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.

More Pictures from Las Vegas

Larry Tatum's Summer Kenpo Camp Kenpo Martial Artists hamming it up and striking a pose.

Kenpo people love to smile for the camera. We had a wonderful banquet on Saturday Night.





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.

American Kenpo Karate in Vegas

Larry Tatum's Vegas Camp 2005

Lots of choking, blocking, hitting and other fabulous kenpo things happened at the Tatum Vegas Summer Camp.

There's nothing better than getting in your gi, meeting a group of like-minded individuals and hitting each other a bunch. Gotta love it!

Much karate happened here at camp. Twelve interesting seminars and a lot of learning. We enjoyed demonstrations from Canada, fabulous food and great company.






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.

Thursday, December 22, 2005

Kenpo Karate

Las Vegas Summer Camp 2005

Techniques were happening, lounging was happening and lots of learning was happening at the Las Vegas Summer Camp. We all made lots of friends and learned a ton of interesting information.

A Kenpoist takes it easy before the Friday Night test.


Kevin Kuliga works with Amy Long.

Camey pins Amy during a seminar.
Camey Psaromatis works with Larry Tatum at one of his seminars in Texas.

Mike Lambert teaches a student about kenpo control and Camey hams it up with Mr. Tatum.

The Camp was an amazing amount of fun and we're all looking forward to Summer Camp 2006 in Las Vegas as well.



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.    

Tuesday, December 20, 2005

Kenpo Camp Seminar Pictures

Las Vegas Summer Camp 2004

In June of 2004, we all met in Las Vegas for kenpo fun and much sharing of knowledge.

These are some of the pictures from the First Annual Larry Tatum Las Vegas Summer Camp. Amy Long and Cal (don't know his last name) tested for their black belts. Cal is from Canada.





The awards banquet was fun. People dressed up and looked fancy and awards of recognition were given to all the instructors. Juan Serrano was one of the instructors, as was Darryl Liner.

There is a group shot of all the instructors as well as a group shot of the brown belt class -- this one taught by Patrick Kennedy, who came from Ireland to share his knowlege.






After the test, several black belts struck a pose. Typical kenpoists -- hams to the core.
Amy and Cal buddy up, as well as Amy with her instructor right after the test.

Since Amy is the one who put this blog together, naturally, she's in a lot of these pictures. Amy and Billy Lear take a few moments of rest between seminars.


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.