Tony Perez - Forest Lake, QLD - 0409 599 326

“Don’t concentrate on the finger or you will miss all the heavenly glory.”When Bruce Lee uttered those words in the movie “Enter the Dragon”, Tony never imagined they would guide him on a thirty seven year journey that ultimately would lead him to American Kenpo Karate.

Tony’s formal introduction to Kenpo was around 2002 but his future was determined one day in 1974 when he walked into his first martial arts lesson in Sydney, Australia. Leading the class that day was Australian Taekwondo pioneer Master Chong Chul Rhee. Tony was fourteen at the time and a high school friend had taken him along to watch a class. From that moment he was hooked. He couldn’t get home quick enough to plead with his parents to let him take lessons.

Over the next twenty eight years Tony had the distinct privilege of training with some of the very best martial artists of the modern era - legendary figures such as Tadashi Yamashita and Bill “Superfoot” Wallace, Chuck Norris, Kwang Sik Myung and Ernie Reyes.

He received his instructor certification and began teaching in 1984 and continued training with Taekwondo up until 1992 - albeit with a couple of different organisations – eventually earning a fourth degree black belt. Along the way he cross trained in other arts such as Wing Chun, Hapkido, Aikido and Goju Kai. These proved to be wonderful training grounds. Back then training was old school - hard! It was a case of get hit, get up or get out, but the lessons learned – both good and bad – helped to shape his beliefs about the martial arts.

It was Benny “The Jet” Urquidez and Tony Blauer that Tony credits with helping him to get on the path that was right for him. In the mid eighties, he became an advocate of Tony Blauer’s principles, concepts and theories on confrontational psychology and fear management as well as incorporating many of Benny Urquidez’s skills and drills into his schools program for around the next ten years.

The mid eighties also held another turning point for him. The Australian martial arts industry began advocating the need for the sport to become regulated. Instructors were encouraged to seek academic study in a bid to improve the professionalism of the industry. The times were changing and so he joined with other progressive martial arts instructors to study under the National Coaching Accreditation Scheme.

Tony had been aware of Ed. Parker and Kenpo through numerous articles in magazines such as Black Belt, Karate Illustrated and Official Karate and found similarities in what he had learned from Benny Urquidez and Tony Blauer. He believes this helped him to bridge the gap when he was introduced to Kenpo in 2002 by Tom Cullen.

Tony considers it as an honour and a privilege to have been able to spend time with several inspirational Kenpo instructors. He has learned much from notable figures such as Ed. Parker Jr. and Graham Lelliot; Jeff Speakman and Trever Sherman,  Ingmar Johannson and Steve Stewart amongst others. He thanks Tom Cullen for inspiring him to reach higher, to see more, know more, want more and do more. He is grateful to Lee Wedlake for teaching him not what to think, but how to think. Most importantly Tony has come to realize that a martial art without a code of conduct or philosophy is nothing more than just street fighting.

Tony won the 2008 Mission Australia Child Friendly Excellence Award for outstanding service to families with the Kenpo 4 Kids program.

September 2010 saw Tony successfully test for 4^th degree black belt in American Kenpo.

Many years ago Ed. Parker desired for Kenpo to be recognised as an academic endeavour. In Australia today, there is a vocational education and training (V.E.T) pathway available for martial arts instructors who wish to gain formal academic qualifications. This is recognised by our state and federal education bodies, as well as our sport and recreation departments. As a professional instructor, Tony holds a Diploma in Sports (Coaching) – Specialization: Martial Artsand is a nationally recognised Senior Coach of the Australian College of Sports Development (ACSD.)

Amongst other entitlements, this qualification provides him the opportunity to offer nationally recognised training for School Based Apprenticeships. As of March 2011, he is proud to have the first Year 10 high school student in Queensland studying for a Certificate II Sports (Coaching) – Specialization Martial Arts. This student, who has already been training with him for seven years, has had her school agree to her undertaking her Certificate II study during spare periods and Tony has employed her as a Trainee Coach the equivalent of one day (7.6 hours) per week.

Satisfactory completion of this course contributes to a student’s Year 12 QCE (graduation result) score. What a wonderful gift to be able to offer a young person just starting out on life’s journey – an educational qualification with the physical skills of Kenpo – the scholar and the warrior. As well, this provides the opportunity to be earning while learning.

Tony’s motivation to keep leaning and sharing Kenpo can be summed up in the words a student’s father sent him recently.

“As my son learns more in both theory and practice I am now sure that the life skills (tenacity, courage and generosity) as well as the social development he is learning will be something he will use for the rest of his life. Training for my son, whether it’s on the action-packed Monday night, the technique specific training of Friday night or the one-on-one instruction of Saturday morning, the result is always the same... a little guy that is buzzing from the knowledge that he is achieving something special.” D. Chadbone.

 Tony has achieved such a sense of fulfillment in Kenpo - it is indeed a paradigm for life and something he will treasure for the rest of his life.