What made Kenpo Grow ??
- Thread starter ackks10
- Start date
kaizasosei
Master Black Belt
I think it is that special snappy touch and the principles of angles etc. Probably the culture too.
j
j
Jenny_in_Chico
Black Belt
It is my understanding that Ed Parker was an extremely talented promoter and networker, in addition to his skill in martial arts.
Xinglu
Black Belt
Grow? If you mean grow in popularity, then I have to attribute Ed Parker with a lot of the credit. He trained a lot of celebrities, had input in hollywood movies (particularly the cult classic Perfect Weapon), and more importantly, he advertised. No other Kenpo school was advertising like him. In fact, I still don't see T.V. commercials for any schools out here.
He put it in the public light unlike anyone else. That went a long ways towards it's popularity.
He put it in the public light unlike anyone else. That went a long ways towards it's popularity.
LawDog
Master Black Belt
The main reasons are, in my opinon,
* SGM Parkers ability to organize, market and deveolp a system,
* The Tracy Brothers ability to recruit,
* Villaries ability to organize and market,
* SGM Cerios ability to organize and develop a system.
All of the above mentioned people decided to "get out of the box" in many different ways and it worked for them.
:ultracool
* SGM Parkers ability to organize, market and deveolp a system,
* The Tracy Brothers ability to recruit,
* Villaries ability to organize and market,
* SGM Cerios ability to organize and develop a system.
All of the above mentioned people decided to "get out of the box" in many different ways and it worked for them.
:ultracool
G
Gary Crawford
Guest
everyone's answers are correct,but something else that helped was the popularity of "Enter the Dragon" (1973) and the release of "Tao of Jeet Kune Do". It wasn't just Kenpo,but all styles were hot. It was all timing that I wish we could recreate now to get the popularity up.
celtic_crippler
Senior Master
Though some hate the idea of it....
Elvis Presley promoted it quite a bit and provided funds to do so as well.
Elvis Presley promoted it quite a bit and provided funds to do so as well.
punisher73
Senior Master
I think it helped some too that it was effective and you didn't have to wait a long time to learn self-defense.
If you look at many TMA's, you have a long period of foundation building and moves hidden within the kata that you might be able to decipher (or hope your instructor can decipher). American Kenpo stripped all of that away and gave you what to do in what situation and you knew exactly how to defend yourself.
If you look at many TMA's, you have a long period of foundation building and moves hidden within the kata that you might be able to decipher (or hope your instructor can decipher). American Kenpo stripped all of that away and gave you what to do in what situation and you knew exactly how to defend yourself.
Flying Crane
Sr. Grandmaster
I'd hesitate to describe the stripping away of foundation building as a good thing.
KenpoDave
3rd Black Belt
I don't think foundation building was stripped away, but rather foundation building without explanation (i.e. endless hours in a horse stance with no apparent reason). Kenpo was the first art I studied where I was taught WHY from the very beginning.
KenpoDave
3rd Black Belt
I have to think in some ways the rivalries and competition created by the successes of the above helped lead to alot of growth.
punisher73
Senior Master
That is what I meant with it. Not that there was not a foundation to build, but that things were explained and a purpose given. Not do this kata for 5 years and I MIGHT share with you what it means if you are worthy of it.
Flying Crane
Sr. Grandmaster
Thanks for the clarification.
I will say this tho, based on some things I've seen on youtube and such, I think foundation-building actually WAS stripped away from at least some kenpo schools.
I get the impression that students get shown their stances, for example, and then very little attention is given to that down the road. If the student hits the stance in a sort-of-recognizable way, then it's seen as good enough. I think there is sort of an American attitude in a lot of kenpo that says, I can do this however I want, and it'll be great. People sometimes don't want to recognize that basics and foundation take a lot of attention, and in the end it really really does matter if you didn't get it right. It makes a huge difference in delivery of the techs.
I think Americans can have a resistance to being corrected. People want to feel good about what they are doing, and they don't want to hear that it needs improvement, especially if they've been doing it for a number of years. i think a lot of people could benefit from relearning and rebuilding their foundation, but for a lot of people their ego won't allow them to even consider it.
I'm not saying this is the case across the board. But I've seen a lot of things on youtube that just make me cringe, especially because people post it up with the attitude of, "hey, look at the great stuff I'm doing", and their foundation is barely existant.
As far as the main question of the thread, what made kenpo grow? I dunno, I didn't witness the growth. I grew up in a small town in Wisconsin, that was devoid of martial arts schools. Finally, I discovered a guy teaching a few students in his living room, and I enrolled. It was 1984, and he was teaching Tracy system kenpo.
I was 13 years old and I had wanted to learn "karate" since I was five, and that was the first opportunity that I had to do so, so I jumped in. It was the only instruction available in the area, so that's what I did. I hadn't really heard of it much before, and if I had a choice I probably would have done TKD or Shotokan instead because those things were more widely known at the time, at least from what I could glean from the magazines and stuff.
So for me, there was no real choice involved. No weighing of the pros and cons of the curriculum or training methods or applicability or anything like that. It was just the only option available to a 13 year-old kid, so that's what I did.
I suspect that for the masses, it was the same thing. It probably was the nearest thing available or something, so that's where they went. Maybe some people had trained in other schools first and later found something in kenpo that was lacking in their prior training. I won't discount that possibility in some cases. But I doubt there was any real organized movement of experienced people moving over into kenpo. I just have a hard time believing that.
That's too bad. One of my favorite strikes is attacking with a stance.
Seems to me from what I've read that I could loosely equate the growth of kenpo to the predominance of the IBM-clone.
It was legally possible to reverse engineer IBM technology, so it grew and became everywhere. It was well-marketed and supported by a large amount of software.
Kenpo was also well-marketed and the style was spread across the U.S. relatively quickly. Since it was accessible, it spread more and grew more. Like IBM technology, it was purposefully made accessible and marketed aggressively.
I would even say that TKD had the same type of expansion in the U.S. However, TKD didn't have the marketing and networking skills of Mr. Parker to fan the flames.
Flying Crane
Sr. Grandmaster
Interesting analogy.
I gotta say tho, I don't see the huge growth in kenpo that a lot of people are talking about. Maybe in certain parts of the country, like LA, it's very popular, but I just don't see it elsewhere. I do not see kenpo schools on every street corner. I think TKD is still much much much more popular on that level. Every small town seems to have at least one TKD teacher, but I don't seen kenpo schools everywhere.
Maybe people are talking about an era of growth that happened in the past, and I wasn't there to see it. But currently, I don't see it, certainly now out of proportion to all the other martial arts out there. They've all become much more popular in the last 25 years or so, the industry as a whole has grown tremendously. But I don't see kenpo at the pinnacle of that growth. I just haven't seen it.
shaolinmonkmark
Green Belt
i would concur with ed parker as the main spread,second maybe perhaps cerio to villari to mattera/demasco, and also Walter Godin, and alot of the rest, like pesare, Castro, etc...
Parker has to be the #1 main spreader of kempo thoogh.
Parker has to be the #1 main spreader of kempo thoogh.
You make a good point. It's not like kenpo is a part of the Olympics or anything. Makes me wonder what style is the most popular in the U.S. Likely a subject for another thread.
