Hi everybody, just wanted to greet everyone and mention a few things.
First is I'm not a Kajukenbo practitioner, though I have been
exposed to it and have a great deal of respect for the art and those
of you who are practitioners. A very good friend and teacher of mine
was Sifu Joe Clark in Naples Florida. We were friends for about 10
years and I studied with him for 3 years before he moved off to
Costa Rica where he unfortunately passed away. When I was training
with him he was teaching more of a J.K.D. type approach. And was
teaching in his garage with a group of about 6. He always spoke with
respect and fondness for his "Mother Art".
Over the last 4 years I have become friends with Sigung Ray Anderson
and his student Sifu Mike Kisielewski here in Ohio. Sifu "Ski" also
trains at the school I attend the Philippine Martial Arts Institute
under Punong Guro Tony Marcial.
The other main thing I wanted to bring up is a book called "A Bundle
of Sticks". It is based on a true story of a boy who is getting
picked on alot and his parents enroll him in a martial arts school.
The author is the boys Mother and the school was operated by my
friend/Sifu Joe Clark. The book has recently been rereleased and is
enjoying a nice comeback. It has been updated and unfortunately the
illustrations have changed some. The original depicted Sifu Clark as
he appeared "back in the day". Just thought if some of you haven't
heard of it you may want to look into it, it has a very good message
and the art the boy learns is Kajukenbo, so how can you go wrong....
It's a great book for younger people as well as us old timers.
Sorry if this went long just wanted to give some background. Train
hard and have fun.
Chris Willis