One Tuesday night back in the late 1970’s I was working out at the school when a couple of Korean Stylists came in and spoke to my instructor (Dick Willett) about doing some sparring. Dick asked me to spar with these guys and I agreed as they seemed to be respectful. I believe that I had my fighting black belt at the time.

In our system, one could do an abbreviated test to wear a black belt early before the official test. The only problem with this strategy was one had to fight 10 black belts in a row and do ok against them to get the fighting black belt. I did it as I wanted to start fighting tournaments as a black belt early. I did later achieve my traditional black belt and beyond.

I fought the guy about my size and did well against him but the other big guy (I’m about 6 foot and this guy was about 6′ 4″) kept saying “Poor Form” as I was kicking his friend. You see I had been fighting lots of tournaments and had the timing down. The first guy I was fighting had some beautiful kicks but they were not connecting like mine were. You see I did not care about form at all… only if my kick or punch connected.

More about these fights later but in this post I will talk about kicking form versus substance and does it really matter? I mean what are the pros and cons of adhering to some long dead master’s view of how to throw a proper kick (no disrespect intended). I’ll finish my recollection of my fights that day in the late 70’s and the surprising (to them) outcome! Here is one video of some of the best karate kicks.

The two scenes I loved were the guy kicking the barrel and Van Damme doing that straight leg side kick! You see these kicks were done with very good form. They looked really cool but in a real fight would they work? With today’s MMA enlightened era – I would have to say any time you leave a kick hanging out there (and it did not take the guy out), you are risking a take down… kind of foolish to lock anything out… but again they looked cool.

First off good form means you execute the kick exactly they way it should be done the way it is taught. A side thrust kick done in kata many times locks out. While it is true doing the kick with good form is probably close to the most efficient way to deliver the most thrust for the least amount of effort; it also does not consider what the other guy is doing.

If you take into consideration substance or perhaps another word is the practicality or usability of the kick – often times you are not fighting a guy/guy in a side horse stance waiting for you to throw your best shot. No - your opponent is going to be moving around and be willing to take advantage of any mistakes in position or timing you might afford her. 

Lets consider you goal now… if you are testing for a belt – by all means do the kick the way you were taught. You need good form to pass the test. What if your goal is fitness? One argument might be to practice the kicks the way you would throw them in a fight because you will fight the way you train. But many people who have never taken martial arts lessons – have taken “kick boxing” at the local gym. What I am trying to say is these folks have no idea how to throw a kick if they are depending on the fitness kick boxing instructor to show them.

What is your goal is self defense or some type of fighting? Does form matter? Nope… the only criteria a fighter is held to is ‘did it work?’ I don’t mean that one should throw away all of ones traditional martial arts training but rather let it evolve in light of the new goal. Guys and gals today move around when they fight. They beg – borrow or steal whatever techniques work in the venue they are competing (or fighting in terms of self-defense)!

Do you remember boxing in the old days…. before they moved around in the right much? Boxing has evolved to today’s highly skilled fighters in the ring. Karate has made a similar transition but there is still a lot of old style fighters out there in schools that stress form. To me this is a lot like the karate tournaments where I used to compete. There for fighting  and forms competition. The form competitors looked very fluid, crisp and flawless in their execution of technique.  

Contrast the forms with the sparring competition. Fighter’s kicks looked sloppy but often times actually connected. If one tried to throw a good form kick – most of the time it would be telegraphed and not connect. The only thing that matters in fighting is if it works… how pretty it looks does not mean squat. Here is a old Keith Vitali vs Doug Smith video to demonstrate effective kicking.

Wow… Keith Vitali’s kicks did not really look sloppy to me as it is pure poetry when a kick lands but you can see what I mean they were all over the place – thrown from any position. That to me is the goal – actually connecting with a kick rather than throwing a good form kick that does not hit anything.

To finish my story – I sparred the big guy next all the while he was talking smack. Every inverted lunge punch or side kick I threw to his kidneys (in response to a high – fast kicking attack), he would growl ‘Poor Form!’ You can see how that might be irritating. I kept my cool as only cool heads can fight and if this guy actually connected with me – it would have been bad. You see my fighting weight back then was 165 and this guy was easily 220.

