The Development of the Elite-Fighters
System of Martial Arts

Normally, Eric and I do not like to get into talking about our backgrounds. Too many martial artists follow instructors because of who they knew and studied for. These wannabees place more value on pedigree over pedagogy, fantasy over fitness, tricks over training. We don't like to sound boastful because our background involved training and studying with some of the legends of martial arts. And we don't want others to do for us as they continue to do for Bruce Lee (like study Wing Chun because Bruce did, therefore they will be like Bruce if they follow his footsteps). However, because we continue to receive so many emails about our background and why we developed the Elite-Fighters system, we decided to post it on the web. In this installment, you will read Kevin Lamkin's perspective from the philosophical approach.

Eric and I have trained for many years in kenpo karate. I started in kenpo in 1973. Around 1978 I began teaching Eric as I prepared for my 1st degree black belt test. In 1984, I formally began teaching kenpo in my own club. I continued the same emphasis of training over belt progression. In the late 1980s, Eric and I open our first commercial school. What we started seeing was eye opening. The majority of martial artists that we would have contact with, had very little contact with reality or integrity. Everyone seemed to be jumping from school to school - trying a little this and that - never getting good at anything. Our commercial school had over 80 students in it, however, only about 6-8 would show regularly for training. Everyone seemed to want to attend private lessons only to obtain the next technique to get them closer to the next belt. It was rather disturbing for both of us. However, there are always the handful of serious students that make it all worthwhile.

Eric had an insatiable appetite for learning martial arts. He began expanding his training to arts outside of kenpo. This bothered me. I was afraid that he was falling into the "Bruce Lee Syndrome", where I have seen numerous students with high potential to burn out, trying a little of this and that. So, I challenged him that if he were going to do this, he better completely absorb the entire art that he studies, before he decides what to keep as useful and what is to be discarded. If you know Eric, when he is challenged, he succeeds. He quickly became excellent in skills of fencing, wrestling, the Filipino Arts, and others. In the early 1990s, he introduced wrestling shoes to my school - the best thing ever for indoor training! From then on, there would be no more cuts from toenails, and a huge increase in good hygiene in the school. Eric wanted to start teaching other arts in our class as 'electives', basically to hone own his skills. My normal reluctance for change challenged him again. I asked him, "What purpose would it serve the school to add these arts?" I thought that it would only confuse the students. Well, his 'electives' classes became a hit. Soon we had people coming from great distances, some up to 700 miles, for regular training. I then began noticing that Eric was doing some tactics that I had never seen before. He seemed to glow and say that most of the arts seem to get stuck in the beginning stages and never fully develop their own art. Eric seemed to have found bridges between self defense arts like kenpo to offensive sparring, kick boxing to grappling, stick fighting to ground fighting.

Eric developed bridges between all of these arts and made the new art to begin a maturation process. I then said, "Keep going, but don't give it away. Let's make this into a secret family art." So we did. We keep refining the skills of these arts throughout the 1990s until the present. In 2002, Eric said that the core material for the family system was near complete. What we needed was a name of the system and a belt ranking system.

I really mulled over these ideas for a long time. We are too modest to name it the Lamkin System of Martial Arts, even though others said we should. So I kept thinking of a name while I began training my 5 year old son. Eric also has two sons, a little too young to begin training. But we wanted to complete the system to pass it on through them. Eric then challenged me to come up with a ranking system that didn't just throw techniques and material together for the simple purpose of filling a belt curriculum. This was a hard task because we both agreed that we didn't want to teach a belt system to our kids and see them get spoiled on wanting the next rank higher like a kid wanting his next pokemon card. Too often we see kids running around in the malls and grocery stores wearing gis and black belts around their pudgy little tummies. So, coming up with a family ranking system that would keep our children motivated and yet kept to a high standard is difficult. (We have high standards - I have probably the world's longest brown belt holding student - 15 years and not yet a black belt! But he wants to do it right)

