challenge

The Capitol Tournament Returns!

Potomac Kempo recently hosted its first tournament in three years. Through the worst of the pandemic, our instructors continued to teach in whatever capacity they could, sometimes virtually, sometimes distanced or outside, and often masked. Our annual tournament, however, had to wait. An event of this kind can only be accomplished in person and with a crowd of excited spectators. So, given the long wait, it was a thrill to be able to bring its tournament back with full energy!

Throughout November 6th, nearly two hundred competitors and double that in spectators descended on the Embassy Suites, Springfield. The room was packed, and the excitement was engaging. With five different age brackets from young children through mature adults and rank divisions from white belt through second-degree black belt, there were many proud victors.

With our next tournament tentatively scheduled for May of 2023, our instructors are already beginning the early work of preparing their students to compete and win.

Huge congratulations to the winners of the Tournament Cup—Sensei Geof and the whole Huntington dojo!

And endless gratitude to the judges who make the whole event possible!

Three Awarded Fourth Degree Black Belts at Potomac Kempo

Potomac Kempo - Santillo Simpson Gibbs Jelsma - Fourth Degree Black Belt

Sometimes the best amongst us are the humblest, which is certainly the case with these exemplary martial artists.

For many people, the practice of martial arts is a strange—possibly intimidating—concept. People often wonder what happens in a ‘dojo’ with unfortunate misconceptions often perpetuated by movies and television. But the martial arts, and specifically the art of Kempo, which we choose to practice, is not strange or mysterious. It is an ancient self-improvement practice with fitness training and self-defense fitted in to fill out the edges.

In life, we often find that our greatest adversary is ourselves, as we all too often stand in our own way—sometimes going so far as to sabotage ourselves actively. But in Kempo, we work to overcome these traits by developing and utilizing methods that work in the studio and as well as in other aspects of life. By doing so, we work to create well-rounded, successful, and healthy lives.

In this spirit, we wish to acknowledge the accomplishment of three of our most esteemed students. In December 2021, Kevin Simpson, Jon Jelsma, and Geof Gibbs earned their Fourth Degree Black Belts in the Art of Kempo. They are the first students to reach this level in Potomac Kempo’s seventeen-year history, representing less than one-tenth of one percent of our students.

These gentlemen have practiced the martial arts for an average of twenty years, teaching as well as training, and have studied multiple arts.

In addition to his Kempo practice, Kevin Simpson has studied Ninjutsu, Hapkido, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, and Army Combatives, in which he is a Level 2 Certified Instructor. He is a Sergeant First Class in the US Army Band, and he volunteers to teach both Kempo classes and grappling basics.

Before practicing Kempo, Jon Jelsma studied Tae Kwon Do, Shorin Ryu Karate, and Fencing. Amidst his Kempo practice, he has also studied Jeet Kun Do, Pekiti Tirsia Kali, Inosanto Academy Kali, and Kosho Ryu Kempo. He is a patent examiner for the US Patent and Trademark Office and volunteers to teach Kempo and Kali classes throughout the week.

Geof Gibbs began his martial arts practice with Kempo and has since come to supplement it with the study of Kali and Kosho Shorei Ryu. Having left a former life as a computer scientist, he is now a career instructor, acting as our Senior Staff Trainer and the Chief Instructor of our Huntington Metro studio location in Alexandria, Virginia. In addition to teaching Kempo, he leads our Kosho Club. Consistent with our relatively new tradition of passing on belts, Geof was presented with my own Fourth Degree Black Belt that I wore when I was that rank.

We are honored by their accomplishments and are proud to have them as part of the Potomac Kempo team. It is rightly said that “You are only as good as the people you train with,” and these exemplary practitioners are an asset to all of Potomac Kempo. Their work is a testament to lifetimes of dedication, learning, and growth.

One final thought:

As I sat on the floor of an empty studio presenting belts to three very sweaty persons, I searched for words to capture the moment, for praise that would not seem redundant or superfluous. My mind circled twice, and I settled back on humility. I have known these men for decades; we have spent more hours training together than I could begin to count. They are my most accomplished students, yet they may also be my most humble students. And I don’t think that is an accident or coincidence. In martial arts, we tell the story of a student whose cup is so full it will not hold any more tea. Through all of these years, Kevin, Jon, and Geof have all managed to keep an empty cup, space to learn, never believing that they have learned it all.

