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KENPO GIRL

Dedicated to the enthusiastic martial artists in various systems, and how martial arts has affected our lives.

Social Dominance Theory in Martial Arts

5/15/2019

7 Comments

 

And then he was an 8th...

Recently, I had the honor of attending my Sifu JR Diaz’s promotion from 7th Degree Black belt to 8th Degree Black belt.  This was such a dignified and emotionally charged moment, that most of the attendees were left in tears and speechless.

Sifu Diaz has been a pivotal force in all of our lives; and I purposefully use the word force because he is a force of nature on and off the mat.  Over 40 years of a fully dedicated life to Kenpo Karate, Eskrima and his students, now personified in the 8 red stripes on his belt.
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My Sifu after being promoted to 8th Degree Black Belt in Kenpo Karate.
(Left) Grand Master Huk Planas, (Left/Center) Sifu Jesalyn Harper, (Right/Center) Sifu JR Diaz, (Right) Sifu Marty Zaninovich

I later asked my Sifu, if he had ever thought he would make it to 8th Degree Black when he first started?  
He smiled and told me,
“No, it never crossed my mind. I just wanted to do karate”.


​Some systems do not have a belt ranking to distinguish mastery.  However, no matter what system or style there is still a hierarchy established.   

​

A hierarchy is essentially defined as an organized group of individuals functioning in specific ranks.  Obviously the Instructor being the boss due to wisdom, time and experience. With all Martial Arts being military based, it’s natural to have some kind of system in place.


​But this aspect to Martial Arts goes psychologically deeper...

Back in 1999, 2 researchers came up with a theory called Social Dominance Theory.  This theory explains how a social group dictates who’s the boss and who is the subordinate.  Typically these dominant and subordinate roles are determined by gender, race, age, finances or other characteristics such as experience.

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Sifu Diaz back circa 1999

An example of this is a belt system.  A student in a belt system starts off as a white belt, as time goes on and they develop experience/knowledge, they slowly climb the ranks until they reach black belt.  Thus, the hierarchy is determined upon time and experience.

Sifu Diaz explains,
“It takes time, knowledge and active participation in the system to become properly seasoned for your next rank.  Its like sharpening a sword, if you don’t work and sharpen the blade, it will eventually become dull. It is the same for the martial artist, if you don’t challenge yourself you will become dull.”


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(Left) Grand Master Frank Trejo, (Center) Sifu JR Diaz, (Left) Grand Master Huk Planas

Sifu Diaz and I are part of the Parker/Planas lineage.  Sifu Diaz has studied Ed Parker American Kenpo through Grand Master Huk Planas for 37 years.  He has studied with Guro Ed Planas in Karboan Eskrima for 19 years, has trained with and been a close friend of Sifu Marty Zaninovich for over 40 years and was a dear friend and student of Frank Trejo from 2004 until his passing in 2018.

In our lineage of Kenpo Karate, there are not only study requirements to fulfil for promotions but time limitations.  For us, once we achieve black belt there is a mandatory 4-6 year term between promotions. I was recently promoted to 1st Degree Black belt; I will not promote to 2nd Degree for at least 4 years and that is if I meet all the other requirements.

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Sifu Jesalyn Harper getting kicked after First Black Promotion

These requirements set the standards to establish a pecking order.  Yet, these ranks or even titles in a system are not just about creating a dictatorship.  These positions come with the responsibility of guiding further generations in the exploration of the art without deteriorating it.  
I have heard my instructor recite time and time again,
“We don’t want people running amok!”
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Sifu JR Diaz "running amok" with student's at True Lineage Kenpo Karate in Toledo, Oregon.

To be more specific, he explains,
“There needs to be a ranking system or a pecking order to ensure that everyone is following guidelines,rules and principles for that system, for any system.  When a system is established and proven, someone needs to make sure lower students don’t change the material.”
​

The truth is, when we reach an expert level in our martial arts, we are really starting the system all over again. ​

Everyone recognizes Shodan as a first degree black belt title, the literal meaning is beginner.  This title is crucial for the growth of any expert level student.

Sifu Diaz explains the dynamics of a Shodan,
“We don’t have to worry about that pressure a student takes upon themselves as they grow through the art to reach black belt.  As a black belt you can now focus more clearly and clean up your techniques, forms and general knowledge.”


