The History of the

New England Chinese Karate Federation

The historical information of the Chinese Karate Federation (CKF) was verified through Mr. Lee Wedlake, the initial founder of the CKF.

This history of our group actually predates the founding of the CKF.

In the mid ‘60s through the early 70’s, Kenpo in New England consisted largely of a version of Kenpo Karate initially taught by Mr. George Pesare in Providence, RI. This version of Kenpo was in part composed of five “Kenpo Kata”, punch techniques, and Kenpo combinations. One of Mr. Pesare’s first Black Belt students was Mr. Nick Cerio, who opened his first Kenpo Karate school in the late ‘60s. One of Mr. Cerio’s first Black Belt students was Mr. Fred Villari, who took the Pesare-Cerio system of Kenpo and blanketed New England with franchised studios of self-defense. Until the early 1980’s most of the Kenpo Black Belts in New England stemmed from the Pesare-Cerio-Villari lineage.

Then in the early ‘80s several of these Kenpo Black Belts contacted Mr. Ed Parker, Founder of American Parker Kenpo, and became members of Mr. Parker’s International Kenpo Karate Association (IKKA). It should be noted that membership in the IKKA was open to any “Kenpo based” martial artist. It did not consist solely of Parker Kenpo students.

Through their association with the IKKA, several New England studio directors were given training tapes by Mr. Parker to begin learning the Parker Kenpo system, and then to convert their original system of Kenpo to Parker Kenpo. During this time of initial training and conversion Mr. Steve White, a Black Belt student in the Pesare-Cerio-Villari lineage, joined the group. After a period of training with these individuals and with the training tapes, Mr. White contacted Mr. Lee Wedlake, then of Chicago, IL, a 1st generation Black Belt student of Mr. Parker. He told Mr. Wedlake of the New England Kenpo group’s goal of learning the Parker Kenpo system, and Mr. Wedlake invited him to Chicago to learn the system directly from him. This began several years of traveling and training, during which Mr. White learned the complete Parker Kenpo system. Also during this time Mr. White brought Mr. Wedlake to New England to conduct seminars for studio directors to further enhance the state of Parker Kenpo in New England. Mr. White also brought Mr. Parker to his Manchester studio several times to provide his students with direct instruction from the Kenpo founder.

When Mr. Wedlake saw that Mr. White was well-grounded in the foundational aspects of Parker Kenpo, he referred Mr. White to Mr. Richard “Huk” Planas, also a 1st generation Black Belt student of Mr. Parker, for a thorough mechanical review of all the material. Mr. Planas was instrumental in the formation of the original Kenpo basics, forms, and techniques taught in the Ed Parker franchise studios, and was known as the “last word” in the mechanical basics and principles underlying these forms and techniques. Mr. White's training relationship with Mr. Planas lasted for 15 years. Through co-training with Mr. Planas and Mr. Wedlake, Mr. White obtained a full understanding of the mechanics, and underlying principles that Mr. Parker had intentionally placed in his system of Kenpo. Mr. Wedlake, impressed with Mr. White’s technical understanding of the system, asked Mr. Parker to make Mr. White the Technical Advisor for the New England Region of the IKKA. Mr. Parker assigned this position to Mr. White at a public gathering of New England Kenpoists in 1986. Then, in 1989 Mr. White became the first New England studio director to have students complete the IKKA requirements for promotion to 1st Degree Black Belt. That year, under the supervision of Mr. Parker, Mr. White promoted five students to the rank of 1st Degree Black Belt in the Parker Kenpo system.

Following Mr. Parker’s passing in December of 1990, the Kenpo community underwent many changes. An initial change was the Parker family’s reorganization of the IKKA. Some of Mr. Parker’s senior students, high ranking officials in Mr. Parker’s organization, were not given a voice in the restructured IKKA. This led to many of them leaving the IKKA to start their own Kenpo organizations, creating a splintering that is still felt in the Kenpo community today.

During this time, Mr. White decided to remain out of the political systems which were becoming mainstream in Kenpo to develop a sound curriculum that would bring a student from White Belt to advanced Black Belt. He sought assistance in this project from one of his 1st generation Black Belt students, Dr. Len Brassard. Dr. Brassard held a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology and had extensive experience teaching in universities in Mississippi, Arkansas, and Massachusetts. Using the academic model, as Mr. Parker did in the formulation of his original Kenpo concepts, Mr. White and Dr. Brassard began creating an entire system for teaching and learning the art of Parker Kenpo. Their first project was the development of an etiquette manual outlining proper martial arts behavior both inside and outside the training studio. As partial requirements for promotion to Black Belt, each Black Belt candidate was required to study this manual and pass a written test.

