Kitsap martial arts academy wins 10 medals at world championships

Cross Martial Arts Academy, located near Brownsville, secured world championship honors, winning 10 medals in the Kukkiwon Hanmadang Festival July 17-20 in Anaheim, CA.

Father-daughter duo Todd and Annabelle Norcross led the way, with Annabelle winning four gold medals and Todd two. The team was the smallest out of Washington at the tournament, but it earned the most medals (seven gold, two silver, and one bronze). Andrew Hass earned a gold and silver medal and Robert Nicholls earned a silver and bronze.

“The real star is Annabelle,” Norcross said. “She qualified in five of the top events over in Oregon, and then went down and swept the tournament.

“I think we were a competitive team on a world stage,” he added. “I mean, Annabelle and I have been going to nationals for the last four years. So we look on to next year, repeating that, going to the national level, and then possibly world again.”

Annabelle has been training since she was 2 and qualified for the national team in 2025, winning titles for black belt forms, power breaking, high kick breaking and creative weapons forms. Annabelle spends from 12 to 16 hours a week practicing.

A large majority of martial arts training consists of high-endurance workouts and body conditioning. Norcross notes that there is a need for power, but you have to exercise that power without breaking your hand or foot. As for skin conditioning, Norcross notes that the academy uses sandbags to keep from tearing flesh.

“They’re filled with sand, so it’s almost rock hard [all the way] to the bottom,” Annabelle said.

Part of the Cross Martial Arts Academy’s registry, Norcross said, is to use a river rock and smack the rock 100 times a day. Norcross will also use a Makiwara board (used to develop one’s striking ability) and practice palm heel strike and backhand techniques. Norcross went on to note that for “advanced training,” the team will kick a pole to condition the bone structure of the foot.

One of the bigger challenges when it comes to preparing to do martial arts is injuries, Annabelle noted. Norcross said one of the challenges for him personally was “dealing with a bad hip over the years as an athlete” and trying to maintain a fine line of nursing the injury and not getting injured further.

Norcross also said that while there isn’t a diet they follow, they, on occasion, do intermittent fasting in order to cut down on carbohydrates and attempt to frontload on protein.