Has there ever been showdowns between the tracey system & epk system ?

Everyone that I have met with the Al Tracy system has been very nice. Al Tracy's main headquarters is located right here in my home town of Lexington, Kentucky. And no I don't practice Tracy Kenpo.
 
naw crane just wondering , you know human nature tends to be that way sometimes its like i always hear kenpo guys saying there better than taekwon do guys and muay thai guys saying there better than kickboxing guys thats all , just wondering if they some kind of friendly competition ever ... along the line of that.
 
What exactly do you mean by "showdowns"?

Do you mean old-style dojo-busting?
The Denver Dojo Wars revisited?
Trash-talking?
An excuse for a big tournament?

If you mean 1 or 2 let's hope not. The martial arts already have a bad enough reputation. That sort of thing leads to people being stupid and innocents getting very seriously dead.

#3? It already happens too much in the MA world.

#4? Sounds good to me! Healthy rivalry between clubs means people will train harder for the tournament and have more fun in their bouts. And it gives everyone an excuse to get together for a beer afterwards, pat each other on the back and say "Good job! Just wait 'til next year!"
 
yeah thats what i meant - like if they had competed against each other before in a tournament or underground - theres always gonna be rivalrys i know that - from looking around here pretty much i see that everyone has alot of respect for one another and ones art ... cool
 
I'd be more impressed with such a showdown if more than one fighter in a hundred fought like the actual techniques. Anyway, individual variation and conditioning as a fighter will make more difference than any differences in the systems in your average confrontation. Such posturing over which stylist "wins" is meaningless.
 
I once had an EPAK black belt visit my school. We went out on the mat and began to exchange techniques. Basically, he would attack, I would defend. Then he would show me the closest "Parker version" of whatever technique I had just done. Then we would talk about it and try each other's version. Then we would switch.

After several hours, we were bruised, sweating, smiling, and hungry. That's the closest thing to a showdown I've ever been involved in.
 
how about back in the day when the traceys went off and started doing there thing was there ever a time when they felt like let me show my teacher what my students look like ?
 
Techniques and philosophies aside, are there any serious contrasts between the two different types of practitioners?
 
Philosophy & technique......thats quite a bit of difference right there wouldn't you say?

I wouldn't say philosophy, both systems feature explicit self-defense oriented vital area striking in a rapid action. Its hard to get too far apart when you share at least 50% of your motion templates and all of your core forms (Short 1 through Long 5).

The difference is that AK teaching methodology is a more conceptual approach where the Tracy's use a repitition approach.

I have worked with several AK instructors (my background is mostly Tracy) and we really didn't have any conflicts in technique.

Lamont
 
I'm not really that familiar with Kenpo even though I believe Al Tracy's headquarters is right here in my home town of Lexington, Kentucky. I have met one of his senior instructors before, a guy named Steve Finn I think was his name. I know Finn was his last name, I might be wrong on the first name. Ever here of him?
 
basically aside from the forms ' what tracey dont got in theres ak got it and vice versa
 
I'm not really that familiar with Kenpo even though I believe Al Tracy's headquarters is right here in my home town of Lexington, Kentucky. I have met one of his senior instructors before, a guy named Steve Finn I think was his name. I know Finn was his last name, I might be wrong on the first name. Ever here of him?

Unless I'm completely mistaken, at one point he was KenpoDave's instructor.
 
I once had an EPAK black belt visit my school. We went out on the mat and began to exchange techniques. Basically, he would attack, I would defend. Then he would show me the closest "Parker version" of whatever technique I had just done. Then we would talk about it and try each other's version. Then we would switch.

After several hours, we were bruised, sweating, smiling, and hungry. That's the closest thing to a showdown I've ever been involved in.

AHHH now thats a great thing right there. There is nothing better then meeting new martial artists, getting on the mat, putting some spirited friendly competition, theory testing, sharing out there, and walking away with a genuine respect for the other individual.
I like it!
 
I guess what I was trying to ask was, is there anything that, if you saw one of these types of kenpo stylists sparring or fighting, you'd be able to say "Ah, that guy's a Tracy's guy" or "That one's an EPAK guy." See what I'm getting at?
 
I think somebody with a reasonably experienced eye should be able to tell the difference. Or, if one was trained in one style and watched somebody from the other style doing techniques, it would look "off". I trained in EPAK up to green belt and even in EPAK there are slight variations between one school and the next, we had some students come in from other EPAK schools from time to time and there were small differences in their techniques that became obvious to anybody familiar with them.
 
I guess what I was trying to ask was, is there anything that, if you saw one of these types of kenpo stylists sparring or fighting, you'd be able to say "Ah, that guy's a Tracy's guy" or "That one's an EPAK guy." See what I'm getting at?

No, I don't think you would be able to look at someone, well someone good, sparring and say "oh that guy is X." Good fighters are good fighters, and tend to have similar efficiency to their movement, also individual variation in fighting styles will swamp the differences between inter-school or inter-AK/Tracy stylistic differences.
 
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