Always very interested in the Martial Arts I decided to take up a martial art in 1993, after doing other sports like baseball and basketball. I found an Action Kenpo Karate School in Utrecht, the Netherlands. Not sure what Kenpo Karate was I went over for a lesson and quite soon I was hooked and started taking more classes. There was a great atmosphere and intense training in the school. I received explanations on the how’s and what’s of the system, which led me to only train more, from 2 times to 4 times a week.

That time we had a lot of training on basics, the building blocks of the system, which still helps me to this day in my training and teaching. In 1998 I went to the European Championships for the first time. These were held in Athens, Greece. I had a great time over there and even won a price during the tournament. What I even found more interesting was to meet other instructors out of Kenpo or other martial arts, who came from other countries and to see the different ways in which you can learn and train. Whenever possible I went to the IKC in Europe, which led me to do my black belt test in Jersey in 2000. I tried to go to the European IKC’s each year for the seminars and the competition. A couple years before 2000 I started helping with the classes and eventually began teaching classes, which is a great learning experience. It is almost like the other half of the coin. You know the material, but explaining it to a student who moves differently was an eye opener. This is especially true when teaching beginners. As they are not yet influenced with the martial art and still have a lot of there own views and movements. Around 2009 I followed some classes at mr. Mills his school, where he showed me applications from the SL-4 system. This got me interested. He showed a different approach not only on the technique, but also on the attack. I try to travel to the UK if possible to receive more training from Mr. Mills.
Kenpo Karate is a good system when working with the hand and feet, however it only gives some information on the weapons side. This led me to start training in Escrima, which gave me new insights in how to work with the stick. I also started training on knife work.

After following different seminars here in Europe and the USA, I went to the BKKU camp for the first time in 2008 with my teacher Hans Hesselmann. We had a great time at the camp. There was a friendly atmosphere coupled with interesting seminars. Everybody was eager to learn and share his or her knowledge. This led me to come back each year, together with my partner Nadine. I really like the Kenpo system for its structure, the different ways you can apply the techniques and stay true to the principles, this combined with the forms and sets.

“Looking forward to the camp, meeting familiar and new faces. Let’s have fun and make it a great weekend!”