonstrations of chi — the flow of energy that sustains living beings.
He taught local youth and adults at his Karate Warriors and White Crane School of Tai Chi, a small block building on Route 13 in Melfa, during his decades-long career.
Trower also led weekly exercise groups for the elderly and people with brain injuries, and taught women techniques for self defense.
Born in 1936, Trower began practicing the martial arts at age 13 and was accepted as a student by the late John Parsons, a respected instructor on the Eastern Shore.
At age 17, he began teaching martial arts to servicemen at the former Ft. Custis Air Force Base in Cape Charles, and continued instructing at a number of other Eastern Shore locations throughout his life.
In 1981, Trower traveled to Japan for six months to study with karate masters, returning again in 1985 and 1997 — the last time receiving a rarely bestowed high honor for his use of chi.
“He always competed. He went to Connecticut, New York — all over,” his daughter said. “The last few years he went (to Breaking Association tournaments) he was judging instead of competing, because nobody really wanted to compete against him.”
But after studying abroad, receiving national and international honors and demonstrating his skills in tournaments across the country, Trower always returned to his students and the Eastern Shore.
He dreamed of hosting a tournament at his Melfa gym, and his daughter is honoring his memory by making that dream a reality.
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After a host of repairs, the space is ready for the national tournament, she said.
Spectators are invited to attend the event free of charge to watch competitions taking place from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the dojo at 28510 Lankford Highway.
Categories include First Time Breaker, Creative Wood, Power Wood Spaced, Double Power Wood Hand and Power Concrete, and are open to all ages, ranks and genders.
Winners will receive plaques featuring a picture of Trower with a quote inscribed on the bottom: “Whatever a man thinks in his heart, so he is.”
“That’s something that my father lived by,” Matthews said.
Visit http://www.usbawba.org/events/2017trowermemorial/ to learn more about the Grandmaster Trower Memorial Breaking Championships and for registration forms.