The subject line pretty much says it all. I am finally finished posting all of the techniques, forms and sets required to obtain your purple belt in Ed Parker’s American Kenpo. During the course of posting the requirements for this belt level, the amount of people following the site has grown dramatically. I went from a handful of unique visitors every couple of days (once you take out spiders, bots, search engines) to an average of 120 unique visitors per day. That is a huge jump for a site with a specialized topic and was designed to be a personal resource for myself and family. I hope it lives up to the expectations of those following the site.
While writing out all of the requirements and information surrounding this belt level I decided to lay things out a bit differently. Within techniques I simply rearranged a few things to make the flow of reading about a technique a little more consistent. With Coordination Set 1 I decided that instead of breaking it down into a step-by-step format, as I did with the techniques and previous forms/sets, that it may be better to leave these in written format. For starters the written format is more aesthetically pleasing when it comes to the forms/sets. The real reason however is that when you look at a technique, it is a series of basics and basic moves that make up the technique. Using Mr. Parker’s analogy the letters of the alphabet making up words and sentences. When you look at a set or form we are now talking an essay or short story of motion. There are so many basics occurring through out a single move that I think stepping it out could be overwhelming to some. It would be like me trying to tell you a story but spelling out every word instead of actually telling you the story.
Now I do recognize that some would prefer techniques in written format and some would prefer their forms/sets in step-by-step format. I am contemplating that once all is said and done adding the opposite formats along side. Essentially I would gt back to Coordination Set 1, as an example, and add a step-by-step version to it. Then by simply clicking a link another page would open up with the exact same set but broken down in individual steps. I am already at a point where I have no alternative (I have mild OCD) but to go back to the beginning and fix some things up. The amount of information provided with each technique has changed, the layouts have changed etc… I like things to be consistent.
Some time back I started receiving some inquiries about making donations to help maintain the site. I created a post called How To Help that specified there was no need for monetary help and that I would rather assistance in sharing the knowledge and the best way to help with that is to assist me in acquiring the materials with the knowledge to be shared. There is a wish list of sorts on that page that has some of the materials I am looking to acquire. They can be originals, copies, electronic copies, scanned images, page by page photos with a camera (as long as it is decent res and able to be read) or even originals that I would be allowed to borrow for approximately 1 week to make copies. (If it is a bound item, I will not destroy the binding. I will simply photo each page with a digital camera). I have only had one person who had some items to share and I am thankful. I was hoping there were more people out there with some of the older materials available. I am willing to pay for some of these items (as long as the price is reasonable), so please go over the page and if you if anything on the list or anything you think may be of interest, please contact me using the form on the Contact KenpoTech page.
As always I am always interested in any comments, criticisms, feedback, suggestions that you may have. Do not hesitate to contact me if you have any suggestions for the site. Also if you have any comments, information, criticisms of a technique, set or form or even a variation please share with others and leave a comment on that page.