But in this guy’s defense, all of his kicks were very good form and hard kicks. I quickly realized that I would not be able to absorb any of them so since this guy was going hard – I went hard in my counters. I took no chances and fought a defensive – outside fight. I mean I fought from the outside and did not commit. As his attacks came at me, I would either side-step or back off and counter-strike to his kidneys with a inverted counter-punch or side-kick mostly right after his attack missed!

After about 10 minutes of this I called the match because he had not hit me and I was hitting him at will. His unfriendly banter and not ceased so by calling the match I was ready to take him out if he continued. But he and his friend still had minimal respect for our school and my instructor sat down them them and I and explained to them that form is good but connecting is more important in open tournaments. The guy admitted that I had one hell of an inverted counter punch and showed me his bruised kidney. We parted respecting each other but I hope I impressed on them the importance of substance over form.

I remember how often planes were hijacked to Cuba when I was young and thought that would be inconvenient to be diverted to Cuba like that. As I recall most of the time everyone was returned to the United States without harm (or at least that is my memory).

As you know today we are facing not only common criminals but a new breed of thugs called terrorists! Terrorists are not really new as one might argue the Trojan Horse in Homer’s Odyssey was a terrorist act but today men, women, children and pets (is nothing sacred?) strap on bombs to kill the maximum number of innocent people.

In this post I will attempt to show how some flight attendants are trying to counter some of this senseless violence by taking karate and self defense courses to protect passengers! I will also show some videos discussing this trend and the TSA crew member self defense course. I’ll round this out by highlighting how important it is for every day citizens to take part in their own safety so maybe some future attacks can be stopped and show a 9/11 video. Here is the recent story I saw in San Diego.

So this guy was a acting crazy and the flight attendant had to incapacitate him for every one’s safety. I think it was good she was trained in karate and took the initiative to learn some close quarter grappling. What if she was not trained in hand to hand combat? Would some of the passengers have come to her rescue? Do you think flight attendants should have special training made available to them? Watch this next video for some discourse.

I thought it was kind of interesting the question about mandatory training for flight attendants. If I was a non-violent person (and I am mostly) – I think I would feel safer knowing how to choke someone out if I had to rather than watch a bad situation happen.

I just don’t understand people that think nothing bad will ever  happen to them. I hope nothing bad will ever happen to me but as a father and a male in a quazi violent (at times) society I feel a responsibility to to learn a few moves (Ok I did that at age 12). But you get my drift… be realistic and even though your goal might not be winning the UFC championship, you should learn how to fight your way out of a paper bag! Ok off of my soap box. Here is a video of the Federal Air Marshal’s self defense course for flight crews.

Now I like that – straight forward training focused on keeping crew members (and passengers) safe! I also like that it was stressed that one should practice or the new skills will fade with time.

Some of the moves I liked are palms, elbows, hammer fists and knees but this was just a small sample of what they practiced. So are you with me and see the value of flight attendants learning self defense?

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I think the shoe bomber and Chrstmas bomber stories are evidence that lay folk CAN make a difference in an attack. I also think the more people (including flight crew) that know basic self defense – the better chance the flying public has in the event one of these vermin strike! Do you want to know how I really feel? (as an American – you can probably guess)

I remember that fateful day on September 11, 2001 (we had another attack that galvanized the American public at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941), as I was driving to work in San Diego. I heard on the radio that a jet had slammed into the World Trade Center in New York city. I called my wife (it was early in San Diego) and she turned on the TV. A while later a second tower was hit and then the Pentagon! Another plane crashed in Pennsylvania that day too. Those memories will forever haunt most Americans and for better or worse - they in effect woke up a sleeping giant! Here is a CNN news story of the first jet crash into the WTC. Never Forget and Learn Self-Defense!

I remember back to the days of Batman and Robin, watching the fight scenes and imagining myself fighting! I mean I learned a lot about good guys and bad guys and how to throw a punch (I thought).

After I was running a karate school I had a student that used to do stunt work over at the Big Oak Ranch park. I did not ever get into stunt work but I know it is very technical. The most I’ve done is karate demonstrations with a little choreographed fight scenes.

In this post I’ll explore a bit about how stunts are created and show a couple of stunts. I will also highlight some of the stunt work by Zoe Bell in the Kill Bell series. Here is one fight scene I found on youtube that has some out-takes at the end.