Their second project was the development of a teaching hierarchy with written manuals detailing the specific requirements for each stage. Three levels of teaching were chosen, with each level having three stages. Promotion from one teaching stage to another required specific classroom experience and passing a written exam based on the manual required for that stage. With several years of tweaking, Mr. White’s group was producing Instructors who were both skillful and knowledgeable in Parker Kenpo.

With the creation of a proficient teaching staff underway, Mr. White and Dr. Brassard then began detailing a day-by-day classroom curriculum for the study of Parker Kenpo. Their goal was to develop specific requirements for each rank in the Kenpo system. Within one year a classroom curriculum was developed leading to a Black Belt promotion. When students trained in this curriculum were preparing for Black Belt, Mr. White brought Mr. Wedlake to New England to observe the Black Belt exams and provide feedback on the students’ performance. Changes were made until the proficiency of the 1st Degree Black Belts became consistent.

Then in the mid ‘90s, with the urging of his senior students, Mr. Wedlake formed a nonpolitical association comprised of students in his martial arts lineage. He chose the name Chinese Karate Federation (CKF), and it originally consisted of groups in Florida, New England, and the Midwest. Mr. White was recognized as the Director of the New England Region of the CKF.

Unlike many of its political counterparts, the CKF did not collect dues from its member studios or students, nor did it issue rank. Rather, membership required a sincere commitment to train in the Parker Kenpo system under a qualified Instructor. To satisfy this requirement, a “qualified” Instructor had to be at least a 3rd Degree Black Belt who had also met the teaching requirements necessary to hold the title of Full Instructor. “Training” could only occur through a single systematic training curriculum developed by a qualified Instructor, and maintaining membership in the CKF required a certain number of training hours each year. Based on Mr. White’s suggestion, CKF members were given log books to track their training experiences.

As the CKF membership began to grow, Mr. Wedlake wanted to have the manuals and curriculum created by Mr. White & Dr. Brassard to become the standard for the CKF studios. In 1996, to show their appreciation for the work Mr. White and Dr. Brassard were doing in creating this standard Mr. Wedlake and Mr. Sean Kelley, along with other CKF studio directors, presented the two with specialty knives designed by master knife maker Gil Hibben. Mr. Hibben originally designed the 'Kenpo Knife' - also known as the 'Parker Knife' in 1968 for his Black Belt thesis on knife fighting using motion and concepts from the Kenpo system.

In 1998 Mr. Wedlake's priorities turned towards the development of his studio in Fort Meyers, Fl. Subsequently he chose to resign from the CKF. In his final letter to the CKF member studios he indicated a desire to see the CKF continue under the direction of Mr. White and Mr. Sean Kelley. While Mr. Kelley took over the reins of the Florida region of the CKF, Mr. White chose to continue the projects he started in the early ‘90s, the development of training methods for the professional Kenpo Instructor.

Mr. White has reorganized his New England group under the banner: “New England Chinese Karate Federation” and he continues to be a student and close personal friend of Mr. Wedlake; a friendship that has spanned almost 20 years. Along with Mr. Wedlake’s input, Mr. White has remained steadfast to the original philosophy of the CKF. That true growth in the Parker Kenpo system can only be achieved by a sincere commitment to further one’s skill and knowledge in a systematic training curriculum created and taught by a qualified Instructor. While Kenpo seminars and camps are a wonderful vehicle for exposing students to the many facets of American Parker Kenpo, they have not yet provided a systematic standardization of the Kenpo forms and techniques, from Delayed Sword thru Form #6, that a studio owner can introduce into the classroom.

The goal of the New England Chinese Karate Federation and this website is threefold: (1) to provide the professional Parker Kenpo Instructor with a thorough understanding of the mechanics and underlying principles contained in the Kenpo forms and techniques, (2) to provide day-by-day classroom curriculum from White Belt through 9th Degree Black Belt; curriculum that includes warm-up exercises, techniques and forms information, and drills designed to further develop a students Kenpo skill, and (3) to provide business management and marketing techniques to help Instructors operate professional and successful studios.

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The History of the

New England Chinese Karate Federation