Saturday, December 4, 2010

My Family Tree of Black Belts

This January will mark 16 years straight of running my Kenpo Karate school here in London, Ontario. We have changed locations a few times, but have happily found our home at the Berkshire Club, at 500 Berkshire Drive, over the past several years. In addition, this January will mark my 26th year of training in the art of Kenpo Karate. Our school has never been stronger, thanks to the help of God, my wife, my black belt and brown belt assistants, and of course, my dedicated students.

In case some are unaware, there is a valuable resource on the internet which keeps track of all the students I have ever promoted to black belt. It can be found here:

http://www.kenponet.com/flame/tree/s/jamie_seabrook.html

As can be seen, I have promoted 21 students to black belt level over the course of almost 16 years. Of the 21, the following 6 black belts continue to train with me to this day: Craig Cote (3rd Degree Black Belt), John McDonald (2nd Degree Black Belt), Matt Trejo (3rd Degree Black Belt), Alexa Vreman (2nd Degree Black Belt), Ryan Welsh (1st Degree Black Belt), and Evan Wiley (3rd Degree Black Belt). I have also recently welcomed 3 other black belts from different schools that have joined my school over the past month, all of whom may eventually test for black belt level and higher in American Kenpo.

Just over 2 years ago, I made a change in my lineage and decided to follow the direction of the Chinese Karate Federation (CKF) under the tutelage of CKF President, Sean P. Kelley. In addition to his tremendous knowledge of the Kenpo Karate system, Mr. Kelley is a strong leader, and someone in whom I have developed a very close friendship. Unlike many Kenpo organizations, in the CKF the focus is not on one person, but rather the gathering or alliance of some of the best Kenpo Karate practitioners and martial artists on the globe. Moreover, the CKF is about refining and evolving our skills in ways that move beyond the academic stage of training into the more combative realm. Too many black belts today think they “have arrived” upon obtaining a black belt. The reality is that one’s training is just beginning.