This is not a role call post.
It would seem that Kenpo was and is a martial art of converts. I started with Dave Brock, then Spry, then Pat Salantri. My conversion was gradual and full of expectation once I knew that there were more than 95 techniques and the there were numerous sets as well as forms beyond LF3.
Count me in the group of converted MA'ers to the Ed Parker version of Kenpo. And there's no going back any time soon.
I recently received a call from a past student, WAY PAST, and he is currently taking Kenpo again after studying Kobudo for many years in between. He like me was a Srpy student but he left to study Kobudo, and I left to study with Pat. Now we find ourselves talking about working out again together.
His current Kenpo instructor is well known and from a decent lineage. There are differences in what I teach and how his instructor does Kenpo. The more I think about it, the more I think I will refrain from teaching him anything. A hands off observational method is best. I'll let Jack work him out and if he wants to spar, I'll see how much he remembers.
But back to the subject. This Kenpo thing was what put food on the table for SGM Parker's family. It had to be important that he let those who sought him out for lessons (rank) be included in his travels. I do not have that as a motivating factor, but I do enjoy showing some Kenpo and then watching the eyes light up.
In 1991 I retested for 1st black at Tabatabai's studio along side a gentleman who was close to SGM Parker for a short time before his passing. His test for 1st black went as high as LF1 and the purple belt techniques (base technique only). This is where I learned of the political side of rank and the converted black belts that proliferated Kenpo then as now.
I do not have a problem with rank that is crossed over from one system to Kenpo, I went from 2 nd to 3 rd withoiut learning anything and am currently bustin' my ass to learn the 96 extensions, just so I can represent the rank I wear now. This is not a rant against what one person wears around their waist.
After I left Spry, I was teaching about 25 of the students who left him within 6 months. I was teaching what Pat showed me and it didn't work out at all. Not one stayed for very long. I must have been a poor instructor at that point. To strident in my insistence in changing what they had learned.
Now, almost twenty years later, I am teaching a few people who were also students of Spry but after I had left. Now a student from way back calls out of the blue. As Antwione says,"Empty your cup".
I am trying to make the garage as presentable as possible to the students who will learn here, Moms don't like to watch their kids doing Kenpo with nails sticking out of lumber and cob webs in the corners of the ceilings. Sell the sizzle, not the steak my dad taught me.
So how do I make Kenpo attractive to people without compromising my principles, my honor...... blah blah blah....
And the answer is, one student at a time. One lesson at a time. One patch at a time (just kidding).
SGM Parker obviously had to discern what the motives and needs of each student. Looking at the migrations away from him, one wonders how many came with an agenda that was unspoken. I count myself lucky that I did not learn from the man himself. Those that did were fortunate in that way, but, I have the benefit of saying that I did not. The expectations are different from the second gen than from the over expectations of the first gen sycophants.
My Kenpo is a blend, and I share it with those that seek it out (not many do), it might be a Gestalt, or a melange, but it's been there when I needed it. Just goes to show you that if you know the litany of fear, you might believe that you can survive anything. Trust me, being scared enough to cover the distance when you would rather not is where your Kenpo is at that point.
end transmission........................
Clark, chief butinsky of AKF. "Cause ya' know......
http://www.youtube.com/user/kenpoteacher