A quartet of area martial artists outlasted their competition at Tommy Denson’s Elite Yoshukai Dojo in Ashland, Ala., and will compete Sept. 7 at the World Martial Arts Games in Orlando, Fla.

Father-son duo Thad and Logan Davis, and siblings Ian and Brittany Turner, withstood a grueling 10-hour tryout Feb. 25 before being awarded coveted spots on the United States Martial Arts Team Alabama.

“Ian and Brittany, they weren’t even going to try out for the team — they were basically there to support me and Logan,” Thad Davis, 35, said. “But since they have given so much back to us over the past couple of years since we started training with them, we asked them, ‘Do you all want to try out?’ And the coach asked them if they were interested in trying out, and it just went from there.”

Brittany Turner, 19, shared a similar story. She’s practiced martial arts for 16 years. Her brother, Ian, is 23.

“Thad and I have a class we run together in DeKalb on Friday nights and that Friday night he asked if I was coming with him in the morning, and I told him, ‘Yeah, if you want me to, I’ll be there,’” she said. “So he shows up to my house at 5 a.m., and I’m wearing jeans and a sweatshirt… We pick Ian up along the way and he’s wearing the same thing. We get there and started talking to (Coach) Denson because he found out we were there, and by the end of the conversation, he was like, ‘Well, are you all trying out? You need to try out.’ My brother seemed more eager faster than I did.”

Thad Davis, who resides in DeKalb, first began training for martial arts in 1994 in Meridian under Richard Hamner. He continued with the sport for a couple of years before joining the military in 2000, when he slowly faded away.

After deciding to homeschool Logan, 14, he sought ways for the youngster to socialize with his peers. Naturally, he thought, martial arts would be a way for him to do so. Not long after, the Davises connected with Ken Turner, who runs Collinsville’s Turner Shotokan. Like Davis, Turner, too, homeschooled Ian and Brittany, who were children at the time. 

“We needed something athletic for the kids to do to keep them in shape and to get them around other kids,” Thad Davis said. “We enrolled them to take (classes) under Mr. Turner in Collinsville, and we’ve been there since.”

Thad Davis said Logan’s martial arts training impacted him in ways that spanned the dojo.

“Initially, he was very reserved around other people he met — he was very standoffish,” he said. “But as training went on, he opened up with it. Now it is three years later and he’s helping me teach class in Kemper County.”

Although the Davises and Turners have secured their spots for September’s Orlando competition, the difficult part of the process is far from over. Each day, the four must follow a daily training regimen, and participate it monthly team practices in Alabama. 

“They put you on a strict diet, and you you’re basically not drinking any soda; if you’re an adult, you don’t get any alcohol; you have to quit smoking, of course,” Thad Davis said. “You have to cut junk food out, and all that fun stuff. It’s a very strict diet that is a lot like the Atkins diet. But they do have carbs in there to keep your energy up.”

The training regimen isn’t just restricted to diet. It also involves strenuous daily physical training.

“It consists of 50 pushups, 50 sit ups, 100 jumping jacks and a bunch of other core workouts,” he said. “For the martial arts part of it, we have a list of techniques we have to do such as straight punches and reverse punches, and we have to do 50 with each arm. And then we have to go through all of our kicks — 50 with each side.”

Davis said Logan was initially hesitant about the frequency of the training, but the two found a way to make the activities more bearable. 

“What we do is we sit down at night to watch TV, and during commercials, we do our workout,” he said. “And then when the show comes back on, we’ll watch what we were watching, and at the next commercial we’ll do another part. It’s good to break it up a little bit like that.” 

After taking a hiatus from competitions, Brittany Turner said she’s enthusiastic to compete again at the tournament level.

“I’m very excited — it’s been a while,” she said. “I kind of got out of the tournament circuit when I started teaching, to focus on my students more. To have this opportunity is already kind of a big deal for anyone, especially for me since it’s been a little while since I’ve been in the circuit. So I’m definitely not taking it for granted. It’s a lot of hard work, but I’m excited about it.”

A fifth member, Aaron Rhodes, will travel with Davis to Alabama this weekend to compete for a spot on the United States Martial Arts Team Alabama.