A Franklin native is a karate point sparring World Champion.
For the past 10 years Cooper Rogers has been hard at work, traversing the country in search of its biggest martial arts competitions. Recently, the Danny Antoine’s Martial Arts Academy student was honored as one of the discipline’s brightest young stars.
“I got my world title in NASKA this year,” said Rogers of the North American Sport Karate Association, the sport’s national governing body for open tournaments. “For NASKA, they take all your tournaments that you do, and depending on your place they’ll give you a certain amount of points for each tournament, so I had to go to quite a lot of tournaments and get my points up. … I’m first for point fighting 12-13 AA black belt, and then for open weight I’m at second. And then they have a Grand Champion division, where I think I’m second.”
In point sparring, which awards points for successful kicks and punches in two-minute-long rounds, Rogers is one of the most feared fighters on the national circuit, competing in both NASKA’s Taller and Open Weight (featuring both Shorter and Taller athletes) divisions. To earn enough tournament points to be named a NASKA World Champion, Rogers undertook a busy schedule last year.
“I started out the year with a tournament called Cowboy Up in San Antonio, Texas,” said Rogers. “After that we went to Pan Am Internationals in Miami, Florida. We went to Capitol Classics in D.C., and then I went to Diamond Nationals in Minneapolis, Minnesota and finished off the year in Toronto, Canada. … Most of them are two days.”
At various tournaments across the continent, Rogers has faced some of its toughest fighters ages 12-13, including some from as far afield as Venezuela. With thousands of miles’ worth of travel and expenses, Rogers said he’s needed plenty of help.
“Being able to get on Team Army Strong and get some financial help, and obviously my parents being able to take me there, because I wouldn’t be able to do it without going there, obviously,” said Rogers of how he’s attended so many events. “Another student here, Mr. Nathan [McAllister], is on there, and they invited me to come out for a team training. They saw how I was fighting and how good I was doing, and they asked me if I wanted to be part of the team. Obviously I said yes, because I really wanted to be on there. … We’ve got people all around the whole country – Colorado, Texas, Florida, places like that.”
“We just kind of choose who goes, because I’m a teacher and then he has twin sisters,” said Rogers’ mother, Meagan, of splitting up the travel between herself and her husband, Eric. “We have to make sure they go to school, and they do karate as well, so we’ve got to make sure they get everywhere they need to be, too.”
Founded by five-tour Army veteran and martial arts expert Wesley Lawrence, Team Army Strong features more than 20 fighters from around the country, competing in both national and international competitions. In addition to financial help, the team has also helped him on the mat.
“It’s been really good, because I’ve got people to talk to at tournaments that I can connect with and be a better fighter,” he said. “Team trainings are really helpful because it’s stuff that I wouldn’t typically hear at the karate school – kind of a different perspective on everything.”
Between family, instructors and teammates, it takes a village to help Rogers earn a world title. In Minneapolis last October, Rogers staked a claim as the age group’s top dog.
“Probably going to Diamonds, because I won Grand Champion there against this kid that I’d been having some hard times with, and then I also won my Open Weight division against another kid that I was not doing too good against before that,” said Rogers of his favorite experience so far. “The first day was Open Weight because it’s a two-day tournament, and there were not that many people – probably around 10 in my division. The first kid, he was OK, but the second kid was a little better. The third kid was probably my hardest fight – it was pretty close, probably two or three points. And then the last kid, I just really figured him out and I spread him 10-0.”
With a Grand Championship title at one of the sport’s most prestigious tournaments, Rogers put the rest of his age group on notice. This month, the family will travel to Chicago for the NASKA Banquet, where Cooper will receive his world title accoutrements.
“What they do is they take everyone that’s in the top 10, and then they do the world number one,” said Rogers. “They’ll have everybody there, and they’ll call you up on stage and give you all the stuff they offer, like a belt and a plaque and some other stuff, too. … I was really excited, obviously, because I’ve been working so hard to do this, but there’s a tournament at the same time, so I’ve got to get ready for that tournament. I can’t be, you know, just chilling.”
Even while accepting his world title, Rogers won’t be able to rest on his laurels, competing in the American Karate Association Warrior Cup the very next day. There, he’ll begin rebuilding his world ranking from the ground up.
“I usually get put in the tall division, but I have a feeling next year I’ll be put in short [because] I’ll be moving up to 14-15 instead of 12-13,” he said. “Every year it restarts – you’re back to zero and you have to work your way back up.”
“He’ll be at the bottom of his division instead of the top, so it’ll be more like Open Weight was this year where he’s fighting more older, taller [fighters],” said Eric.
Versus tougher and more experienced opponents, Rogers will face a difficult challenge in reestablishing his rankings. With trips scheduled across America and beyond, he hopes to make a name for himself on the international circuit.
“The team is switching from national to doing a lot more international tournaments, so starting off the year in January I’m going to Chicago for the banquet, and then we’ve got the Kumite classic in Ohio, which is a qualifier for WAKO [the World Association of Kickboxing Organizations],” said Cooper.
“The team owner, Wesley Lawrence, is actually the newly named USA president for the ICO, which is the International Combat Organisation,” said Meagan. “The Army, who sponsors them, just wanted a more international presence, so he’s still going to be doing the NASKA circuit, but he’s also going to be doing some WAKO as well as ICO because he’s already been placed on Team USA to go to Wales this fall.”
Between multiple domestic tournaments, the Mexico Open this summer and the ICO World Championships in Swansea, Wales, this October, the Rogers have an even more jam-packed schedule this year. While Cooper has his work cut out for him, not to mention training for his Tiger Black Belt, he’s already reached rarified air that few competitors will match.
“It’s an honor just to get to be part of a journey like that,” said Danny Antoine, who has trained Rogers since he was four years old. “Once he decided that [and] told me that’s what he wanted to be able to do, that’s what we started focusing on. You have plenty of students who come through the door and want to be at the top and World Champions. They all can, but very few will – it’s a big difference.”
“The relationship that we have here is really, really strong,” said Cooper. “It’s not just like a baseball team where you come in and get a new coach every year. It’s really like family in here, and there’s no offseason.”