2025 US Ludosport Nationals: beautiful fights and an even more wonderful community

The 2025 US Ludosport Nationals went down this past weekend at the LudoSport Canton Academy in Canton, OH, which means plenty of light sabers fight were had.

When you think of light sabers, Star Wars comes to mind, and that's fair. But, if that's what's going through your mind right now - choreographed fights with epic flips and perfect exchanges, you'll be slightly disappointed. See, Ludosport isn't choreography, it's actual combat. In Ludosport, athletes fight each other with techniques learned in different Forms, which introduce new and interesting concepts as you learn them and progress in the sport.

Yes, it's quite literally the best thing ever.

If you're interested in finding out more about Ludosport or to spot the nearest school near you, you can always visit the official Ludosport website and go from there. There are currently ten Academies in the USA, and many, many others in countries like Italy (where the sport is actually from), the UK, Spain, France, Germany, Sweden, Canada, Japan, Brazil, and more.

Now, let's talk about the tournament.

How does a Ludosport tournament work?

A total of 48 participants from the Finger Lakes, St. Louis, San Francisco, Canton, Philadelphia, Boston, Grand Forks, Tidewater, Texas, and Kalamazoo Academies faced off in a two-day affair which consisted of an afternoon combat workshop on Friday, a day of pool fights and a night of fun at Porkside (aka, food and fun after sweating) on Saturday, and a day of eliminations and finals on Sunday to wrap things up.

There was also a very small Younglings tournament which only had two participants - but the fight was still very good.

The officiants were made up of some of Ludosport's finest, hailing from the UK, France, Sweden, and... me. I count as Brazilian and American. Our team officiated around 200 fights over the weekend - which gave us a chance to witness progress, meet new fighters in the arena, and celebrate this wonderful sport we all love so much.

The hosting Academy, LudoSport Canton, went above and beyond to ensure participants, officiants, and the audience had everything they needed to be comfortable - including food trucks, a ton of water, and a separate room in which the matches were being live streamed to and could be watched from. The LudoSport Canton Academy meets at The Open Space Martial Arts Academy, owned by V-Dan Black Belt and Ludosport athlete and instructor Benjamin Thompson, and is located in North Canton. There, many different martial arts types are taught, and you can find more information on this award winning martial arts school on their official website.

Now, before we talk about results, here's a tip for those who aren't keen on how Ludosport tournaments go: participants are broken up into pools depending on how many fighters there are, and every participant fights everyone within their pools once. Then, we move on to the single elimination rounds, quarter finals, semi finals, and final. There are two different categories in which participants can podium in: War and Style. War is, you guessed it, points. Style is, in lack of better terms, how pretty, accurately, and effectively you execute the techniques you are supposed to know according to what Form you're learning.

Picture credit: Sarah Flenders

2025 US Ludosport National results

Now, for the fun part.

For War, the podium consisted of:

4th place - Codey Ozenkoski (St. Louis)

3rd place - Pat Dunn (Finger Lakes)

2nd place - Nicholas DiCredico (Boston)

1st place - Jeremy Keller (Finger Lakes)

For Style, the winners were:

4th place - Robert Zollinger (Finger Lakes)

3rd place - Darien Caine (San Francisco)

2nd place - Joey Peisher (Tidewater)

1st place - Jeremy Keller (Finger Lakes)

Now, there's also a third award handed out at the end of the tournament, and that's the Curi Award. This award is given to the athlete who embodied what Ludosport is all about at the tournament - servizio, cura, rispetto. Service, care, respect. This year's Curi Award winner was Kevin Gault, who not only was the sole representative for the Canadian academy Ludosport Southern Ontario, but is also one of our fellow Pixigonal writers. Congratulations, Kevin! We are so proud of you!

There are actually four Ludosporters here - myself, Kevin, Adam, and Ashley. We're everywhere.

The 2025 US Ludosport Nationals wraps up the tournament season for the US as other academies around the world are now holding their own national tournaments, with participants hoping to qualify for the highly anticipated yearly Champion's Arena tournament. There, only the best of the best are invited to compete - usually the nation's top 5 to 10 athletes - and they fight to the figurative death for the title of Champion of Champions. Our own Adam actually got invited to compete in the Champion's Arena tournament last year, which took place in Milan, Italy. This year, the stage will be set in the UK as Ludosport Britannia will be hosting the tournament this year. This is going to be epic. More details to come about Champions' Arena, so stay tuned.

The entire US Ludosport Nationals can be watched on the Center in the Heights YouTube page.

Congratulations to all competitors and winners!

One name, one sky.