I wish them a lifetime of continued success and health.

Chris Santillo, Sensei
Potomac Kempo
Founder, Headmaster
Godan, Shihan, Master, Guru

Many Paths Up the Mountain

There are many paths up the mountain.

That is what we say when discussing other arts, all of the different ways people seek the benefits of Kempo training. All of these other arenas to which people go to challenge themselves to become healthier, happier, and better.

But when standing at 13,500 and staring at the miles forward and thousands of feet of elevation left to go. Well, then there is only one path up the mountain, the one under your feet. The one you have been walking since you started in the pre-dawn. It’s the only path that will take you to the summit amidst the wind and the rain. Periodically the sun tries to break through the clouds, but it is ever rebuffed. There will be no sun today. There will be no respite.

The plan was to summit.

The goal was never to “summit if the sun comes out and the weather is pleasant.” Nor was it to “summit if the trail is easy and we don’t feel overly tired.” It was simply to summit if possible.

And it’s not as if we didn’t prepare. Two weeks earlier, at a similar altitude, three of our party were stopped and unable to continue. Two were physically ill, vomiting by the side of the trail. The heights of the Andes Mountains had shown us their preeminence, and we had taken steps. This time we had arrived early, taken practice hikes, and became accustomed to the thin air.

Control the variables you can control and prepare as best you can.

That’s all any of us can do. And then face up to your challenge, even as it looms ahead of you and above you, casting a shadow at your feet.

But our preparation for climbing this volcano didn’t start last week or the one before. It began years ago in a dojo: when we tried to keep up with the green belt who could kick higher and faster than we could; at our yellow belt test, when we did more pushups than we thought possible. At all of our black belt tests when we kept going despite all of the reasons to stop.

We all encounter mountains every day. Sometimes they are literal mountains, but more often, they are personal and professional challenges that try to make us stumble; to force us back a step; that try to make us give up. And in those moments, we go back to our orange belt test when we tried harder than we thought we could; when we did one more pushup; when we stood tall as our body yearned to crumble.

Comfort is not the goal.

It’s not the goal of mountain climbing, and it is the goal of Kempo training. The goal is to force yourself to do more than you have done so you can become more than you were.

Our path has always been, and will always be Kempo.

It took us up that mountain, and I’m confident it will take us up the next, no matter where it is or what shape it takes.

Potomac Kempo - Many Paths Up the Mountain

What mountains has your Kempo training taken you up?

Challenge, Mentorship, and Growth

It has been correctly said that real growth occurs outside of our comfort zone. We all have a squishy area that we enjoy — a soft sofa or a comfortable routine — that we fall back on when life presents us with challenges. However, sofas and routines don’t allow us to grow and become more than we used to be. Moreover, in the absence of that growth life becomes dull, colorless, and we never live the potential that we possess.

The question then is how best to leave our comfort zone. Sometimes we do this alone; we get up in the morning, get dressed, put on our shoes, I walk out into the world in a way that we haven’t before — and accomplish things that we haven’t previously achieved. Sometimes, however, the step is — or at least feels — too big. For whatever we reason are unable to take that step ourselves without support. In those moments what we need more than anything else is a mentor.

We don’t know what we can do until we try to do something we can’t do. But that’s an uncomfortable feeling and one that we instinctively avoid. It’s also something that a good mentor — a good instructor — can help us through.

The mentoring model is simple: a mentor is someone who has already done what you are attempting to do, someone who has traversed the path already. They then must know you and be familiar with your capabilities, and then after careful and deliberate consideration, they conclude that you can succeed. So they look you in the eye, and they say, “you can do this.” You believe them, and so you do.

I might be speaking in generalities, as I so often do. However, in this instance, I’m talking about my friend, and mentor Master Chip Townsend. Last year he told me that I could break a baseball bat, I believed him, and I did. This year he told me I could break two baseball bats, I believed him, and I did. I’m terrified of what he’ll tell me I can do next year 🙂

All my respect and gratitude,
Chris Santillo, Shihan