I like how she goes skipping off into the sunset after taking on the thugs at the playground. Chelsea seemed to do a good job selling the karate moves in this fight scene. I did not really like the sound effects with each strike but I think many stunts have these sounds.

Looking at the out takes it is easy to see how exact the timing of each move must be for it to look real. I would liken it to more traditional two person kata. To sell a fighting stunt – I think it should be believable. Ahh heck… in today’s movies we suspend disbelief anyway.

Here is another fight scene I found on youtube of fight scene.

This fight was more technical and flowed better. It still had the cheese sound effects but one might believe that Shawn and Craig could really fight that way. I grew up on some great martial arts flicks with highly technical greats such as Bruce Lee in the Green Hornet and his later movies such as Enter the Dragon.

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What I like to see in a movie as a fighter, is some great, believable, and very realistic fights! I liked the movie Fight Club not for the highly technical moves but rather because when guys got hit hard – they did not get up.

Here is some behind the scenes in one of my all time favorite fun martial arts flicks – the Kill Bill series. The main fight scene starts at about 4 minutes.

Now that you have seen some of the work that it takes to pull off a successful fight scene I hope you too think that stunt fights are fun! I’ll close with one of the bloodiest – fun fight scenes leading up to the snowy garden fight above for your entertainment pleasure.

Thousands of people the world over have studied various forms of Kenpo or Kempo Karate. I remember when I first started learning karate lessons from an actual instructor, he told me about some of the styles of Okinawan karate. Later when I started learning kenpo karate, I was told that there were Chinese, Japanese, Okinawan, and Hawaiian styles of Kenpo. Well let me tell you that I was confused then and while searching through the internet for kenpo history – I am still a little fuzzy.

In this post I will discuss the difficulty discerning history because of bias, poor records, frame of reference,  and other research challenges. I will also speak of Kempo/Kenpo’s recent history since James Mitose in Hawaii and the Hawaii Karate Museum’s online records. Here is a video of some of Kenpo’s early history including its spread from China, Okinawa, and Japan.

As you can see the beginnings of modern kenpo winded its way through the orient. Each country put its own special stamp on kenpo. I know little of the Chinese kenpo that migrated to Okinawa but according to this video, the Okinawans developed kenpo before allowing it to spread in the 20th century.

One point to keep in mind is each historian will differ slightly in what and when, so when you see a video like this – don’t take it all as gospel. There is just no way to completely verify everything. My point is karate may have very well spread in the 19th century without common knowledge.

Whenever karate made it to Japan, the Japanese in some cases combined karate with ju-jitsu schools to become the beginnings of what James Mitose learned from the Yoshida clan as a boy. Masayoshi Mitose (later James Mitose) reportedly learned kenpo from his grandfather, Master Sukuhei Yoshida. Professor James Mitose then moved back to Hawaii and started teaching Kosho Ryu Kempo/Kempo Ju Jitsu in 1942 (or earlier). But what was Kempo Ju-Jitsu?

The Yoshida clan were apparently samurai warriors for centuries and had some rudimentary fighting form that consisted of various schools of ju jitsu and some striking I believe. Whenever karate made it to Japan, the Japanese like the Okinawans before them, made karate their own. The result was Mitose taught the hybrid martial art called Kempo-Ju-Jitsu in Hawaii in the early 1940’s.

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I was happy to find on one blog that I read (Karate Thoughts Blog, by Charles C. Goodin), a link to the Hawaii Karate Museum! The website (to the museum) has old newspaper articles about contributing masters that brought karate to Hawaii. James Mitose is listed in both the newspaper (starting in 1941) and book links.

In Hawaii like Okinawa and Japan before, kenpo was improved and handed down to the next masters. Professor Mitose taught William Chow. A couple of Professor Chow’s notable students were Ed Parker (Kenpo Karate) and Adriano Emperado (Kajukenbo). Ed Parker brought Kenpo karate to the mainland and the Tracy brothers (Al and Jim) were among master Parker’s first black belts. The brothers open up a chain of Tracy’s Karate Schools.

My instructor, master Richard Willett was taught by Al Tracy and Ray Klingenburg. So now you know the lineage of Dick Willett’s American Kenpo Karate, and like other styles of karate – all descend from some common and some unique influences.

