Category Main Entry:
catĀ·eĀ·goĀ·ry 
Pronunciation: \ˈka-tə-ˌgȯr-ē\ Function: noun Inflected Form(s): plural -ries Etymology: conLate Latin categoria, from Greek katēgoria predication, category, from katēgorein to accuse, affirm, predicate, from kata- + agora public assembly, from ageirein to gather Date: 1588 1 : any of several fundamental and distinct classes to which entities or concepts belong
2 : a division within a system of classification
Completion
Main Entry: comĀ·pleĀ·tion
Pronunciation: \kəm-ˈplē-shən\ Function:
noun Date: 1657
1 : the act or process of completing
2 : the quality or state of being
complete
3 : a
completed forward pass in football
Concept
Function:
adjective Date: 1896
1 : organized around a main idea or theme <a concept album>
2 : created to illustrate a concept <a concept car>
Thank you for the definitions....
Why is this concept so hard to understand? By its shear definition it should be easy.
It's not hard to understand. But by definition of it being a concept it is open to interpretation....many of which are not your own singular interpretation. By the way did you mean to be condescending while disagreeing? If so, unnecessary.
The fundamentals to Kenpo are its basics. We are taught them by side, method and angle. I.e. right upward vertical hook kick or left inward horizontal elbow or an upward elbow break, etc. There are also only so many ways you can work on an opponent's arm given the way we work our opponents weapons, I.e. on top, underneath , to the inside or the outside of the weapon. If we explore the written curriculum there are only so many basics written. I believe Mr. Parker intentionally had this done to give students a starting point. It was left up to the student (with the assistance of a qualified instructor and through anaylsis of the Universal Pattern) to find the other ways in which to employ basics. It is also my belief that Mr. Parker wanted students to do this to have them find out for themselves what was useful, unuseful or useless. I am sure if one were to go through all the ways to do a hook kick I am sure you will find a method that would be useless. I believe that Mr. Parker included the "practicable" methods into the forms and techniques to illustrate their use. I also feel that he left some out "on purpose" to make us do some of the work. I found that the answers you work the hardest to find are the ones you most never forget.
O, this is a long lead in to the meat of your point of view and I'll cross reference it to mine. Feel free to disagree but you need no be condescending when you do so.
For creating power I only know of 3 main power principles. Back Up Mass, Marriage with Gravity (Back Up Mass used primarily Vertically), and Torque. There is also the odd man out - Borrowed Force. At anytime we may use any combination of the these. Where would category completion fall here? I guess you can apply the concept to power priciples.
Each power principle has two main directions it follows (except torque which can really go in any direction as it has multiple planes). These two directions are the opposites and reverses to each other which is what Cat Com is.... "For every motion, principle or concept there is an opposite and a reverse".
As I stated before in regard to picking the optimum angle of execution/retraction, this should be covered in the ideal phase of the technique when it is taught to you. We are expected to find the variations through practice with your partner. The standards are the standards. Five Swords ends with a downward hammering chop for a reason, you can do the chop with a different method of execution, but why?
In studying the multiple angles, opposites and reverse you will find what is optimal for
many situations. The ideal phase is only one specific situation and even then the angles of execution/retraction do not have the same optimal angles due to our individual differences. The idea is sound but in actuality it does not work. People having different bone structures and ranges of motion will cause deviations in what an 'optimum' or optimal angle is.
Increasing mental/physical/perceptual speed I feel would come through practice of the material on a person
A person doing what? giving resistance, being compliant, being non compliant? And what are you practicing on the person? ideal phase, formualtion, what-ifing. If it's anything other than ideal then Cat Com becomes highly applicable as that is what leads to a greater understanding of angles, positions, etc.
and the aid in balance/recovery would come through stance work.
Stance work as in stance set? or forms? or sparring? or resistance training? Balance and recovery while trying to effect a moving and thinking target is quite an exercise. Even without thinking about it your brain is analyzing the different positions and angles and cataloging what is working and what isn't. If you grapple for example you try to push and it doesn't work the opposite is a pull. That's active practice of a CAt COM concept and in doing so your balance and recovery are being worked on as you try to maintain an advantageous position over a moving and thinking target.
As far as aiding in target creation, I thought additional targets became available during the course of a technique through reaction (a factor inherently built in by Mr. Parker) , whether is be from us evading or redirecting the attack or by physically making him react through striking. I don't see how target creation fits in with the Category Completion Concept.
Additional targets come through reaction but what reactions you get and what targets you get are often a direct reflection of what actions you choose. Your chooses are dependent on what you have been exposed to with regards to the executions of your basics. The executions of your basics in their varying angles, directions, methods of execution, etc. is trained by examining them. Cat Com is ONE way of examining them.
So.....You think of Cat Com as merely a system of organization and seem to disregard the active use of the organization. I see Cat Com as a system of organization.......with the purpose of outlining in a logical, consistent, and organized way what I need to work on. Cat Com starts the process and is the foundation by which all the other aspects are built upon. This is my interpretation. There are several more. The mere fact that my interpretation is different from yours doesn't mean that your idea is "difficult to understand". It's undertood. I just disagree as I see a more indepth use for a concept you define as merely a system of classification and cataloging. Classified and cataloged to do what? What is the purpose? What is knowledge without an applied use? And since this is a martial art/self defense system that applied use is physical combat more often than not.
1) Kenpo is the basics...you said that.
2) Cat Com is the process by which all the basics are explored in many different ways to find how, why to emply them...you said that.
3) Everything we do in Kenpo (Target Creation, Power Generation, Balance, Angles of execution/retraction, the thre speeds) is a direct reflection on our application of and understanding of the basics (not just physical basics but conceptual and principle basics as well).
4) So if Cat Com is how the basics and their employment are explored and the other things are built on the basics....how does Cat Com not apply to the things that are built from the base that Cat Com explores?
