Sacramento Kenpo Karate

We have been having a ton of fun at the new school. Last Saturday, Tara and I went down to Dr. Porter's school in Santa Rosa and played with their people there. We reviewed some terminology and techniques for the yellow and orange.

We look at the four ranges: Out of range, In range, Contact penetration and Contact manipulation.

We talked about the three zones: Height, width and depth and how you need to cancel at least two of them in any technique to make them effective.

We discussed the Line of Action vs. the Path of Action. You always use a path of action to block a line of action.

Recently, in the kids' class, Noah, Jessica, Connor, Jadon and Jacob all earned a stripe for being able to recite the kenpo creed. They were very excited and very proud.

Last class was small, but we had fun working on shoulder rolls and how to slap out when you fall. More work is needed when everyone is healed.

American Kenpo Karate is a hard/soft style of martial arts, created by Ed Parker, designed to promote good self-esteem, confidence, self-reliance, excellent defensive skills and is a lot of fun. If you want to learn the ultimate in self defense, we teach Kenpo Karate in Rancho Cordova at Mather Sports Facility.    

Sacramento Kenpo Karate

New Equipment for the School

A student was kind enough to donate two large kick pads and four smaller punching pads to the school. We really appreciate it and it has made a big difference in class. The last two classes were a lot of fun. On Tuesday, we had Chris, Josh, Tricia, Aaron and Matt in the adult class and Jacob and Noah in the kids' class. They were joined by Connor, Jessica and Jadon.

We're going to start working on sparring in the coming weeks and we have been working on some of the new techniques for the 5.0 material.

On Thurs., Robert came back to visit us after his surgery and we look forward to working with him in the near future, after his rehab.

Our school is growing in leaps and bounds and we are thrilled with the students we have. It really feels like family and Tara and I are both always happy to see each and every student show up every class.

Note to all students: Bring your sparring gear if you have it. We're going to start it as soon as we can. :)

--Amy

American Kenpo Karate is a hard/soft style of martial arts, created by Ed Parker, designed to promote good self-esteem, confidence, self-reliance, excellent defensive skills and is a lot of fun. If you want to learn the ultimate in self defense, we teach Kenpo Karate in Rancho Cordova at Mather Sports Facility.    

American Kenpo

Dear School Owners,

It is with great pleasure that we invite you to participate in the first World Universal Kenpo Karate Championship to be held in New Zealand - Aotearoa (Maori for “Land of the Long White Cloud”).

We feel very privileged that we are able to host the first tournament and look forward to seeing you, your families and students in our beautiful country.

DATE: 6th - 8th April 2007

Please find included Registration Forms for the Tournament held in New Plymouth. Please complete these forms and registration details as soon as possible to give us an indication of numbers attending.

As we want to make this an enjoyable weekend rather than just a 1 day tournament we have a preset cost for the competitors and family attending (please see agenda). The cost includes the competition (regardless of number of events), dinner, BBQ and social events planned on Friday and Sunday.

Competitors $150

Family/Support $55

Pricing is in NZ dollar.

Registration forms can be downloaded from www.jeffspeakman.com.au

Also included is a brief outline of an agenda for the weekend and general tournament information - we will provide further detail as the time approaches.

If you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact me.

Yours respectfully

Simon Low

On behalf of the Tournament Committee

American Kenpo Karate Systems

Phone +64 9 419 9524

Email: Auckland@kenpo.co.nz

VENUE:

New Plymouth is situated on the west coast of the North Island between Auckland and Wellington. It is a picturesque coastal town with Mt Taranaki as the backdrop.

Auckland and Wellington both have International airports and are 4.5 hours drive or 40 minutes flight time away..

Check New Plymouth out on www.newplymouth.nz.com

The tournament will be held at the TSB Stadium

ACCOMODATION:

The Quality Hotel Plymouth International

Ph. +64 6 7580589

Fax. +64 6 7589949

Toll free +64 800 800 597

Web site. www.plymouth.co.nz

We are please to confirm bookings at the The Quality Hotel Plymouth International and the sister property The Auto Lodge Motor Inn are available now. We have secured 20 rooms so please book now.

I would advise booking accommodation ASAP as Easter weekend is always a busy time and most of the accommodation starts filling up from November onwards. There is also plenty of motels within 10 minutes of the venues but again these are generally the first to be booked.

Also, our families have opened their homes to help to accommodate those who are attending this tournament if you would like. Please contact myself or Fabian Niwa for details.

