Hi there,

My name is Marcel de Jong. I'm from the Netherlands where I started my journey in Kenpo in 1991. I started at the Action Kenpo Karate Studio which was operated by Hans Hesselmann. In 1996, at brown belt level, I started to teach, and in 1998 I got certified as an instructor. Another eight years later I founded Katsudo Kenpo together with my wife Agaath, who herself is a third degree black belt in Kenpo. In december 2012 I got accepted as a student by mr. Michael Robert Pick, who promoted me to fifth degree black in May 2013.

I just love to train and teach. When there's no pandemic and no lockdown I teach three days a week and train while teaching as much as I can. I also love to teach (international) seminars which I did in the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, Spain, Portugal, the United Kingdom, Ireland.

The first tournament I ever competer in was the European IKC in Jersey in 1994. Since then I competed in quite a lot of competitions resulting in 177 medals and trophees, of which a list can be found here: http://www.katsudokenpo.n[...]ijzenkast/
In 2017 I 'retired' from competition after I fought my last full contact bout at age 50. I thought it better to focus on coaching our students and performing jugde duties and such. But in 2020, when due to the pandemic there were no students to coach anyway, I competed for fun at some online kata competitions, resulting in my second world grand championship. But there's no thing like the real thing, let there be no doubt about that.

In my working career I'm an attorney at law running my own lawfirm (together with a partner) since 2016.

I hope to read other's introductions here, so get behind your keyboards and let us know who you are!!

Salute
Marcel de Jong

Hey Marcel

Happy that you will be a part of this Website , Hope to see you on the Mat in the near future

All the Best
Kimpo

Hello from Germany!
I ll try to put together a short sumary of my Kenpo-(hi)story...

I first got interested in Kenpo through the Movie "The Perfect Weapon" (guess no further Explanation is needed here...) bach in the early/mid 90s as a teenager.
In 1996 I spent a year in the United States and ran across an advertisement for an "Interactive Kenpo-Distance Training Programm" in Black Belt magazine (something that was not heard of much back then...).

It intrigued me since there was no local Kenpo schools around but I attended a Taekwondo / Hapkido School where I spent several hours of my Time every day anyways, so I decided to check it out and studied the material with my fellow TKD/HKD students. I already had 6 years of Martial Arts Training when I started and the material came rather natural to me.

Back in Germany I held a first Dan with the IKCA and started teaching my own group at my parents house.
During this time I also started "re-learning" the "original Parker Curriculum" with another correspondance course (provided by the Lamkin brothers) on top of the IKCA curriculum - just out of curiousity...
Unfortunaltey, my group split after we all graduated and went to different universities, so I only ended up getting officially ranked to orange in the EPAK Method and did not get to finish my Full Instructor Qualification with the IKCA.

I went to medical school and my Kenpo teachings took a back-seat while I focused on my studies and an active competitive career as a martial artist; ending with me fighting Pro MMA. I can also add the fact that Kenpo was part of the reason why I went to medical school. I was always looking for a profession I could "connect" to my passion for Maertial Arts. Kenpo showed me how the Knowlege of Anatomy, Physiology and Science alltogether can really deepen the Understanding of the Martial Arts; so basicall I became a Physician to make myself a better Martial Artist...

In the following years I taught Kenpo Techniques, Concepts and Principals at various seminars to people from other arts such as Ju-Jutsu or FMA and even though I repeetedly trained and prepared for further testings throughout the years, I never took it.
Since time as a physician in a hospital / ER did not allow formation of a new group for regular teaching, the years kept passing by.

During the Pandemic Lockdown, I suddenly had a lot of time at hand and I used it to brush up my skills and get them checked by GM Sullivan. Thats how I ended up taking my second degree test with a delay of 20+ years...
Well, now I am waiting for the contact-sport restrictions to be lifted since I decided to (finally) also finish my Instructor Qualification and bring a student all the way through to the Rank of Black Belt.

The journey continues :)

Hello everyone,

I will keep it short: first of all nice to be here.

I started my journey in 1968 at the age of 5 at judo with the famous Anton Geesink in Utrecht Netherlands. After that I studied jui-jitsu and kickboxing and competed in the early all-style competitions in the 80’s.

My jui-jitsu teacher at that time (the late Jan Snoek-De Meern NL) introduced me to wado thanks to Richard van Asdonck. Jan told me many times that I was more a streetfighter and not a jui-jitsu man......So I was looking in the early 80’s for a suitable system without bounderies....

Kenpo EPAK was introduced in 1980 by Hesselmann and I contacted him in 1982, this was what I was looking for!

Started the third dutch school in 1991 under his supervision and still on a lower scale in business.

More to tell but I promised to keep it short! Salute, Erik Branger (student of the art)

Hi to all!

I'll take the opportunity for a more personal and inside view of my Kenpo Journey than the promotion history can offer...

