A system can only do so much. Can Kenpo work? It certainly can! Are you prepared? You are better prepared now than if you didn't train. Can mistakes happen while defending yourself? They sure can, but does that mean that the art you practice does not work? Hardly not!!
Take this for example. Do you train like an olympic athlete? All those hours every day, 6-7 days per week? When you watch the olympics, do you see how many mistakes are made? How many falls, the injuries, etc. Well it can happen to you doing your favorite technique out on the street.
What gets me is the ones who get into an altercation, they get hurt, injured, loose, etc., then blame the art they study as not working.
The end result always comes down to the individual student. Kenpo is a Great art. Now it comes down to the individual instructor, how he/she presents it. The drills the instructor uses to teach you. Which drills you, the individual relates to. Everybody is different and learns differently.
The biggest factor comes down to YOU. Do YOU have the will to survive? I don't know. The people reading this don't know, and you may not know until facing a life or death situation.
I do believe and have seen that proper teaching and presentation can bring about a higher level of confidence in individual students to help you function in a stressful situation.
You could post a thread asking the same question you asked for every different art that has posts on here. You will see successful posts with survival stories from each art. They all can work for the practitioner in the right situation.
Over 20 yrs ago, I was attacked in a parking lot, in my car. The art I studied at that time did not prepare me for that kind of close quarter defense, especially when there was 4 of them and my legs were under the steering wheel and I was bent over in the passenger seat. By the time they dragged me out of the car, I was a mess. Trying to kick at that point was futile.
I later found Kenpo and saw the street effectiveness of it. I have been studying it ever sense. But I have also studied crime prevention and awarenss techniques and strategies. (if you are not aware and before you know it, someone sneaks up and hits you with a bat, stabs or shoots you, it is not the art you train in's fault) You have to have an overall protection plan, and that should be part of your training too, if street defense is your concern.
Will Kenpo work for you? It sure can! Can you hear a lot of successful survival stories from Kenpo practioners? Sure you will. Will you read from those who were not successful? Probably not.
As a Kenpo instructor, I use different drills to try to bring out spontaneity in my students. Different students achieve this at different points in their training. I try to use drills to utilizing surprise attacks. (in the old days us black and brown belts would attack each other at any time. Kind of like a pink panther movie. we could be in the parking lot, dressing room or lobby, coming out of the bathroom etc., never knew when or what was coming.) But I also teach avoidness techniques and lecture awareness strategies. But with all of this, survival still comes down to the individual student and the situation they may find themselves in.
You ask will Kenpo kick in? If I throw a base ball at your head Kevin, are you going to take time to think of a technique or are you going to react, get out of the way, block, parry, catch it etc. No you won't think, you will react.
This may help you. Try not to think of Kenpo techniques as the answer to certain attack. Think of the techniques as disguised repetition, training your body how to react and move in certain ways. Teaching your body the fine motor skills, instilling in your body muscle memory. The more you practice, the more repetitions, the easier for your body to react.
When you work line drills against attacts, try not to think of which technique you will use for what attack. This will only slow you down and if your partner attacks with a different attack than you anticipated, you will get discouraged if you mess up. Instead when working with you partner, clear you mind and DO NOT think. Let your body react. In time, you will get better and better. If I throw a glass to you, will you think how to catch it, or just catch it? That is muscle memory, that is reaction, that is what you are striving for. You are not trying to remember techniques. I look at the "techniques" as a tool us instructors use to teach you.
In my opinion Kevin, you are moving in the correct direction. You are training. You are training in Kenpo. And you are asking questions. You are better prepared today to survive an attack than you were yesterday. Keep up the positive work!
Will I survive another attack? I don't know. I do know this. I am better prepared with my Kenpo training and more prepared every day I train. And let me tell you this. God better be with anyone that tries to hurt my wife or children. I may not survive, but my family will!!!!
Sorry if I rambled. Yours in Kenpo,
Teej