TRAVEL:

New Plymouth is classified as a town. Travel time is literally 5-10 mins to get most places within the town.

We are working on having buses organised to collect and deliver all Kenpo students and families to the tournament and events organised.

Coastal beaches are 5-20 mins drive and the Mountain is approximately 35 mins from CBD.

Please refer to the map attached.

WEATHER:

New Zealand will be just starting its spring so temperature will be between 20 and 24 degrees Celsius.

ITINERARY:

Friday 6th April 2007

East end surf club

1.30pm Official Maori welcome

3.00pm Registration of all competitors, coaches and parents.

5.00pm Meet and greet. BBQ / traditional Maori Hangi (food cooked in the ground)

Saturday 7th April 2007

TSB Stadium

8.00am Parade of countries and Mr Speakman to open tournament

9.00am Tournament begins

(a café is providing lunches at the venue available for purchase)

4.00pm Concludes Tournament.

6.30pm Dinner (formal dress)

Sunday 8th April 2007

YMCA Stadium

10am – 12pm Kids Seminar

1.00pm East End Surf Club - Fun and games

Swimming, Games, BBQ, Pig on spit.

TROPHIES:

Trophies will be awarded to First, Second and Third place Winners

MARTIAL ART SUPPLIES & CANTEEN:

Merchandise stands will be available at the tournament.

We have canteen facilities at the TSB Stadium, this is run by an independent catering company who offer a variety of healthy snacks.

REGISTRATIONS

Forms need to be completed and sent to taranaki@kenpo.co.nz

Entries close 28th February 2007

Late Entries 20th March 2007 (additional $50)

Plymouth Hotel

Tournament

American Kenpo Karate is a hard/soft style of martial arts, created by Ed Parker, designed to promote good self-esteem, confidence, self-reliance, excellent defensive skills and is a lot of fun. If you want to learn the ultimate in self defense, we teach Kenpo Karate in Rancho Cordova at Mather Sports Facility.    

Sacramento Martial Arts

Tara and Amy are just loving having this new class! This last Thurs., we were delighted to see Josh back, as well as Matt and Trish. Jadon (4yrs. old) worked with his mom (Tara) on some blocks and such. He loves to kei when he kicks! Very cute.

Josh is a great new addition to our school. We worked on katas (short form 3) and looked at the differences in how we each learned it. Once we get the Speakman dvds, we'll all be changing to what he's doing. It'll be nice to all get on the same page.

Tara and Josh also worked on stick drills a bit too. That's going to make a fun addition to our curriculum as well. I love to learn kenpo!

We also worked on coordination set 2. It seems that none of us had really learned it before, so we're getting caught up. We reviewed blocking set 2 as well. It's funny how I seem to be learning more new things with us being on our own than I have in awhile.

Trish and Matt worked on reviewing some of their old techniques as well and working on some new ones. Tara is putting together a terrific drills binder for us to use so we'll be having some great new drills to do at every class.

If this class interests you, be sure to go to our website (listed below) and/or give us a call for more info. We expect to have more new students coming in on Tues and we'd love to have you be one of them!

American Kenpo Karate is a hard/soft style of martial arts, created by Ed Parker, designed to promote good self-esteem, confidence, self-reliance, excellent defensive skills and is a lot of fun. If you want to learn the ultimate in self defense, we teach Kenpo Karate in Rancho Cordova at Mather Sports Facility.    

Sacramento Kenpo Karate

The School is Heating Up!

We have now officially had our first REAL class. Last night, we had several returning students show up, along with a new Brown Belt, Josh, who Tara and I met on the forum. We had a new student start tonight and two more who walked by and were immediately interested. They said they'd be back on Thurs. to start.

Tara and I switched off with the teaching, as we planned, but it'll take some time before we are smooth with it. We covered stance set 1, Obstructing the Storm (for new material), reviewed long 1 and short 2 and they did some drills.

It was a great time. We were glad to have such a great class and look forward to seeing everyone there again soon.

American Kenpo Karate is a hard/soft style of martial arts, created by Ed Parker, designed to promote good self-esteem, confidence, self-reliance, excellent defensive skills and is a lot of fun. If you want to learn the ultimate in self defense, we teach Kenpo Karate in Rancho Cordova at Mather Sports Facility.    

Sacramento Kenpo Karate

This is the first post of our new blog site. Amy Long and Tara Turnbull have begun teaching American Kenpo Karate, at the Mather Sports Facility in Rancho Cordova.

