My wife, Gwynne, and I had children young, 3 right in a row: boy, girl, boy. Our dream car was a minivan, and we were so happy when the neighbors sold us their old one for their kids to ride around to soccer-mom activities. Gwynne took great pleasure in taxiing a gaggle of rambunctious kids, including the 4 neighbors who were the same age, from practice to practice. There was t-ball, gymnastics & cub scouts; you name it, they did it. My oldest son, Heath, was particularly fond of his martial arts class, and long after all the other activities died out, and he could drive himself, he still dutifully attended his Kajukembo class.
Kajukenbo is a hybrid martial art from Hawaii. It was founded in 1947 on Oahu by 5 martial artists, each with a different specialty; in fact, the name is derived therefrom: “Ka” for karate, “ju” for judo/jujutsu, “ken” for kenpo, and “bo” for boxing. The training is a blend of striking, kicking, throwing, takedown, joint locks & weapons. It's practiced all over the world but is obscure. Notably, students are not required to mimic their instructor but instead are encouraged to develop their own styles after they become proficient. It was this last part that probably retained Heath's attention. He's competed in several competitions as a Black-Belt, notably a 2nd place in Portugal.
After over a decade getting his Black Belt, which Kajukenbo takes pride in it's difficulty to achieve, he taught at his original school for over a decade, receiving a second Black-Belt, or second degree, which gave him the authority to have students of his own, and be a sensei, or master martial artist. Without asking us because we weren't living in-country at the time, he turned the 3rd floor of our house into a dojo by taking down my circus poster collection, and putting up mirrors and insignia. There's a lot more mats too, plus gloves, swords, sticks & knives. Downstairs we can hear much thumping & pounding during sessions.
Heath trained two aspiring professional MMA fighters in kick-boxing, his specialty, and was the corner man at several fights; one of which included a spectacular round-house kick knockout in the first 10 seconds of the fight. Now he says he's too old to take that kind of punishment during training, but does have a stable of regular students who appreciate full-contact without too many bruises.
The first time one of his students advanced rank, Heath had me make the certificate. I had to search all over the Internet, plus scan one of his original award documents, to cobble the thing together because each school has a different symbol, and Heath's is one of the rarer ones; and now he has his own chop, which is also tattooed on his arm; his only tattoo, I'm happy to say.
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