I was born in 1972 and so grew up in the 80's with all the typical martial arts movies. I loved them and was always interested but never took the time or decided to sign in to one of the local clubs, where only the classical arts where teached (Judo, Jiujitsu, Taekwondo and Shotokan).
In the age of 33 I read an article in the local newspaper of a guy offering classes in Kenpo Karate, with a logical and scientifical background, combining traditional arts with todays knowledge. So I went there and was directly stucked :)
My first teacher was the representative for Mr. Speakman at that time and we trained intensively two or three times a week in a small group focussing on kenpo including some kickboxing sessions. It was great to meet Jeff Speakman when he was here teaching Seminars in our School and other locations in Germany or the Netherlands (Utrecht).
It was the time when Jeff Speakman startet to promote his Kenpo 5.0 System he designed together with Trever Sherman, another well experience great guy, so we reworked our stuff with the new curriculum until my purple belt.

For some reasons my teacher later decided to leave the organization and became a student of Mr. Sepulveda (AKTS) and Mr. Downey (EKKA). Since they worked with the classic 24 technique curriculum we started over to meet the actual requirements for the belt ranks we wore and later where tested to blue. It was an interesting time and I loved to visit the Camps in Ireland meeting great Kenpo people from all over the world and learned about their kind of teaching and their experience in several tournaments.

Unfortunately running the Kenpo school as a business was not successful at all, so a time followed where we had no dojo und just met to train outside or irregularly for a while ending up with my teacher moving to another town and focussing on other activities then kenpo later.

I still did my stuff together with another student and friend starting at the same time I did. We offered some classes teaching a few people but without a clear concept, supervision, correction or personal progress it made not much sense. I was still highly interested to stay with Kenpo, but I couldn't afford to go to Ireland regularly to become a direct student of Mr. Downey and Kenpo is very rare in germany. Hard times...

In 2013 I heard about the 40 years of Kenpo in Germany Celebration event in Willich and decided to participate. It was great to meet new people, and train with well known Teachers like Mr. Rainer Schulte, Christian Springer, Mike Pick, Angelo Collado, Michael Miller and many more. But most important to me it was a good opportunity to meet Sascha Bering again!

Our first time contact was at a seminar with Mr. Speakman in Saschas Club in Meerbusch. Later in 2007 I participated in his Summer Camp with Lee Wedlake and Gary Ellis.
At the anniversary camp we talked about training possibilities and met for a couple of private lessons first. Finally he accepted me as his student and so I joined the Parker/Planas Lineage reworking my stuff once again to meet the new standards. Even though it was hard work (and is still :) ) to learn "not only the how's but also the why's" and a strong focus on the understanding of the basic rules and principles it completely pays off. Sometimes it is really mindblowing, I found so many things making sense now or techniques I didn't like in the past that work now or at least I just understand, what they are for. For me Sascha is an absolute role model too, since he made all these efforts himself since he joined the organization and became a student of Ingmar Johansson and Huk Planas. Even though he is highly involved in his several businesses he always offered his time, making it possible to meet, to train and to give me the chance to progress!

I am very proud and happy now to be part of this Lineage, and thankful for all the opportunities, great instructors and people I was able to get to know at the several Viking Camps in Norrköping, SE, at the Anniversary Camp in Saarbrücken and the worldwide gathering in Vegas 2017! Good to see many of you here and get in touch with new faces regardless of rank or organization - let it be just Kenpo :)

Full salute!
Andreas

Hello my Kenpo Brothers & Sisters,

My bio cannot compare to all these great stories but this is a good forum for us to learn of each other and to learn. I have lived in North East Ohio (just outside of Cleveland) my entire life. After college, I struggled to find the activity that could make me happy. I was an athlete all my life. There was never a time in my life that I was not participating in a sport. Baseball, Football (American football), Wrestling & Track & Field always kept me busy. But once I completed school I dabbled into many different activities from playing in a Semi-Pro Football team (big mistake) for two years to Racquet Ball and weight lifting. None of it made me happy.
Then one day I headed up to watch my nephew at his orange belt test at Joe Doyles American Kenpo Karate Acadamy. He was only about 8 at the time but he was awesome and the Art was different than anything I have ever done or seen. I took JudoKwan when I was young and this was different and I fell in love with it right away.
So in 1993 I started up a Doyle’s American Kenpo Karate Acadamy and began my journey. Once I received my purple belt I started doing the Introductory Classes for prospective clients. Mr. Doyle gives out two 30 minute private lessons as an introduction to those who are thinking of joining. So I put on my red belt as I delivered the introductory lessons twice a week until I received my Brown Belt. At that point, I was allowed to teach in class.
I received my Black Belt in 1997 from Mr. Doyle and continued until 1999. At that point in my life, I had two kids and started a new job where I traveled and worked many hours. So I stopped my training for many years and didn’t return until 2012. I can tell you it’s no easy task to come back after that many years in a program with so much material. I was able to keep wearing my BB but Mr. Doyle makes everyone recertify for every belt level. So I had to begin at white belt and requalify for each level. Once I qualified for the yellow belt he would place yellow tape on my belt, and so it went on orange, purple, blue, green, and brown stripes on my belt. This proceeded until I finally requalified for black. It’s been a ton of fun being back, doing seminars, and traveling to Vegas and Sweden. I’m at a place in my life where I have more time for myself and it’s been a great joy.
I’ve never been big in the competition scene although I competed when I was younger at all my ranks up to black but have not been in competition since I’ve returned in 2012. Covid has been hard, I’ve stayed away to protect my family, my father is 85 and I will not place him at risk.
I look forward to learning more from all of you and believe this will be a pretty good forum to spend some time on.
Salute,
Tony

Hello!

