Phases of learning and "what if's"

(posted on Facebook by Mr. Ron Chapel, January 2021) 

Mr. Parker’s quotes on the Three Phases Concept of Learning and the ever-present overworked and misunderstood “what if."

As you analyze a specific technique, the study is best begun by dividing your efforts into phases.

Phase one of the analytical process mandates you commence with an “ideal” or fixed situation. This means that you are to select a combat situation that has been structured with a prescribed sequence of movements and use this ideal technique as a base.

In this phase, the term ideal implies that the situation is fixed and that the "what if" questions required in other phases are not to be included.

Using the ideal technique or model situation as a reference point not only refers to the defensive moves you employ but the anticipated reactions of your attacker as well. Technically, then, it is the prescribed reactions of your attacker that completes the ideal technique, not what he might do, but what you force him to do.

Therefore, the ideal techniques are built around inflexible and one-dimensional assumptions for a good purpose. They provide us with a basis from which we may begin the analytical process, like any control model in any reliable scientific experiment. Prescribed techniques applied to prescribed reactions are the keys that make a basic technique ideal and fixed.

In Phase I, structuring an ideal technique requires selecting a combat situation that you wish to analyze. Contained within the technique should be fixed moves of defense, offense, and the anticipated reactions that can stem from them.

"This so-called ideal or fixed situation when analyzed and formulated properly should effectively take into consideration minor alterations of combat to make Phase One significantly able to stand alone."

The above Ed Parker quotations are taken from an I.K.K.A. Green Belt Manual and are an area of massive confusion. Mr. Parker was not speaking from the position of the student or even most teachers. He is speaking to those who desire to create their own techniques and style, and the process they should employ while utilizing his conceptual system as a base starting point. Ed Parker Kenpo is supposed to teach you how to create your own style. When you create techniques, “what ifs” take on significant importance. In the learning process, however, students do not, and should not have the luxury of entertaining such infinite possibilities.

Therefore, “what ifs” should not be introduced into the process until you have mastered all of the first phase of learning. To do so would be like trying to spell a word that requires a letter in a part of the alphabet, you haven’t learned yet.

So-called “what ifs” are not actually “what ifs.” They are supposed to be different techniques with a similar offensive theme. These questions are covered as you move upward in the levels of training. i.e. “Broken Ram” answers questions similar to “Charging Ram.” In other words, the true “what if“ is not what he might do but understanding “what he will do when I interact with him.” Or simply, “what if” is not an action, but a re-action.

It is important, however, to recognize Mr. Parker wrote this before he decided that the Ed Parker Kenpo Karate System would have to be the first level of instruction for the masses, due to his inability to be in one place, drill basics, and teach a defined and rigid structured first level personally.

Master Amatto Zaharia

FULL-CONTACT KEMPO (MIX-FIGHT KEMPO)

This powerful fighting method was developed during ‘80s by Master Amatto Zaharia, who created his organization underground at that time, as long as practicing martial arts during communism was illegal. Amatto Zaharia practiced boxing, judo, and karate, combining them in one fighting style being his best choice.

Amatto Zaharia is a multiple European and world champion but also a military expert, being one of the top instructors of the Romanian commando troops and an elite sniper also. In 2009, for his merits in promoting and developing the combat sport of Kempo worldwide, he was awarded by His Excellency Traian Basescu, the President of Romania.

But more than this, Amatto Zaharia was a visionary who pioneered the idea of bringing Kempo under the same umbrella for getting more and more recognition internationally as an official sport. At the end of the 20th century, based on long-time experience and connections in the world of Kempo, Amatto Zaharia started to contact different masters and Kempo styles/organizations, putting them at the same table, bringing to the same point the different rules of competition, uniformizing also the clothes of the referees and athletes. In this way, after many years of hard work and dedication, the International Kempo Federation appeared.

At present, Amatto Zaharia is an Executive-Member of the Romanian Olympic Committee and also the Executive-President of the International Kempo Federation.

http://olympickempo.com/about-ikf/kempo-history/

The Humble Beginnings

 The Humble Beginnings: BRUCE LEE JUN FAN (李小龍) and BEN DER WING YAN (謝永恩), alumni of Hong Kong St Francis Xavier Secondary School and peers in Wing Chun Kung Fu, both arrived at San Francisco within same week in May 1959 on US citizenship status. After settling into low income apartments at Chinatown Jackson Street, they took odd jobs as bus boys at local restaurants to pay for English lessons. During free time, they would practice Wing Chun together to keep up with their skills. This continued for months until Lee left for Seattle in September to attend Thomas Edison Technical School to complete his high school equivalency.

*****

https://wingchun.blog/lineage/ben-der/

Ben was attending St. Francis Xavier College in Hong Kong when he began to study Wing Chun in 1958. Wing Chun was very popular among his friends at school, so it was natural he would get involved with it. When Ben came to the US in 1959, he had completed up through the 2nd set in his training.

While in the US, lacking formal instruction, he and several of his friends would meet in San Francisco. These meetings provided some very strenuous workouts allowing them to keep their understanding of Wing Chun fresh, and their techniques sharp. Ben learned the 3rd set from Felix Ho, one of his workout buddies.

This continued until around 1967, when Ben had a very brief foray into White Crane. While Ben was gaining great confidence in his hands’ ability to deal with conflict, he still had the nagging suspicion that he needed to learn to kick. White Crane seemed the logical addition. However, after several classes, he discovered that he preferred Wing Chun ideas to those of White Crane. From that point onward, Ben devoted himself solely to Wing Chun.

By 1968, Ben and his elder Wing Chun brother, John Ng, had seven students learning Wing Chun from them. Howard Wong, a friend of Ben’s and someone who knew of Ben’s love for Wing Chun, asked if he would like to meet a relative of his. This relative was the stepbrother of his wife’s father, who also studied Wing Chun, and was just in from Hong Kong. Howard Wong was very familiar with Wing Chun. His sister’s father-in-law was in charge of a Wing Chun branch, a non-Yip Man lineage, in Hong Kong. Ben and John went to the Jackson Cafe in San Francisco to meet this fellow Wing Chun practitioner. After 15 minutes of discussion about Wing Chun, the newcomer said, “Enough talk. Let’s work out.” They went over to Richard Chan’s tailor shop, and went in back to work out. Ben was first. Trying his best moves, Ben saw that this newcomer could deftly blunt every attack. At that point, Ben was convinced this was his new teacher, and placed his seven students and himself under the tutelage of this newcomer, whose name was Kenneth Chung.

Ben trained with Ken up through 1973, when Ken returned to Hong Kong. Ken, while teaching this class in San Francisco, had also started a class at San Jose State at the invitation of the Chinese Cultural Committee. This was a group on campus who wished to show American people what Kung Fu was really about. Ken left Ben with the responsibility for this class and the South Bay area. He gave another pair of students the responsibility for the San Francisco area and one other student was in charge of the Oakland area.

In 1974, Steve and Sandi Wong started learning Wing Chun from Ben. In 1976, Ken introduced Ben to Leung Sheung, and they immediately became close friends. Up through 1977, Ben expanded his classes, teaching at San Jose State, his house, and in San Francisco.

Ben moved most of his classes to its current location in 1981. This is in the backyard of Steve Wong’s house. This has been the primary teaching location ever since. Ken and Ben continue to expand their Wing Chun knowledge, actively training together and discussing new insights.