Don and Christine Rodrigues of the Don Rodrigues Karate Academy in Warwick are excited to present the Ocean State Grand National Karate Championship for the 43rd time this weekend at the Crowne Plaza.

As part of the North American Sport Karate Association (NASKA) World Tour, this weekend’s three-day event is set to be one of the largest sport karate competitions in the country with an estimated 1,000 competitors making the trip. Not only will the show feature some of Rhode Island’s best, but competitors are traveling internationally to showcase their skills, with schools from Canada, Honduras, Germany and Guatemala also in the mix.

As always, there will be a hall of fame induction, along with a special guest and the honoring of a local veteran for their service.

This year’s hall of fame class includes Lisa Gabriel, Conell Loveless, Manny Reyes Sr. and Justin Ortiz. The special guest will be Ross Levine, who won the Ocean State tournament seven times while also winning 12 sport karate championships, among many other notable achievements in both karate and kickboxing. 

Col. Rhonda Gomez will be receiving the Veteran’s Award after serving for 36 years and receiving numerous accolades for her military service. She is currently a black belt at the Don Rodrigues Karate Academy. 

Teams will also be handing out Kevin Thompson Awards, which honors a former local martial artist who passed away after battling Lou Gehrig’s Disease for eight years. Each team selects one of its fighters who embodied Thompson’s spirit and resilience. 

Championship winners will also receive seven-foot-tall trophies, which have become synonymous with the event over the years, while $40,000 in prize money will also be handed out. Many sponsors will be returning including Female Fighters Matter Too and Ocean State Collision. Paul Mitchell will once again be sponsoring the DRKA team as well.

Don Rodrigues is proud to return for another year and to see the tournament’s impact across four decades. It started as the Don Rodrigues Karate Championships, hosting 150 fighters. Now, it is one of the country’s largest events and provides the state with a nice economic boost, with over 500 hotel nights booked at the Crowne Plaza alone. 

“We’ve been doing it for so long. (My instructor) Nick Cerio pushed me to do the first one. We had 150 competitors and I was tickled pink. Shortly after it got a pulse of its own,” said Don Rodrigues, who has been practicing karate for 58 years altogether. “I always say that there are two types of people, martial artists and everyone else. I hope when they see these competitors (this weekend), they think, ‘Wow, I want to be like that.’ I’ve been blessed to coach this team and to see our school impacting people’s lives.”

The Ocean State Grand Nationals will begin on Friday, with super fights, team fighting and open weight fighting beginning at 3 p.m. Saturday and Sunday’s events will begin at 9 a.m.

The black belt finals will take place on Saturday night beginning at 6:30 p.m. in the Crowne Plaza’s grand ballroom. 

DRKA has also undergone a facelift in recent months, renovating its building and bringing in $35,000 in new mats. The school can be reached at donrodrigueskarateacademy.com and on social media.