Children's classes will be on Tues. and Thurs. from 6:30 to 7:30 and the adult class will be from 7:30 to 8:30 on the same days. The cost for this course is $60 a month and we don't need a contract because we feel you'll stay because you love it.

Our classes are fun, educational and a great workout. The course is taught by two experienced black belt women with over 45 years of Kenpo training between them. The advantage to having a woman instructor is that we have gone to classes largely with men, so we understand how to work with people larger than ourselves. We also have the female perspective, so we know how to work well with women.

We are looking forward to seeing you there! Contact the Mather Sports Facility for more information. (916) 362-1704

--Amy and Tara

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American Kenpo Karate is a hard/soft style of martial arts, created by Ed Parker, designed to promote good self-esteem, confidence, self-reliance, excellent defensive skills and is a lot of fun. If you want to learn the ultimate in self defense, we teach Kenpo Karate in Rancho Cordova at Mather Sports Facility.    

Sacramento kenpo Karate

Hello all.

This will be my last post on the blog. I have decided to take my kenpo in a new direction. Unfortunately, this will take me away from the school. Tara is leaving as well.

I've been a part of Mr. Liner's school for six of the last 12 years and I have really grown as a martial artist since being here. I came as a third brown and have moved up through the ranks to second black.

Tara joined us only a few months ago, but she fit right in. She and I are following a similar path at this time.

Mr. Liner and I are parting on good terms, as you'd expect. We have been friends a long time and will continue to be so for a long time to come. I'll be back for seminars and other events and I look forward to seeing how you all have improved. And he has left the door open for me to come back at any time.

I wish you all well along your kenpo journey as I know you wish me on mine.

Be well and God bless.

--Amy

American Kenpo Karate is a hard/soft style of martial arts, created by Ed Parker, designed to promote good self-esteem, confidence, self-reliance, excellent defensive skills and is a lot of fun. If you want to learn the ultimate in self defense, we teach Kenpo Karate in Rancho Cordova at Mather Sports Facility.    

More pictures from the Baltimore Kenpo Camp

Here are a few more pictures from the Baltimore, Maryland event. It was a truly memorable fantastic event and I learned so much that I can hardly wait to share with my students!
Larry Tatum and Tony Dunne at the awards banquet. Tony came over from Ireland.
This was the whole group at dinner. Larry & Cheryl Splain, Jason Farnsworth, Amy Long, Teresa from Open Hands Karate and Jon Nolan.


American Kenpo Karate is a hard/soft style designed to promote good self-esteem, excellent defensive skills and is a lot of fun. We teach Kenpo Karate in Rancho Cordova at Mather Sports Facility under the direction of Mr. Jeff Speakman.

Sacramento Kenpo Karate

Hello!

I am back from vacation and have found a few changes. The good news is that we have a new student, Lynne, who just joined us. She's been to two classes so far and is doing a great job. The sad news is that it seems both April and Chris won't be able to continue in the class. April is focusing on other things right now and Chris has to move to the East Bay for work. We'll be missing both of them.

I am thrilled to be back and working with my favorite students. (All of you guys). The other sad news is that it appears that Justin has left as the kickboxing instructor. We will miss his charming smile and clever wit.

I had a great time at the Baltimore LTKKA Camp. I learned some interesting ways of looking at the techniques and Mr. Tatum put on a couple of amazing seminars, which were played to a packed house. My head is spinning from all that I learned. One of the best parts, I think, was not so much the specific information that I learned, but more the different ways of looking at things. The comraderie was amazing as well. I made a ton of new friends and got reacquainted with some old ones. I can't wait to go to the next one!

American Kenpo Karate is a hard/soft style of martial arts, created by Ed Parker, designed to promote good self-esteem, confidence, self-reliance, excellent defensive skills and is a lot of fun. If you want to learn the ultimate in self defense, we teach Kenpo Karate in Rancho Cordova at Mather Sports Facility.     

Sacramento Kenpo Karate

New Black Belt at the School and Stripe Promotions

Tonight (Wed.), we had a smaller class. Tara was unable to make it, but we did have Mitch, Aaron, Mario, Corrina, Claudia, Keylan, and Kayla. Trish was there, but her daughter her hurt finger, so she had to leave. Chris hasn't been able to come to class because he's been working, but he did ask me to pass along his salutations. He hopes to get back to class soon.

