Nathan Fort and his son, Noah, thought they were in a dream.
They were. Living one. Having just won the synchronized team form division in the League World Finals in Reno on Oct. 5, the father and son duo shared a moment they won’t soon forget.
“When I saw my dad crying, I wanted to cry, too,” said Noah, a 10 year old who also took first place in his age division and was named the meet’s Grand Champion for being the best overall winner out of every category. “It was really amazing to win something with my dad because he means everything to me.”
Nathan, 36, has lived in Hollister for the past 20 years. The Forts are involved in sports karate, an extreme form of the sport. Sports karate differs from traditional karate in that competitors wield a bow staff — a six-foot wooden stick — and perform various maneuvers with it.
In addition, competitors also have to be versed in traditional forms of the discipline and sparring. This was the first time the father-son duo had been able to compete in the World Finals; previously, they didn’t have enough money to make a trip to the League’s championship series event.
But this is where the story gets better. Aided by the generosity of hundreds of Hollister residents, Noah and his younger brother, Aidan, 8, were able to raise $1,100 by dressing up in their martial arts uniforms and performing hundreds of different tricks with a bow staff in front of various stores in Hollister over a six-day span.
“I was touched by the generosity of people supporting one of their own,” Nathan said. “It was like everyone wanted to help, and people seemed genuinely disappointed if they didn’t have any money in their pockets that they would go to an ATM, come back and give. It was heartwarming.”
The Forts were eating at a McDonalds six years ago when they noticed the Ernie Reyes West Coast Martial Arts studio across the street.
“If I do karate, can I get a trophy,” Noah asked his dad.
“Well, six years later Noah literally has won hundreds of trophies,” Nathan said.
The Forts were at a tournament when they saw competitors with a bow staff, and they immediately took a liking to it. Nathan spent countless hours watching online tutorials before he and his son started honing their skills together.
Noah has gained plenty of attention for his skills with the bow staff, as he’s able to wield the stick with such precision and power that whenever he drops it — which is about as rare as a Halley’s Comet sighting — it’s almost as spectacular as his most eye-popping trick.
The Forts have been so impressive with their craft that they were asked by Reyes to join his World Action team and perform on the road on several occasions in the past year. Their latest act came at halftime of the San Jose SabreCats Arena League football game in early August.
“Ernie Reyes is a legend in the martial arts community in this country,” Nathan said. “He practically invented the open forms in karate.”
A fifth-grader at Ladd Lane Elementary School, Noah has already earned a black belt, and his goal is to earn a fifth-degree black belt by the time he’s 16. Despite their vast skill sets, the Forts still didn’t believe they could win the synchronized team form division in the League World Finals, as they were up against the Aquinos — a legendary family in the sport — in the championship match.
The teams ended up tied at the end of regulation and the first tiebreaker. To determine the winner, the competitors had to turn their back to the three judges, who all had their eyes closed so they couldn’t see each other and possibly sway each other’s votes.
“All the competitors are facing a wall, and it’s at that point I tell my son to pray,” Nathan said.
When the judges were asked to vote, a deafening roar reverberated from the crowd, and for a couple of seconds Nathan was all but assured the Aquinos had won.
“But then I turned around and saw at my wife (Lisa) in the crowd and her reaction, and I knew we had done it,” Nathan said. Two of the judges ruled in decision for the Forts, one for the Aquinos.“I started crying and sobbing, it was incredible. To do this with my son, I can’t explain how it feels. It was a dream of ours to do something like this, but you never think it’s going to happen.”
