ORLANDO, Fla. (July 23, 2008) — KICKgen.com, a University of Central Florida Incubation Program company that provides an online community for martial arts enthusiasts worldwide, saw record growth and participation during the 36th annual ISKA-sanctioned U.S. Open World Martial Arts Championship at the Coronado Springs Resort at Walt Disney World recently.
Tracy McCoy, chief operating officer at KICKgen.com, said the site served as a major sponsor of the event and exclusive online distributor of the Night of Champions video, which will first air on ESPN2.
"Frankly, we lost count of the number of KICKgen.com members we met at the tournament," McCoy said. KICKgen.com manned an exhibit booth during the two-day event that featured an Internet terminal that showed off the site to participants.
"We signed up more than 200 new members during the event and we have been steadily logging on new members ever since," McCoy said.
McCoy said KICKgen.com staff shot literally hundreds of videos currently posted at YouTube, as well as MySpace, Metacafe, Crackle, Blitzkick, and other social networking sites.
"Our videos of events during the tournament have logged more than 30,000 combined views," McCoy said.
The exclusive video which will air on ESPN before becoming available on KICKgen will include KICKgen.com member Chip Townsend's spell-binding performance during the Combat Board Breaking Event, when he broke a world record 36 boards in eight seconds. Townsend's championship performance was a shocker—during the preceding event, he had broken his arm.
"Chip Townsend's performance is one of the most inspiring sports events I've ever seen, and it epitomizes this sport. It's about discipline, perseverance and honor," McCoy said.
For more information, please contact:
Tracy McCoy, Chief Operating Officer KICKgen.com, 407-575-0232; [email protected];
Tom O'Neal or Gordon Hogan, UCF Incubation Program, 407-882-0202; [email protected] or [email protected]
Larry Vershel or Beth Payan, Larry Vershel Communications Inc., 407-644-4142; [email protected]
About the UCF Incubation Program
Since its founding in 1999, the UCF Incubation Program has helped more than 100 emerging companies create over $200 million in annual revenue and more than 800 new jobs with an average salary of $59,000. With five facilities across the metro Orlando community, the Incubation Program is collaboration in economic development between UCF, Orange County, the City of Orlando, Seminole County, the City of Winter Springs, and the Florida High Tech Corridor Council. For more information, please visit https://www.incubator.ucf.edu.