One trend I have noticed in kenpo lately is many styles are re-introducing jiu jitsu back into the martial art! I think this is as it should be as historically from Japan, jiu-jitsu has always been a part of Kenpo. Our association is incorporating some Brazilian jiu jitsu so soon there will be additional belt requirements to achieve kenpo rank.

While I was searching for information on the history of kenpo, I noticed that there were many kenpo trees and information that were incongruent! I also found the detractors that made counter arguments but did not offer a reasonable counter explanation.

I tend to view history as I do the news. Meaning I critically listen to all sources of a topic that interests me and then I extrapolate based on what I presently know – what I think the truth to be. Now the funny thing about my approach is my opinion on issues constantly update as I find out new salient facts of even the most recent events. So when looking into the history of styles of kung fu or karate, know that all of the information is not out there.

One  case in point is Hank Slomanski, who became the third highest ranking karateka in Japan after defeating all 119 of the best fighters in 1956 . Here is a “To Tell The Truth” video clip (below) with master Slomanski. The reason I bring this up is there is very little mention of this fact out there. One might conclude that no American in the 1950’s could beat the best Japanese of the day but I like Al Tracy’s take on this. He said that proves an angry 220 pound man could beat any angry 14o pound man. Up to that point many believed that size did not matter. Well fast forward to MMA today and no one would believe that size does not matter now!

Here is what I know about kenpo karate after researching for this post. Kenpo came to America by way of China, Okinawa, Japan, and Hawaii. Professor James Mitose is the one that introduced kenpo to Hawaii and taught Chow. Professor Chow taught Master Ed Parker and Ed Parker taught Master Al Tracy.

Kenpo was and still is one of the most dynamic of martial arts out there. As I stated in my thesis:

Kenpo Karate is one of many modern fighting systems that is evolving as times change. This innovative style of karate has enveloped many different types of fighting, from Jiu Jitsu to Kung Fu. As all styles are, Kenpo is actually a conglomeration of many different styles, using the best techniques from each. This is the reason Kenpo is so versatile, and flexible, it is constantly updated to be effective as antagonists try new methods of attack.

I hope this cursory look into the exciting history of kenpo karate has been interesting. You know I don’t think the history of karate is all that importaint as martial arts have evolved a lot from what they looked like in the old days. Not that what the old masters did would not work – quite the contrary but modern martial arts have and will continue to evolve and still be relavent into the 21 century.

It is with a heavy heart that I write this post about my long time friend, fellow fighter, and Kenpo Master, Frank Mafnas, who died last Tuesday. Frank lived most recently in Kansas City, MO. Here is Franks obituary.

Frank and I met in the mid-70’s at Tracy’s Karate School in San Diego. I believe Frank started at the Lemon Grove Tracy’s School. We were both blue or green belts at the time and I remember lots of tough fighters of the time used to spar after the Tuesday night group classes. Frank was a hard worker and willing to put in lots of extra work into sparring. I for one appreciated the sparring partner while we were honing our craft.

You see we were trying to play with the big boys on Thursday nights as well as get ready for Southern California tournaments. Frank had a great sense of humor and kept all of use motivated as well as keeping it real. You see Frank excelled at tournaments because he fought with all comers and really enjoyed the challenge of fighting the heavy weights like Lap Napoleon, Terry Crook, and John West. Here is an early picture of Frank apparently at a Joe Lewis seminar.

Todd McElhinney, Irving Hoffman, Joe Lewis, Dick Willett, Dave Hays, Frank Mafnas

Now truth be told, Frank did as much running as I did against the heavy weights but he learned how to score points and get the heck out of the way. In the late 70’s, early 80’s I believe – Frank Mafnas for a time was the 3rd rated light-weight black-belt fighter in the Southern California region.

There was a high degree of camaraderie with Dick Willett’s black belts and on many occasions I found myself fighting along side Frank. I trusted Frank as I did my right hand. One one such occasion at the sports arena, some promoters thought it would be cute to have body builders, boxers and karate in the same event.