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Seminar with (Left) Grand Master Huk Planas, (Left/Center) Grand Master Ed Parker, (Right/Center) Sifu David Perez, (Right) Sifu JR Diaz

It is this philosophy that works as a Checks and Balances System for the Social Dominance Theory.  As “baby black belts” we are experts, but we still have so much more to learn. It takes advanced Instructors knowledge and patience to guide their students through it.
​

This guidance not only causes an advanced student to acknowledge their strengths and their  weaknesses, but in turn allows the student to grow and reach a true level of mastery.

While it is so important at any rank to continue our studies, it is also just as equally important to contribute that study and knowledge to the future generations.  By passing the knowledge on in turn, we are subconsciously contributing to the application of the Social Dominance Theory.

Therefore, the Social Dominance Theory in Martial Arts is not only determined on what belt you are wearing, but how much knowledge you are dedicating to the future of the art.  If you want to take this topic even deeper on a spiritual level, its judged by how many student’s lives you have literally touched.
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Grand Master Frank Trejo touching student Josh Valdes' life.

The late Grand Master Frank Trejo is known for the Ghost Patch in Kenpo.  For those that are not familiar with its story; the patch was designed by Sifu Trejo in memory of the late Grand Master Ed Parker. Sifu Trejo would not allow anyone to wear the patch if they had not trained with him…
more specifically in his words,
“I have to lay hands on them.”

​I never understood the full significance of this until his passing.  The logic wasn’t to ensure more students or more money; it was to leave a piece of him behind in that student.
​

The “touch” is nothing more than a spiritual thumb print left behind on our souls.

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The "finger prints" on my soul.
First row: (Left) Grand Master Frank Trejo, (Center) Grand Master Huk Planas, (Right) Sifu JR Diaz.  Second row: (Left) Sifu Marty Zaninovich, (Right) Sifu Jesalyn Harper


​We can analyze every aspect of the Martial Arts Systems and say they apply to Social Dominance Theory or some other psychological phenomenon, but the truth is the passing on of knowledge from one generation to the next is more deeper and more spiritual than any Doctor of Psychology can define.
​

I, as a student, am proud of my accumulated fingertip smudges all over my soul and I am proud to leave touch and smudge my prints on future students.

7 Comments

My weekend with Grandmaster Frank Trejo...

6/9/2016

11 Comments

 

​I have been struggling with ambivalent feelings about my position at the Dojo...

​The confusion of being involved with the business aspect, helping teach students but being a green belt and not viewed as an instructor leaves me in between a rock and a hard spot.  Our head instructor, JR Diaz (7th Degree Black Belt) has always said that a dojo is like a puzzle and every student is a piece that makes the puzzle whole.  Perhaps the reason for my mixed emotions is because my piece to the puzzle is shifting. 

Either way, I was feeling off and an upcoming seminar was just what I needed.  Our Dojo had the honor of hosting three majorly iconic figures in our system: Grandmaster Huk Planas (10th Degree Black Belt), Sifu Marty Zaninovich (9th Degree Black Belt), and Grandmaster Frank Trejo (10th Degree Black Belt).

Grandmaster Trejo had to be picked up due to previous health issues from Diabetes; where his legs, left hand and part of his right hand had been amputated.  He had insisted he was ready for some wheelchair Kenpo.  My Sifu told me he didn’t have a ride for Grandmaster.  Knowing my Sifu was stressing, I immediately volunteered for the task, taking the stress upon myself.

​I had never met this man but knew he was a legend.

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  The entire 3 ½ hour drive to LA I fretted the what if’s.  What if I insult this man?  What if he was insulted a green belt and not a black belt was there to pick him up?  3 hours is a long time to come up with a lot of what ifs...

Worrying was clearly a waste of energy.

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​Grandmaster Trejo was warm, welcoming and excited to tell his old fight stories and different theories on Kenpo. He immediately told me, “When you’re out there and you’re trying to perfect your craft, you’re learning to fool the other guy. You’re a magician doing magic.  Leave them asking, ‘How did he do that?’  It’s magic.”
​

​He also told me about how he became involved in Kenpo and became an instructor...

​“My mom saw an ad in the newspaper.  It said ‘Wanted Karate Instructor: no experience needed.  $700.00 a month.  That was a lot of money back then and I was already into karate.  I put my brother in first doing Shotokan.  I was excited and I’d tell him show me what you learned so I could learn.  When I started with Kenpo there was a bunch of us but there was only a couple of us that stook with it.  They would try to make you quit.  Huk Planas and Steve Herring were my first teachers.  Steve Herring taught me but Huk Planas taught me how to be an instructor.  I was teaching when I was just a yellow belt.”
​

I secretly loved hearing his stories of teaching as a lower ranked student.  