The orange belts worked on the next couple of moves on short 2 kata. We did some spontaneity drills and did some other drills with kicks and punches in lines.

We had black belt class before the 7:30 class and we have a new black belt who joined us. His name is Garth Cobb and he and his daughter are going to be joining us at our school. They're transferring from another kenpo school and we're glad to have them both.

We also awarded some stripes tonight. Mario got his second orange stripe. He knows the material pretty well -- we're just trying to get him to hit with more intensity. Kayla and Keylan also received stripes. They each got their first yellow stripe. They know their short one fairly well and are getting the hang of the techniques. They can be real proud of themselves!

On a side note, I (Amy) will be gone for the next 3 weeks and Mr. Liner will be teaching my class. I'll be visiting a school in Oregon, then heading to Baltimore for the Kenpo Karate Championships. (I'm just going for the seminars -- I won't be competing.)

I look forward to seeing you all when I get back.

American Kenpo Karate is a hard/soft style of martial arts, created by Ed Parker, designed to promote good self-esteem, confidence, self-reliance, excellent defensive skills and is a lot of fun. If you want to learn the ultimate in self defense, we teach Kenpo Karate in Rancho Cordova at Mather Sports Facility.    

The New Orange Belts are Here!

On Wednesday night, we had a great class. One of the coolest things that happened was that I was privileged to award orange belts to Aaron, Trisha, April, Matt and Mitch. They have all been working hard and have pre-tested in class over the last several weeks. Trisha hasn't been able to join us in class as much as she'd like, but when she does come, she always shows up early to work on her material. Mitch is also there early working on material. That's what we like to see in class -- students taking the extra step. Matt is getting some really nice forward bows and Aaron is starting to bend his knees correctly. I had hoped to give Claudia and Mario each a stripe, but Mario was sick and Claudia fogot her belt and jacket! Ugh. We've been enjoying Kayla and Keylan as well, but they seem to be sick quite a bit. I hope they start feeling better. Congratulations to all of our newest orange belts! You're doing great work!

Last week, we had a visitor from another school, Albert, who is a fourth degree in Kenpo. He assisted me and Tara teaching the class and we were all most amused when he showed Mitch and Mario the importance of checking the opponent's arm in several techniques. (They ended up on their butts.) It was a lot of fun to have a visitor.

In the Little Dragons class that Mr. Cogal teaches, we had a young visitor,and hopefully a new student, Jadon, who joined them. He's Tara's son, is four years old, and he's adorable. He fit in well with the other two students and we hope to have him come back.

Sacramento Karate

Amy Long's 2nd' degree black belt test

Hello!

Last night, on Monday night, Amy Long (me) tested for her second degree black belt. It was great to see Aaron, Matt, April, Trisha, Mitch and Claudia there for the test. Justin lent his assistance in the sparring section and Tara was a tremendous help being Amy's Uke.

The test started with warm up punches, then kicking combinations up and down the mat. Short one kata, short two kata, long three kata and form six. Sparring. Staff set, finger set, striking set, walking the dummy, short 3, more sparring. Techniques, techniques, techniques. More sparring. More techniques. Over an hour of fun.

Amy was beyond exhausted and spent a fair amount of time sucking wind. Tara and Amy sparred really well together and some clips will be posted. At the end, Mr. Liner felt she performed admirably and awarded her her second set of stripes.

 After class, her students were amazed at how much more they learned now that their instructor was so much wiser and knowledgeable. The second stripe brought with it amazing insights and valuable information. (Said with amusement, of course.)

During class, we smacked the bag with kicks and learned spinning rear kicks. Tara worked with our newest white belt, Kayla who is doing a great job. We hope her brother Keylan feels better soon.

American Kenpo Karate is a hard/soft style of martial arts, created by Ed Parker, designed to promote good self-esteem, confidence, self-reliance, excellent defensive skills and is a lot of fun. If you want to learn the ultimate in self defense, we teach Kenpo Karate in Rancho Cordova at Mather Sports Facility.    

Sacramento Kenpo Karate

Monday class was fun as always. A harder workout than usual. We were glad to have Corrina back and it was great to have Marcos, the keeper of all kenpo knowledge, back in class. We were missing a few people though. Mitch, Matt & April were conspicuously missing.

We also had two new students, a brother and sister, Keylan and Kayla join us. I gave them their first intro lesson and Mr. Liner worked on Dance of Death and Triggered Salute with Aaron, Chris, Marcos, Mario, Trisha, Claudia and Corrina.

