With the exception of something that is very detail specific, and here I am thinking specifically of Doc ChapƩl's system, Sub Level 4, I fail to understand why someone could not learn Tracy's Karate, EPAK, or other branches of Kenpo from Video format. And it so happens that Black Belt magazine tends to agree...
It takes, I suspect, a number of personal attributes to do.
1. Desire to learn and learn correctly.
2. Ability to know left from right
3. Ability to learn motion in mirror orientation ... Something that is not too
terribly difficult if you are of average intelligence, can tie your shoes, and
chew gum.
4. Minimal to average analytical skills
5. A level of physical fitness that allows you to move, move quickly and
move in a fairly accurate fashion.
Kenpo is not rocket science. Most of the advances that are made in it are personal enlightenment. Very little, again, outside of something on the magnitude of order of a Sub Level 4, is actually new and improved. Most of the new stuff coming out and being "introduced" is rearranged material. Kenpo and it's basic evolutionary ideas are thousands of years old ... How can you honestly introduce much new? Why.... You can use new technology and learning theory to introduce old concepts, philosophies and motion to a new generation.
If you give an idiot a few things to do and enough time to do them, he can become very competent, to the point of being an expert or a master, as it were. The method of learning and absorbing anything is based on the desire mixed with ability of the individual and his/her ability to use the tools available to transfer that knowledge. It all, basically, boils down to that.
Having watched the evolution of this Kenpo Culture over the years on this wonderful worldwide web, leads me to believe that often enough, the old school guys like myself, and a few other nameless oldtimers, with some notable exceptions, out here are really not too interested in change.
Philosophically, change is bad for most folks.
If you want to study via video, or are unable to find a school that you want to study with in close proximity, then by all means, go for it. You can always spend a little extra money here and there and go to seminars, tournaments, pizza gatherings, etc.... And find out a little more.
The idea, in my mind, of Kenpo, is that it is a life-long journey. It's your journey (Sounds like a great title for a book )... Get on with it and enjoy YOUR journey. There will always be someone who is better than you at something, and maybe better in everything, but by the same token, there are others who are not as good. Your journey is for you to take and enjoy.
If You are better today than you were yesterday or last week then you've got something there. If you ain't enjoying it, you need to get out of Kenpo and take up something else like underwater basket weaving.
One of the upsides to learning Keno via video technology is the lack of ego.
You are simply learning what the instructor has to offer. Not involved in his/her fan club, not involved in having to make ethical/moral decisions to support him/her and the attendent school. Not having to join Kenpo gangs ... Simply doing the best you can to glean information that is useful to you, which is what you are trying to do via video or attending a school, anyway.
Me? I'm saving my pennies and taking contributions to get my young butt out to California, where I plan to stand on the doorstep of Doc ChapƩls school until he accepts me as a student or kicks me back to the airport.
The rest of it is dependent on your taste and desire for fame and fortune. You want Tatum, Trejo, Sullivan, LeRoux, Planas, ChapƩl .... etc... etc... to sign your certificates? You will find what you are looking for if you dig and study and learn. There are people out there who don't do seminars, don't have websites, don't have a large following, and often simply teach out of their garage, or basement, who have the wisdom of the ages, and you won't hear their names mentioned anywhere. But you gotta dig for it.
Having said that, I sure wouldn't depend on Seig, Alan Wortman, Dan Farmer, or anyone else who isn't a very rich, very wise, and a demonstrable Grandmaster to tell me which way is best for me.
For what it is worth, I have the IKCA tapes, have gone through them, have learned up to Black Belt and not ranked in it. Their material is ok, but you have to understand that some of the techniques are not universally useful. They have good concept, but won't work in all situations. On the other hand, Tracy Karate, and Ed Parker Kenpo, with their maximalist and minimalist approaches of the old material are in the same boat. Each has it's strength and weaknesses.
IKCA does not have much in the way of what I consider to be useful weapon defense, but then again, speaking topically, with very few notable exceptions, the other systems are more or less in the same boat.
If you are a technique horse, you are in trouble in the IKCA as they only have 55 or so techs that everything else is culled from. They only really have two kata or forms. But the upside to that is you can build your own Kenpo system based on what they have. You could make a million technique system if you are into volume. :boing2:
So go do what you wanna do and enjoy your trip... And non-illigitimi carborundum (Never let the bastards wear you down!) :readrules
Sorry to ramble so, but I don't get out of the Missouri State Home for the Mentally Bewildered very often.
Dan Farmer
Ex-RokuDan
Tracy International