Friday, March 6, 2009


"PUTTING SOME MEAT ON THE BONES"
Richard Matthews
PREFACE

"IN KENPO THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS A MINOR DETAIL

"My introduction to the "Club", was via the Kenpo's Systems Self Defence Techniques and its CLUB SET #1.In the early 90s I began to learn The Set "mechanically".Later a visiting instructor showed me the sequence, then afterwards said something along the lines of "it was of very little merit and far too basic".This statement did two things,

A. Initially it made me ask myself, why bother learn The Set.

B. But then it inspired me to work on The Set to find if there was any "merit" in learning it.

The answer to the part A, If its all you have then, you “have” to work with it.

Although I had worked with the Nunchaku and I have a background in Butchery and Fishmongery. I had no "real trained" knowledge of martial arts weapons aprt from the Bo Staff.

So personally I needed to learn the set, as a base for my personal development of Kenpo weaponry."I had a skeleton, now i needed to put some meat on the bones.

Nowadays there are a lot of Filipino orientated arts readily available to study, which if I where starting now I "may have" to look to for guidance.But when I began practicing” The Set” the only guidance I had were the theory, concept and principles of Mr. Parker's System, also one of his (brown belt)analogies, the one about the tradesman...

"who couldn't read the instructions, so had to think".

I have been influenced for better or worse by every Kenpo Practitioner that I have ever seen (at any level) wield a club. If anyone can see their influence in what I have portrayed then I am pleased.

As it has turned out Club Set was brim full of merit and held a wealth of information, just waiting to be explored and developed, when looked at positively and inquiringly, it has become my reference point for weapons development as well as a reference point for my ongoing investigation into Kenpo ClubForm 7.

I approached the Set with an open mind, broke it down and worked it; this blog is taken from my personal note pads and jottings, a result of my endeavour so far.I say so far because what is presented here is just part of a developing, personal insight into one of Kenpo's weapons,

The Club.

The vast part of this guide has been adopted and adapted from the concepts, principles, theories, guidelines formulas, etc., generated by ED PARKER'S KENPO, it had to be, because, "it’s the only Art" of which I have any kind of insight.


"Monkey See Monkey Do"

When performing sets or forms lots of physical energy is expended, but, mental or even dare I say, spiritual content can be lost, if practitioners of any art stay in the beginners "monkey see monkey do" mode.I believe the Kenpo system has the ingredients too free a practitioner in the early stages of development from this mode, but only if the practitioner wishes to challenge him or her self to do so!

The Club Set was the first time I fully moved out of the "monkey see, monkey do" mode and attempted to explore "The Art", using Mr. Parker's Guidelines.The ideas presented here are not meant to replace anything that exists, but hopefully, enhance them.

Note; I did not set out with a burning desire to change anything, or "leave my stamp on something", but rather had an occasional and casual relationship with Club Set, which went through varying stages of enthusiasm, and now has found its way to this blog and shortly a DVD, so please approach with an open mind.

Anyone who was swept a long with the Nunchaku craze of the 70s and bought or even made a set of "flails"(as I did), has probably still got the lumps and bumps on there bodies to remind them of how awareness and accuracy must grow proportionately to the speed and power when "spinning the chucks”, well its the same with the clubs the lessons of environmental awareness are priority.

The environment as it applies to Kenpo is ..."what’s in you, on you and around you"..

..this was an important baseline for my insight into the Kenpo Club.

My guide for developing some thing new is:-

DEVELOP ACCURACY

then

INCREASE SPEED

then

UNDERSTAND POWER

in this order

"The mind is like a parachute, works well when its opened"

2 comments:

  1. Nice Richard - I've seen many versions of the club set so it will be interesting to see a DVD. Its fascinating to play with the sticks and to see which Self Defense Techniques Lend themselves to the use of the stick. I personally like 5 swords although there are many that float my boat. That was a good read. Cheers

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  2. Congratulations on your recent promotion. And best wishes in all your endeavors.

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