The students have been working very hard and stripes have been awarded. Most of the students have all of their orange belt techniques and after some more review and some serious work on their long form one, they will be ready to test. I'm very proud of them and they're doing a great job.

--Amy

American Kenpo Karate is a hard/soft style of martial arts, created by Ed Parker, designed to promote good self-esteem, confidence, self-reliance, excellent defensive skills and is a lot of fun. If you want to learn the ultimate in self defense, we teach Kenpo Karate in Rancho Cordova at Mather Sports Facility.    

Kenpo Class Updates

Trish has been working hard, both on her techniques as well as her new book! And Chris showed us his humor the other night doing Grasp of Death. Excellent job.


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American Kenpo Karate is a hard/soft style designed to promote good self-esteem, excellent defensive skills and is a lot of fun. We teach Kenpo Karate in Rancho Cordova at Mather Sports Facility under the direction of Mr. Jeff Speakman.

Promotions and New Learning

We now have 10 students in the Mon-Wed. adult class. Chris joined us recently. He's a black belt in Shotokan and he wants to learn Kenpo. He's been doing a great job and was recently awarded his yellow belt. So far so good, but he's not too keen on the hugging part! Aaron was given his second stripe, as well as Mitch. Claudia has been showing some tremendous improvement and even ventured into an inter-school tournament where she sparred and did very well.

The new motto of the school is, "When you miss a class, you miss a lot." Every class we've been going over key kenpo principles, learning new techniques and generally having a good time.

The tennis ball drill is a great favorite and our 'point of origin' drill was an interesting learning experience. We got in a stance facing each other and one person would throw and block and/or a strike or two strikes, doing their checks as appropriate, then freezing. Their partner would then do the same. We practiced finding the closest weapon and moving from point of origin.

These guys are doing an outstanding job. It's great to see Matt and April improve each time they come, Marcos knows everything (just ask him) and Mario is getting better all the time. I always enjoy Trisha and it's encouraging to see how much better she is getting at her neutral bows and closed-kneel stances. And Corrina -- she's so quiet, but yet she says so much. It's a joy to have her in class. I feel quite lucky to have such a great group of students.

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Sacramento Kenpo Karate is located in Sacramento, CA and we teach the traditional American Kenpo Karate as taught by Ed Parker.  If you're looking for a great Sacramento Karate school, please come by!

Sacramento Kenpo Karate Class

For a holiday, we sure had a great turnout. It was great to have Marcos back in class. He's been out for a few weeks working hard on his studies.

Justin has started training in earnest for his black belt.

We had a visitor, Ryan, visiting again from Redding. He and Amy ran through a bunch of blue belt techniques and the rest of the crowd worked on Locked Wing.

We ran a new drill where one partner throws a pad and the other partners either kicks or punches it out of the air. Great fun, helps with focus and keeps students from reaching with their punches.


American Kenpo Karate is a hard/soft style designed to promote good self-esteem, excellent defensive skills and is a lot of fun. We teach Kenpo Karate in Rancho Cordova at Mather Sports Facility under the direction of Mr. Jeff Speakman.

Our students get better and better!

Our students are getting better and better. We worked on a variety of new skills during our last class and it's great to see the tremendous progress being made. We have two students who are getting ready to test for their yellow belts and we continue to learn new Orange belt material weekly.

Most of the students are working to master the Long Form One kata and we've had a great time adding new drills to our class routine. We'll be having class this Monday, so we'll see you there!!

--Amy

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American Kenpo Karate is a hard/soft style designed to promote good self-esteem, excellent defensive skills and is a lot of fun. We teach Kenpo Karate in Rancho Cordova at Mather Sports Facility under the direction of Mr. Jeff Speakman.

New Student - And Yellow 1 kata

At class last night, we had a new student, Aaron (my husband), who joined us. Mitch, Matt, April, Tricia, Corrina and Mario all were there working on Yellow 1 kata, short one and two new Orange belt techniques. We learned Repeating Mace and Crossing Talon. We missed Marcos last night and hope to see him at the next class.

April and Tricia looked especially good doing their punches. I can tell they've been practicing!

As usual, a good time was had by all. Again, we'd like to welcome Aaron to the class. --Amy

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American Kenpo Karate is a hard/soft style designed to promote good self-esteem, excellent defensive skills and is a lot of fun. We teach Kenpo Karate in Rancho Cordova at Mather Sports Facility under the direction of Mr. Jeff Speakman.