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DDRS Kenpo's Connection
By: Initiateur Patrick `Jilguero' Gavin
On the weekend of April 25-27, Headquarters Salle in Laredo hosted a seminar of
American Kenpo Karate. We were very pleased to have as our special guest, Sifu
Greg Ringness of Dallas, Texas. Sifu Greg is a second generation Parker Black
Belt, he has studied Kenpo under Sifu Keith See, one of the
founding fathers of the IGDDRS.
Sifu Greg hails from the “blood and guts” era of Texas karate. “In those days,
we didn't have any foot pads or gloves. It was bare foot, bare fist, and all
out” he told us. “Jhoon Rhee (tae kwon do master) did not invent padded gloves
and shoes until the mid 1970s. When you were in a tournament, it was ON! People
hit hard.”
The overriding theme of the weekend's sessions was: motion. Kenpo Karate teaches
one to move in a uniquely purposeful, deliberate, and assertive manner. Expert
practitioners seem to flow through their movements, much unlike the hard-style,
choppy, stop-and-start, motions commonly seen by practitioners of other arts.
Kenpo is not just a great big accumulation of punches and kicks. Every movement
is economical and based upon sound tactical principles. One such principle is
economy of motion - accomplishing two or more things at once. For example, a
forearm block of an opponent's punch is also a strike that damages the
attacker's arm. Another is `closest weapon, closest target.' You hit your
opponent not with your favorite shot, but with whichever limb of yours is
closest to his most vulnerable targets at that particular moment.
A key Kenpo principle is `volume disruption' - the act of taking away advantages
your opponent has in length (height), width (size), or depth (reach). Sifu Greg
demonstrated what can be done against opponents who possess various advantages
of height, reach, and size to nullify their game. We delved deeply into
countermeasures involving disruption of an opponent's ability to see, stand, and
breathe - great equalizers in a fight! We practiced volume disruption using
strikes from flanking angles, attacks on his balance, and destruction of the
weapons (limbs) used to attack us.
For those of you who want to add the Kenpo attribute of tactical flowing motion
to your repertoire, I would highly recommend working with Sifu Greg. This is now
an option for Guild members, as he is the newest member of the Guild's Board of
Directors as an Advisor. Anyone interested in future opportunities to work with
Sifu Greg Ringness in seminar can contact Guild Headquarters in Laredo.