Ed Parker, Chuck Sullivan, Me

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 :)