Looking for a school in Northeast Ohio

[dppar]

Hi all! I am a new poster, however I have been lurking around for a while. I've been interested in kenpo for a while now, and am finally at a point where I can actually do something about it and start training! I am looking for a school in Northeast Ohio, I actually live in Canton. If anyone has any suggestions on a good school that would be great! I am trying to find something fairly close to the Canton area as I really want to dedicate myself to training, and a long drive is a sure fire way to interfere with that.

Thanks for any help anyone can give me. I have found a couple of places in the area, but being new to all of this, I was hoping someone might already know of a good school, since at this point I don't know how to weed out the good from the bad.

 

[jfarnsworth]

I'm sorry but I don't know any in that area. I teach in Lexington which would be a drive for you. Mr. Doyle is quite north of you as well. Unfortunately you are in between anybody I personally know. Take a look at the thread I started & hopefully that will help with your question.

 

[dppar]

I did find a school in Massillon. It is called "Kraft's Kenpo". Have you ever heard of it? The instructor is Sifu Joe Kraft. I'm going to go sit and watch a class on Friday and see what it is like[FONT=arial,helvetica,sans-serif].
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[jfarnsworth]

I have personally never heard of him. Doesn't mean he is not a good instructor. I looked at his website & to me, it looked very vague. I wish you luck with your pursuit of kenpo.

 

[dppar]

Yes that was my main concern was that the information I had (mostly the website) was as you said fairly vague. But I contacted them and will see for myself on Friday when I go check it out. I wish you were a little closer, I checked and you are about an hour and a half from where I live.

Thank you for your help!

 

[jfarnsworth]

I appreciate the thoughts. If for some reason things do not work out I have a saturday morning class for my students who drive distances to come train. There are 4 that drive a great distance for their 2 classes a month. I realize our gas prices are on the rise, time also play's a factor in what we do. Again, you are more than welcome if something doesn't work out. After that, if you want, come train with us on a saturday morning free of charge. You could then see if you like what we do.

 

[dppar]

I will definitely let you know how things work out! And thanks for the offer, I just may take you up on that if this place isn't worth it. I'll let you know after Friday!

 

[jfarnsworth]

Sure thing & I hope that it's a great school. This is why I was hoping that others would have responded on my thread below. It would be very easy to know there are quality people out there so that we, (as kenpoists) felt confident in directing a student towards a studio in their area. The only thing that makes me wonder is that there were no pictures, no instructor names, no lineage to follow history.

However, I don't have a website. No where to direct people either but I want it like that. I teach virtually semi privately. Most people don't know where I am teaching other than those who watch or by the word of mouth. This is my preference though.

 

[K831]

Here is a link to the AKKI (Paul Mills group) regional rep page. The contact info for the Ohio rep is there, and he would know of anyone from our association near you.

http://www.akki.com/membership/regional_reps.htm

How did your Friday class go?

 

[jfarnsworth]

If I'm not mistaken I think that rep. here in Ohio is in the toledo area. That's upper north west of the state towards Michigan. Could be wrong though.

 

[dppar]

The class went well. I am very new to all of this, but I felt very comfortable there and am going to go ahead and start some classes beginning on the 28th. At the very least it looks like a good place to get started with kenpo, and then I can go from there.

 

[jfarnsworth]

Glad to hear. Again, I wish you luck within your success w/Kenpo.

 

[kenpojitsu13]

Mark Miller is a 9th degree black belt in the Tracy's System. Has been in the same location since 1969. He is at 6509 Pearl Road in Parma Hts. I believe he also oversees several schools in the area. Hopefully, your class works out but if not he would be the first person I would talk too.