Sami Ibrahim
Green Belt
Good Evening MT Members & Readers,
My name is Sami Ibrahim, pronounced (Sam-E E-bra-heem), though I usually go by Sam. I began my study of the Martial Arts while I was a very small child. I eventually took up the study of Kenpo Karate which I usually call American Kenpo these days in 1990 in Cleveland, Ohio.
I began learning Kenpo under Associate Professor Mike Veninshek (Jan 3 1957- Jan 4 2012) at the Midwest Kenpo Karate School on the corner of W.120th street and Lorain Ave. I have remained an avid Kenpo practitioner for the last 27 years. At the time of this posting 1/22/2017 I am a 4th degree Black Belt (Senior Instructor) in Kenpo.
I spent a portion of my childhood growing up in the war-torn West Bank of Palestine, Gaza and Occupied Jerusalem, being exposed to violence and war as a young child, reinforced my already held beliefs that Martial Arts is a matter of life or death. Having learned to speak fluent Arabic and understand the ancient Middle Eastern customs, it seemed no great leap for me to get involved with the Military and Law Enforcement Community after the events of 9-11. Often teaching Martial Arts for free at recreation centers in Cleveland, Ohio. I was invited to live in a Japanese dojo in Mishawaka Indiana. While their I began working as a bouncer at a biker bar and a door man at a piano bar that was a popular hangout for the Nortre Dame football team. As well as training members of the Mishawaka Police Department. While I absolutely loved my time in Indiana, duty called.
I entered into Active duty with the US ARMY in 2006 and the next thing I know its 2017 I have been all over the world, I am married with children. I have done more stuff than I care to remember, my body is held together with duck tape and chewing gum and I am months away from retirement. I did my best to practice Martial Arts every day, to train with the best warriors I could find in any given duty station or assignment and to visit martial arts schools in every part of the world I traveled too, regardless of style or system. Though I am 33 years old, I feel very old, sometimes ancient, I can't tell if its from visiting so many ancient places or from so many people trying to blow me up or kill me by some other creative means. I still absolutely love Kenpo but as with anything I get rusty, lucky for me my last assignment had me in the state of Washington, so I am able to hang out at Mr. Rainey's Kenpo Karate School in Federal Way, WA. Thanks to his guidance much of the rust has been knocked off and I feel pretty good about the direction my Kenpo is growing.
Also thanks to Social Media and Martial Arts Forums like Martial Talk and Kenpo Talk, I have been able to communicate with and read the thoughts of many Martial Artists from drastically different backgrounds than my own and that has been a huge factor in my growth as a human being. It because of talking with people that are into sports based Martial Arts and people that do Martial Arts for health and fitness and those who do Martial Arts purely for fun or to enjoy an ancient tradition that I am starting to loosen up, to laugh at my own sternness, to be less judgmental because I have a better understanding of where these other kinds of martial artists come from, back in the day I could not understand them one bit.
My name is Sami Ibrahim, pronounced (Sam-E E-bra-heem), though I usually go by Sam. I began my study of the Martial Arts while I was a very small child. I eventually took up the study of Kenpo Karate which I usually call American Kenpo these days in 1990 in Cleveland, Ohio.
I began learning Kenpo under Associate Professor Mike Veninshek (Jan 3 1957- Jan 4 2012) at the Midwest Kenpo Karate School on the corner of W.120th street and Lorain Ave. I have remained an avid Kenpo practitioner for the last 27 years. At the time of this posting 1/22/2017 I am a 4th degree Black Belt (Senior Instructor) in Kenpo.
I spent a portion of my childhood growing up in the war-torn West Bank of Palestine, Gaza and Occupied Jerusalem, being exposed to violence and war as a young child, reinforced my already held beliefs that Martial Arts is a matter of life or death. Having learned to speak fluent Arabic and understand the ancient Middle Eastern customs, it seemed no great leap for me to get involved with the Military and Law Enforcement Community after the events of 9-11. Often teaching Martial Arts for free at recreation centers in Cleveland, Ohio. I was invited to live in a Japanese dojo in Mishawaka Indiana. While their I began working as a bouncer at a biker bar and a door man at a piano bar that was a popular hangout for the Nortre Dame football team. As well as training members of the Mishawaka Police Department. While I absolutely loved my time in Indiana, duty called.
I entered into Active duty with the US ARMY in 2006 and the next thing I know its 2017 I have been all over the world, I am married with children. I have done more stuff than I care to remember, my body is held together with duck tape and chewing gum and I am months away from retirement. I did my best to practice Martial Arts every day, to train with the best warriors I could find in any given duty station or assignment and to visit martial arts schools in every part of the world I traveled too, regardless of style or system. Though I am 33 years old, I feel very old, sometimes ancient, I can't tell if its from visiting so many ancient places or from so many people trying to blow me up or kill me by some other creative means. I still absolutely love Kenpo but as with anything I get rusty, lucky for me my last assignment had me in the state of Washington, so I am able to hang out at Mr. Rainey's Kenpo Karate School in Federal Way, WA. Thanks to his guidance much of the rust has been knocked off and I feel pretty good about the direction my Kenpo is growing.
Also thanks to Social Media and Martial Arts Forums like Martial Talk and Kenpo Talk, I have been able to communicate with and read the thoughts of many Martial Artists from drastically different backgrounds than my own and that has been a huge factor in my growth as a human being. It because of talking with people that are into sports based Martial Arts and people that do Martial Arts for health and fitness and those who do Martial Arts purely for fun or to enjoy an ancient tradition that I am starting to loosen up, to laugh at my own sternness, to be less judgmental because I have a better understanding of where these other kinds of martial artists come from, back in the day I could not understand them one bit.
But I know most of the Kenpoists over there even though I am pretty much out of the art these days, so I am sure we share many acquaintances.
