Does anyone know a good Kenpo Instructor in Maryland?

I know Joe Polanzo's WKKA (www.wkka.org) is based out of there but I have had some less than favourable experiences with them. However to each their own.

Maybe if you looked in your yellow pages and listed the American Kenpo instructors and schools we could be of more help. A name might jog memories.

With all the respect to GouRonin in my humble opinion The best place to start is in Baltimore’s height ranking instructor Mr. Joe Palanzo's School in Baltimore, he is one of the best in this art and he’s staff is absolutely great I highly recommend his school.

Best to all


P.s

you can reach the school at:

Voice: (410)484-7122 Fax: (410) 484-3225
Baltimore, MD 21208

Gou,

There are a few different guys in my area.(baltimore)
Here is a short list.

Jim Frederick(akks)
Hans Kliemisch(ikka, wkka)
Joe Palanzo(wkka)
Yitz Fleishman(ikka?)

When I find more names I will post them.

I have heard some good things about Fredricks.

Originally posted by meni
With all the respect to GouRonin in my humble opinion The best place to start is in Baltimore’s height ranking instructor Mr. Joe Palanzo's School in Baltimore, he is one of the best in this art and he’s staff is absolutely great I highly recommend his school.


I want to say that I have never worked or met with Mr. Polanzo. Only seen him at camps etc. The organization itself is what left a bad taste in my mouth.

Hope this helps. If you go to the AKKI's webpage, www.akki.com , and click on the links page, there are 4 schools with websites in the state of Maryland. Check them out if you get the chance. And I also have to agree with Gou, I too have had multiple bad experiences with the WKKA, so look around before committing to them.
With respect,
Mace

. And I also have to agree with Gou, I too have had multiple bad experiences with the WKKA, so look around before committing to them.
With respect

1.When I recommend the school and instructors of Mr. Joe Palanzo’s school I speak about my experience with my own personal training and achievement which are as good as they come and if I may, the question at hand is of a personal training not of organization one you can always change the organization you with but what is the impotents of this with out the good basic training?

2. Most of the instructors in the area learned or trained with Mr. Palanzo
Like Mr. Fredrick, Yitz Fleishman and many more!

Best to all

Meni,
While I understand what you are saying I have to disagree. If we were to follow your logic, then the president of Enron would not be responsible for the actions or outcome of the company, the captain of the Exxon Valdez would not be responsible for what happened with his ship, and Yassar Arafat would not be responsible for terrorist actions stemming from groups within his country. Now these are extreme examples, but the point is that Mr Palanzo is the President of the WKKA, and if there are bad experiences with the organization which he heads, they ARE reflected upon him. Whether it be the actions of the organization or of Mr Palanzo's student, ultimately it will be tied to him because of his position. But that's just my opinion.
With respect,
Mace

Yes, you are correct in the theoretical level but I do think that one has to separate between the two,
One is the personal training in one side and the problem with the organization as whole from the other, in my opinion the quality of the instructors and the personal training that one has is the most important and I’m sure that Mr. Palanzo and his instructor are all well acquainted with our systems so they can provide the right information and training for the individual
Personally I don’t care about the organization as a whole, with that said, I have to agree with you that there is a responsibility and accountably issue with every organization..

Best to all

meni

meni,
I fully agree with you. As an instructor, Mr Palanzo does know his material and presents it well. I would just like to see him have a more active role in the ongoings of his association. Oh well, to each his own.
With respect,
Mace

He's also a top notch Trumpet player that played professionally.

Yep, and speaking of it tonight after our class (which I got my purple belt)
Mr. Joe and his band gave us (who stayed) a great show.
It just great to watch somebody in his rank taking care also of his spiritual side he defiantly not your average Joe!

Meni,

How much does Mr. Palanzo charge for instruction?
Is there a contract to sign, if yes what are are the terms(3 months, 6 months, 1 year)?

Thanks

SuperDave

1. first two lessons are usually free with Mr. Palanzo teaching them one on one
2. As far as I know there are several options
6 month, year and longer, but as far as I know they are pretty flexible!

You can get all this information over the phone!

The best time to come and view a class is in the evening, adults are from 7:00-8:00

I hope you find it helpful

Meni

I also studied at Joe Palanzo's back when it was an Ed Parker's Studio in the 80's. Is Karl Pietro still there? I saw him do some pretty incredible things. He was a 6th dan at the time. There was also a huge guy named Walt who was the most formidible orange belt I've ever seen. I was no match for him and I was a blue belt at the time. I'm sure Walt is a black belt by now.