One day I playing with my son while thinking about the Dialogue between Duke Senior and Jacques in Shakespeare's "As You Like It." This is where Shakespeare wrote the famous, "All the world's a stage ..." near the end of Act II, Scene 7. He lists the Seven Stages of Man (infant, school boy, lover, soldier, justice, old man, and death)
(You should read the dialogue for good literary reference - Seven Stages)

I reflected how my son was no longer a toddler using baby talk, he's five now. He is no longer a crawler, cruiser, climber or anything babyfied. He's a young man, soon to be a school boy. That's when it made sense to me that the belt systems and levels that all of the martial arts keep using and repackaging are just like a bad mother who misses the 'baby stage', keeps babying her kid and not letting him grow up as he should. If my son crawled around all of the time and talked baby talk, I would think that maybe he is 'retarded'. If he didn't continue maturing as he has, I would have become concerned about his development.

But not so in martial arts. Most systems stunt the growth of the martial artist by:

• Forcing ancient customs and rituals that are foreign to the student and insignificant to the practicality of martial arts.
• Developing an "inner circle" or "good ol' boy" method system with the instructor in the center.
• Watering Down the requirements or curriculum to appease the belt chasers, just to keep high enrollment for the sole purpose of monetary gain.
  

We have also found instructors to stunt the student's growth by withholding information and by sending their students on wild goose chases. Usually these actions are done to keep the instructor above his students. And finally we have found students to purposefully becoming 'retarded' martial artists because they choose to jump from system to system, school to school or try to pierce the 'inner circle' just to get close to someone that they view as celebrity. Ed Parker spoke to me about how his association has turned out to be more of a fan club than the serious martial arts organization that it was originally formed to be.

Therefore, we decided that there would be no belt system. Each area of martial arts would be presented in its entirety. The core material of the system presented is presented here: Click Here.
We developed the material to be taught as a whole. Studies in teaching methods show that this method gives better clarity to the student and assists in memory retention.

Next, we developed a ranking structure that reflects how you grow in the martial arts. We chose not to use asian names and themes, as these seem to be overdone. Also, after the terrorist incidents on 9-11-01, we felt that it was time to remain who we are - Americans. As Americans of european decent, we decided to use western themes. We chose the ultimate western warrior prior to modern combat; hence, the Roman themes. Also, as a result of the attacks on America, we decided that the art should be offered, in full, to the American public.

Finally, we developed a ranking progression that would not be just another award to send someone one their way with, but a system that requires continual involvement in order to make any claims. The Ranking System allows you to develop into something that is significant in martial arts. First, you will be a defender. If you fully mature as a defender, you will be able to defend yourself from any grabbing attack. As a guardsman, you will be able to guard against any striking attack. The mature Enforcer will be able to extend outward and defend against any multiple attack. The Protector will be able to begin to protect and defend others. The Lancer will be adept with weapons. And finally, the Paladin will be able to champion any situation with valor. The way the system encapsulates itself, you will find that when you become the next highest rank, you also maintain the skills of the lower ranks - just as a growing boy who can run and climb still maintains the ability to crawl if he chooses, or needs to.

We chose the name Elite-Fighter System of Martial Arts because we are confident that out of those who trains and completes the system, there will be new legendary fighters to emerge.

Therefore, to go back to the example of my child maturing through various stages of development, the Elite-Fighters System of Martial Arts has also matured in the areas that we teach. We no longer keep crawling in the arts from whence we came, but now we run on higher plateaus. We no longer babble as little children dressed up in pajamas, but now we can reason how to combat your opponent. We are no longer an art that has remained stuck in its infancy, but we now give to you a mature -

Elite-Fighters System of Martial Arts.

If you are a martial artist that has been searching for meaning and direction in the arts, or if you are completely new to martial arts, looking for the right way to start without being sent down the wrong path, start today. Enter the Praetorium.

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