I studied the Parker system pre death from someone who was very close to Ed; one of his disciples so to speak. But even then, after his death, this facility seemed to lose focus and eventually became what I felt was nothing more than a McDojo.
Some relevant info here: http://www.americankenpo.com/
You can find many instructors of Ed Parker's system on the internet. They are all over the country.
You might check out his most famous student: Jeff Speakman, who now has his own unique way of teaching what he learned from Ed Parker. Speakman;s videos can be found on the internet also.
Check out Youtube and type in Jeff Speakman: Kempo.
Ed Parkers Kenpo. I trained in the original Pasadean school before Mr. Parker died and had the opportunity to receive a private lesson from him. There are many instructors still actively teaching his system (if we base the system on the techniques). Yes, there has been a morphing of that system by subsequent students, which isn't necessarily bad. You might look on the website Kenpo Net for further references.
Johnny, you need to understand that after Ed Parker died the organization was split up. Many instructors went off and started their own way of doing things. When Parker was alive, it was easy to tell who was qualified and recognized by Parker's organization.now there are many guys claiming that they are this or that. some self promoted themselves. Some claim to teach what Parker taught but are in fact teaching something different. so my question is simply who is and who is not doing what Parker did???
Johnny, you need to understand that after Ed Parker died the organization was split up. Many instructors went off and started their own way of doing things. When Parker was alive, it was easy to tell who was qualified and recognized by Parker's organization.now there are many guys claiming that they are this or that. some self promoted themselves. Some claim to teach what Parker taught but are in fact teaching something different. so my question is simply who is and who is not doing what Parker did???
After Parker's death, American Kenpo turned to no more than a MCDOJO. Every student seem to establish their own school and teach a bit of karate, a bit of taekwondo, a bit of BJJ.
One good example is Jeff Speakman's Kenpo 5.0. How can you put a number after a karate name, if it originated from Okinawa? Is there a Kyokushin version 1, version 2, etc?
Kenpo 5.0 is a joke, it even copied BJJ moves to its arsenal and call it its own...