When we got to the Dojo, so many students were elated to see him and it was an emotional reunion between him and Grandmaster Planas.  In all the commotion of greetings and photos, I found an appreciation that I had been allowed so much time one on one with him.
​
For his class we pushed his wheel chair out onto the mat.  He started with a few stories, opening with a few Rodney Dangerfield jokes he had practiced in the car with me.  Watching him run a class in his condition was nothing short of remarkable.  He grabbed a few students to help demonstrate the drill we would be working on.  It was awesome watching him demonstrate accurately the drill despite his handicaps.  He had students working on a sticky hands Huba exercise that had the students working on free movement and feeling where blocks and strikes should go, instead of being told were to insert them.  The student’s enjoyed it and it was clear the class was a success.  
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When we were driving back to the hotel for Sifu Trejo to relax before Dinner...

He started apologizing for leaving early because some students where still visiting when we had left.  I wasn’t worried about it.  I was still chewing over what he had said about being a yellow belt and being an instructor. The Dojo dynamics were trying at times being a green belt and trying to be an instructor let alone doing it as a yellow belt.

When he asked what was wrong, I didn’t know how to tell him that I was feeling the edges of my puzzle piece shifting, wanting to be an instructor but that the Dojo was trying to force me to fit in my old gap.  I tried explaining, “I’ve been struggling with where I belong in the Dojo.  I help on the mat teaching but I am not viewed as an instructor because I’m out ranked by so many.  I don’t know what to do.”

​He nodded and told me another story, 

“When I was 18 and I was an orange belt with Steve Herring a guy came into the Dojo one night high on PCP.  We had a few students on the mat in different belts, some higher rank than me.  He came in looking for Steve and ended up attacking me.  Well I’m trying to fight him and it wasn’t working because he’s high on PCP.  Well Steve came out and he starts fighting the guy.  He picked Steve up over his head to throw him…”

 “We had a pool stick we used as a club.  I grabbed the pool stick and I’m hitting him in the ribs with the stick. When he wouldn’t drop him I started hitting him in the legs.  He finally dropped my instructor and I remember him standing in the door.  He salutes us and says ‘I’m coming back to kill you,’ and he takes off.  Well we chase him outside and start fighting again, trying to hold him down till the police could get there and arrest him.”

I was horrified, “What about the other students?  Did they help?”
​

He turned and looked at me with a stone cold face and said, “No and some of them out ranked me.  They just stood and watched.”

He didn’t say anything for a little bit.  I think he was giving the story a chance to sink in but I said, “I can’t wrap my head around that.”

 He told me, “The rank doesn’t matter. I fought for instructor.  I did it for my school.  That’s what matters.”
​
I realized I had lost sight of why I do karate.  It’s not about obtaining a black belt.  A black belt is merely a status symbol that a student has met certain requirements.  It’s the student behind the belt that matters.  It’s the dedication to yourself, your instructor and your Dojo that counts.

​When it was time for Grandmaster Trejo to go home he gifted me with a new gi with his patch and he told me the story and meaning of his patch.

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“When Grandmaster Parker died,
​I wanted to make a patch that was like the black armbands you wear when in mourning.  So I made the Ghost patch and I only had 10 of them made for the 10 instructors he left behind.  Well as time went on they each began to make their own patch and said this should be mine.  I left it grey with no colors because when Grandmaster Parker died the color in Kenpo left. 
​
It’s up to us to bring the color back.”
​

I know there’s no crying in Karate, but I cried a little.

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​There isn’t a truer statement.  It falls on us to continue our systems and bring the life into them.  Its up to us to remember that a yellow belt, purple belt or even a green belt is just as important as a black belt.  That is why the patches are in color, because one day that yellow belt will be a black belt.  We are all needed, because we are all one piece to the puzzle.
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11 Comments

    Jesalyn Mae Harper

    Hello my name is Jesalyn.  I'm a divorced single mom and a karate addict...
    I am currently a 1st Brown belt in American Kenpo and a Junior Instructor at Double Dragon Kenpo Karate under JR Diaz, I am part of the Parker/Planas Lineage and study Karbaroan Eskrima with JR Diaz, under Guro Ed Planas

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