Grand as It Gets

Palisadian Tamar Springer Wins Martial Arts Competition in Ontario

By STEVE GALLUZZO | Sports Editor

Being the Grand Champion at the  Compete International Martial Arts Championships in Ontario on Saturday was extra special for Palisadian Tamar Springer. Why? Because she won it under the watchful eye of her very first sensei.

“So the last time I competed at a tournament was three years ago, before COVID-19,” said Springer, a third-degree black belt in Yoshukai Karate and an instructor at Gerry Blanck’s Martial Arts Center on Marquez Avenue.  “What happened this year is incredible. When I first started with Gerry, he brought his friend Chris Wheeles out here from Alabama for eight to 10 months and he gave me my first lesson. He was a third-degree black belt at the time.  He called me one day and said ‘Hey, we’re going to tournament, so mark your calendar, trust your sensei.’ I didn’t know anything, I was only six months into it and competition wasn’t even on my radar, but Chris really wanted me to go so I did. That was in 2009 in  Eagle Rock and I was a 43-year-old yellow belt and mother of two competing in an 18-and-over division but I took first place in the Kata. We’ve been friends ever since and his wife Kristie Von Eberstein-Wheeles, herself a second-degree black belt, called me in December to ask about an autographed photo of my dad (Philip, composer of the 1953 Christmas song “Santa Baby” and a longtime Palisadian). They own a dojo in Alabama, but decided to come out for Compete this year, so to win it with Chris here is extra special. He’s a great fighter too and won his fighting event. I won three firsts and one grand in the 50-and-Over Division and afterwards we all went to Pearl Dragon to celebrate.”

Also there to cheer Springer on was local Steve Gandolfi, who trains at Blanck’s studio and, along with his wife Nadia, recently earned his black belt. The two helped Blanck relocate his dojo one year ago and they take private lessons every week from Blanck and Springer.

Springer is certainly no novice when it comes to tournaments, or bringing home hardware. In 2014, she won two first-place trophies at Compete, in Traditional Forms and Traditional Weapons. She took first place in Musical Forms at Compete in 2017 and first place in Musical Weapons at the Ocean State Nationals in Warwick, Rhode Island two months later. The next year she won two gold medals at the 50th annual Battle of Atlanta Karate Championships.      

Springer has also become a fine teacher in her own right. In September 2017 she was named Sensei Youth Mentor Instructor of the Year by the World Head of Family Sokeship Council  and received her cetificate during the WHFSC’s 25th anniversary Celebration and Awards Banquet in Orlando, Florida. The WHFSC is the world’s largest gathering of Martial Arts Grandmasters worldwide.

Springer has taken several of Blanck’s karate kids under her wing, including then 13-year-olds Lily Kinnear (St. Matthew’s) and Skylar Saltzman  (Paul Revere Middle School) and then 10-year-old Michael Gatto (Canyon Elementary).  Under Springer’s tutelage, Kinnear won four trophies at the Battle of Atlanta in June 2017.

Springer confessed she does not know the next time she will “come  out of retirement” to compete, but if this was her last tournament she is happy she went out on top—and that Wheeles was there to see it.

“I still teach about three times a week—two privates and a group class with Gerry,” said Springer, who these days is busy producing a documentary film on her dad’s life and career, titled “More Than Santa Baby.”

“We’re editing the first rough cut now,” she said “With a little luck  I’ll have a film festival premiere in 2024.”

Several years ago, Tamar and her dad introduced a 10-song CD with a six by nine-inch hardback book featuring album notes of songs written by Philip and “The Wizard of Oz” lyricist E.Y. “Yip” Harburg called “The Last Legacy of E.Y. ‘Yip’ Harburg.” On May 23, 2020, Spectrum News 1 aired a three-minute segment on the album. Tamar also made a promotional video and submitted the project to The Recording Academy in Santa Monica for Grammy Award consideration.

While Springer and Wheeles were in the process of reliving their glory days, Blanck pupil Ben Zamel was making his tournament debut at Compete and returned with sixth-place medals in Forms and Weapons and a third-place in Sparring in the 8 and 9-year-old brown belt divison.