FasterthanDeath said:
Yes, I am an advanced practitioner of Wing chun and several other Chinese martial arts. I was taught kenpo as self-defense from my teacher and never had a clue what it was. I thought it was just your average step by step and what if responses in self defense. Well anyway to my question, Whats up with the different styles of Kenpo? How many are there? I thought there was just one and it was promoted and updated by GM Ed Parker. So why so many different styles? I attended a few of the Kenpo seminars taught by Mr. Huk Planis who In my opinon is the only man to really continue the true teaching of EPAK. And at the seminar he asked us to write on the notepad what techniques we were having a problem with. So we started to do the techniques and I looked over at the many different people there and I saw many different variations of the same technique. When I say variations, I mean some of them were not applying the correct laws of motion taught to us in EPAK. Some of them were and then some of them were totally off. So here is my question to my fellow Kenpo practioners, in my search for the truth, Why so many different versions of EPAK?
Ok, I don't mean to break up the conversation that you two are having, just wanted to add a little insight...
Kenpo was introduced to the American conscience by Grandmaster Ed Parker. When Mr. Parker died, many 5th degree black belts began falling from sky claiming to have been so decorated by Mr. Parker. This began a craze, especially after the film, "The Perfect Weapon" was released starring Jeff Speakman. Kenpo schools opened rapidly and many of them taigght a very watered down version of Ed Parkers Kenpo. Some, like the Tracy's, taught what they believe are the true foundation of Kenpo essentials.
Here's where it gets tricky; some schools, clubs, and instructors have taken Kenpo and cross-bred it with other martial arts such as Taekwondo, Jiu-Jitsu, and even Hapkido. This creates a new "hybrid" Kenpo and could expolain why you saw so many different versions of the same technique being practiced.
Finally, and I know that I'm going to get flamed for this, but yes, in the Kenpo community there are blatant frauds. There are some instructors who claim to be "promoted by Parker himself!" and have only studied to orange belt and not a solid orange belt at that. They teach principles and techniques completely and unabashedly incorrectly and take peoples money. Especially when Kenpo is the "flavor of the month".
Now before you all throw mudpies at me think of this: when I say "flavor of the month" I mean the hot martial art at the time. Remember about a year or two ago when Brazillian Jiu Jitsu schools popped up all over America and they were all "sanctioned by the Gracie family"? Same principle.
Hope I helped with your question.