Jim

I’m sorry for the delay in the answer

As far as I could figure out Mr. Karl Puerto is know 2nd or 3rd bb
And as far as I know he had /have his own place somewhere in MD, no further info about the other person.


Meni

I had visited Mr. Palanzo's Cockeysville studio last week, and talked to a guy by the name of James Walsh. He seems to be a decent guy, and I liked the way that he interacted with the students. I am hoping to take a class in the very near future with my girlfriend, to see if I might like training there.

Meni, I was wondering if you have ever been to a school called Five Point Kenpo in Randallstown? There is a guy there who also studied under Mr.Palanzo and he seems to be nice enough, but he said that there was some tension about belt promotions in Mr. Palanzo's Pikesville school. He said that some were pushed to test when they weren't ready. I hope that this isn't true, as I was considering joining Mr. Palanzo's school.

Any feed back that you have will be appreciated, since afterall you are there in Mr. Palanzo's school.

SuperDave

Hi Dave,
1. Nope I never visited the Randallstown kenpo,
2. About the promotions in my time at Mr. Palanzo place I only witness the opposite: student who wanted to be tested asked by the instructors to wait until they more fluent in the recruitments in their respected belts, and with my knowledge of the system it’s seem to me that with the system the using one has to go through a list of stages before he or she can be tested
3. As I asked around and get more information about the organization as an whole I know that in the past one if the instructor (or board member) promoted people when they weren’t (I’m not sure way he did it) ready as a result of this, the instructor was asked to take un untimely vacation for un limited time and was removed from the board.
4. As far as I concern what important for me is that I fill that a. the staff if very capable both with knowledge and teaching b. that I can advance In my own phase


I hope this is helpful let me know if you need anything else

Meni

Have a Good Weekend

Dennis Lawson is in Salsibury MD and is a fantastic instructor.

:asian:

Sorry so late in seeing this post. I just found this site a month
ago. I have a studio in Frederick Maryland. There is a studio in
Westminster Maryland run by Mike Guercio.

I hope you found a Kenpo school but you are more than welcome to come on by.

Yours in Kenpo,
Bill Smith - AKKI

Also, knowing where in MD you are might help us make recommendations.

My studio will be off of Rt. 85, Buckeystown Pike. 5245 Westview Drive. I'm not 100% sure of Mike Guercio, but it is near the intersection of Rt. 27 and Rt. 32 in Westminster.

Hope that helps some.
Bill Smith - AKKI

:confused:

Where he is talking about is between Frederick and Germantown. More specifically, near where 270,70 and 340 converge. I know ecxactly where he was describing. Unfortunately Mr. Smith misunderstood me, I wanted to know where the person who started the thread was so that we could make more educated statements about where to train. For example, if he lived in Rockville, Baltimore would be too far away as would I, but Mr.S would not be bad. If he lived in Keedysville or Sharpsburg, I am around the corner, etc....

I'm totally lost! LOL:confused:

About 45 minutes Nort, by North West of DC and half an hour from Baltimore

ok, much better! thanks:asian:

Originally posted by Bill Smith

My studio will be off of Rt. 85, Buckeystown Pike. 5245 Westview Drive. I'm not 100% sure of Mike Guercio, but it is near the intersection of Rt. 27 and Rt. 32 in Westminster.

Hope that helps some.
Bill Smith - AKKI

can you tell me some of your planned hours and classes?

The classes will be for the moment, Monday and Thurday nights. Two classes a night. 6:30 to 7:30 and 7:30 to 8:30 pm. I have just gotten the o.kay from the owner of the gym and will be in full swing in about a month. As the time and student base increases, so will the class times and days.

Check out my website in a week. More details will be proved there.

I hope I helped in answering you question.

Yours in Kenpo,
Bill Smith - AKKI

how far are you from college park ?

Are you talking College Park right outside of Silver Spring? If you are, he's about half an hour or so North of there straight up 270.

1. Thank you Seig
2. Do you know any other location, which is closer to College Park University? (I’m probably going to be there next year for my position (Chaplin)

Meni,
A good friend of mine teaches in Silver Spring. He is also a member of the AKKI. You can call him at 240-632-9827 or email at stacey68@juno.com

He's a good guy and a good and knowledgeable instructor.

Bill Smith - AKKI

I forgot to mention his name, Mr. Stacey Tothill.

Bill Smith

thank you again