My name is Jason Figliano, I hold the Title of Renshi handed to me by Shihan Trevor Lewis and Kyoshi Dave Kovar.

Started training Karate when I was 7.

Currently own Two Academies with just under 400 students

Hello everyone and greetings from the United States!

My name is John Byrne, and I always wanted to do Martial Arts growing up. I was enamored by Kung-Fu Films as a kid on Saturdays (36 Venoms, Battle of the Wu-Tang, basically ant Shaw bros. film.

I had gotten to about 375 lbs, and decided that I needed and wanted to lose weight to be there for my at that time 3-year-old son, Draven. I would drive by this Martial Arts academy by his daycare every day, that advertised Kung-Fu, Judo, Tai Chi, and Grappling...

I figured it must be an art that mixed the techniques or had different classes on different days, and the sign said Saviano's White Tiger Kenpo Karate. Funnily enough, I didn't even notice the "Kenpo Karate" till after I had signed up.

That first day I came in to get some information, and it leads to essentially an "interview" of me, GM Tom Saviano was seeing if I'd be a good fit, and the type of person and student he'd want to teach, etc...

Fast forward 12 years, I've lost over 200 lbs, I've had countless injuries, I've pushed through things I would have thought I never could or would have done or achieved, and truly believe I've become a much better man, father, and husband due to Kenpo Karate. In the last 10 years I have also cross-trained, one of my Instructors Mike Nevins is a Sandan in Judo, so I've been training with him in Judo, and added Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu 6 years ago.

I'm in the best shape of my life, I enjoy teaching and helping people become better versions of themselves, and enjoy always learning how to become a better martial artist every day!

I've been a part of Beltchecker for a year, and love that community, so I truly hope we can make Kenpochecker just the same, if not better! Thanks, and look forward to one-day meeting and training with all of you.

John

Pleasure to meet all of you: I am instructor Gary Gilliam. I am a longterm Kenpo Karate student of Masters Robert Hermansen & Gary Cox since 2003. I have been training in the martial arts since 1978 for a total of 41 years. I love Kenpo & other arts as well. Great to meet all of you. Feel free to ask me anything. I can tell it will be a long time before I am verified.

My name is Aaron Nielson and I live in Utah, United States.

I started Kenpo in 1986 when I was 14 years old. My 3 sisters and brother were all taking gymnastics classes every day after school but I didn't want to do that so my parents enrolled me in Kenpo because it was just a few doors down from the gym my family was at. My first instructor was Tony Martinez, Jr. and I worked with him for a few years. Then I drifted away and stopped working out when I was in high school. When I was in college, I went back and had to start all over again. This time I only stayed in for about a year. A few years later I met with a few instructors but decided to go with Tony Martinez, Sr. I stayed with Tony Sr. for a little over a year and he had me learning the different techniques he taught than his son. Tony Jr. was starting to develop his own style and Tony Sr. kept to what he learned from Mills Crenshaw and Ed Parker. I was proud to say I was a student of Sr. because I know he worked out a lot with Ed Parker. I was at a tournament once in the late 1980s while Parker and Speakman were doing the tour for the Perfect Weapon. Mr. Parker promoted Sr. to a 6th degree that day and I remember him saying if he ever got into a fight on the street he'd want Tony Sr. by his side. That was the only time I had the pleasure of meeting Mr. Parker.
In 2000 I went to law school and I'm a prosecuting attorney now. When I got back from law school I went back to classes with Tony Jr. for a year. I didn't stay with him partly because he was now just running the school administratively and not teaching the classes. I again quit while I was back to my blue belt. Then after several years and moving out of Utah for 5 years and back again I got back into Karate. I again went around and met with several instructors and saw how they ran their schools. In the end, I picked to go to class with Gator Conley because he was a 7th at the time and very hands-on. Gator also had the same basic lineage as me because he learned from an instructor who was also under Tony Sr. and due to his instructor passing away, he also went back to Tony Sr. as his instructor. I was able to quickly show after a few refreshers that I remembered the techniques for my blue belt so that's where he started me at. I began with Gator in 2019 and even during Covid I did my 2 weekly classes plus a 1 hour private lesson every week. I also took Jui-Jitsu classes and Systema for a while during the 2019-2023 range. In 2022 I was awarded my black belt after 36 years of on again and off again with Kenpo. Now I don't have any plans to ever quit again or change instructors. My goal is to one day work my way up to a 5th degree which I won't qualify for until I'm at least 64 years old. I hope I'm still going strong then but since 6th degree would put me in my 70s that may be out of reach. Tony Sr. does come in and teach our classes from time to time and he is in his 80s but he is one of a kind.
I hope this website grows and we can get everyone to join.