Do you think it takes away from the art, i do, i refuse to get a membership to a school because there training is based on musical forms. Its very sad because there are no other kenpo schools around my area, and from what i have seen on the internet kenpo seems to be real fun to practice. Also the sparring turned me off completely, i went to see the sparring class on Friday nights, and there are people from all ages, meaning you can fight a 10 year old kid, also i tough that sparring in tae kwon do with all that gear was exaggerated, they got so much protective gear on that they have problems moving. You are not allowed chin protector where the toes show, you need to have a full foot protection, i hate fighting with that. They spar using point system like in competition:bang::bang::bang:...... in the class. Glad i found a shotokan school near my house that rocks.....
I may be biased, but I've always found the best kenpo training to come from a small garage type dojo. At least that is how I started, and even when we moved to other training facilities due to circumstances, the training remained the same. Nowadays with the need to maintain a successful business in the commercial world, sacrifices have to be made, and often times it comes in shorter training sessions, the need for sales of "required" equipment, dojo memberships, belt programs, etc.
There is a karate cresche at the dojo we use with mommy and the kids arriving in the car with their kits on and graded the same. One of the male instructors had sun glasses and an earing . You are not alone guys. Sickening.
I wrote "momey" perhaps unconsciously I was confusing mommy and money. They also teach Japanese weapons. The insrtuctor is "taught over the phone by a master in Japan"..honestly people buy into this.
Same thing here they got plastic weapons for kids, also to get a belt grading you need to master 2 weapons, and worst kenpo is fun with the kali stick, they dont even have them, you have the choice of plastic nunchucks, bo, sword and kama, i love plastic.
remind me to send you a copy of the photo a school I was teaching in put in the paper unbeknownst to me-me doing Chen TC outside w/my sunglasses on.Pretty sure I was wearing my earring too. Unlike some however,no ponytail!