In between boxing rounds the promoters introduced the current  full-contact welterweight champion of the world, Alvin Prouder. Soon Alvin was fighting boxers that were disrespecting him in the ring and the arena erupted into fighting! Frank, Dick Willett, Terry Crook and I (as well as a bunch of other black belts) came to our brother’s assistance and ended up fighting a mass of bikers.

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If you have ever seen those old Roman fighting scenes – this seemed to be like that minus most of the weapons. Frank and I rescued each other at different times, from pickles and after about five minutes the bikers started retreating fast.

Frank Mafnas was a Yodan (4th degree) Black Belt in Dick Willett’s American Kenpo Karate. A true master of our system. Frank has attended many functions including the first Gathering of Eagles in Las Vegas, Nevada in 2001 in this picture.

Left Back: Charlie, Rey Leal, Dave Hays, Al Tracy, Dick Willett, Robert “Foots” Sumler

Left Front: Calvin, Todd McElhinney, Frank Mafnas, Mike Roberts

Frank had many instructors that helped guide his path. Early on in Lemon Grove I believe it was Leonard Broach who ran that school. Later on Larry McCraw and Dick Willett taught Frank at the San Diego school. Frank’s main fighting coach and fellow fighter he (Frank) affectionately called “Dad,” was Terry Crook. I understand Frank was married to Terry’s sister for a time.

One fond memory I have of Frank was his family gatherings. I attended at least one. His ethnicity was Guamanian and boy let me tell you – you never went away from one of Frank’s family gatherings hungry! I was surprised because the family could pull out a ping-pong table out and it would be filled with food!

I do not know much of Frank’s family life but I understand he is survived by two daughters and a fiancee as well as other family. It pains me to consider this but 50 years old is too damn early to die. Frank’s family suffered a huge loss here and it would have been really nice for Frank to watch his daughters grow into middle age with their families. Here is a picture of Frank in a group photo.

This photo was borrowed from Rey Leal’s website here (I will past his caption).

Above are GrandMaster Dick Willett’s 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th generation Black Belts. I hope no one gets offended because I can’t remember everyone’s name. But here are a few names that I do remember in the picture above. Joyce Libert, Terry Crook, Kimko,Scott Richardson, John “Big T”, Turnage, Dave Hayes, Robert “Foots” Sumler, Dick Willett, Craig Swanson, Rey Leal, Cha Che Leal, Tony Crisotomo, Frank Mafnas, Doug Arcindino, Tidwale, Andy Selcer, “Breeze”, Patty Mcklintock, Fred Pablo, Orned “Chicken” Gabriel, Donna Malloy, Todd Mc Elhinney, John Tran, and one the first BlackBelts under Dick Willet bottom right, “Big Brother” Mike Roberts.

I saw Frank most recently at Dick Willett’s party following the Joe Lewis/Dean Lister seminar in 2008. As I live in San Diego and Frank (for some reason) lived in the mid-west, Kansas City, MO., he and I did not get together much anymore. Frank looked fit and trim from what I could tell and Dave Hays, who saw Frank over Christmas, said he still looked fit and trim.

Frank Mafnas received a couple of high honors in Kenpo Karate; he received the Lifetime Achievement Award from Dick Willett. This award is given to those who’s acheivements in American Kenpo Karate helped distinguish himself and his style. Frank competed in tournaments, taught the next generation how to become great fighters as well as was a loyal  friend/fighter as I have ever met.

Frank Mafnas also achieved a high honor in the Tracy’s organization of being inducted into the Kenpo International Hall of Fame as a Sustaining Member in 2007. Here is a picture from that event.

top:Robert Sumler, Dick Willett, Bob White, Mike Roberts, Dave Hays, Rey Leal. Bottom: Todd Mcilhenny, Frank Mafnas

Frank Mafnas was a 50 year-old-man who had achieved much in life but will be sorely missed. He was a friend, fighter, father, role model to those around him. When I heard someone died, I was shocked to hear it was Frank. To me he appeared to be the picture of health. He was still trim and seemed in as good shape as ever (I am working towards that but he seemingly never lost it).

I offer my sincere condolences to Frank Mafnas’s family and I hope that we all can learn from some of Frank’s sense of humor and his work ethic in the Martial Arts. I hope you have some idea of my perspective of Frank and why I believe the world has lost a truly great man in Frank Mafnas!