At Chatham Dojo, Young Students Learn The Discipline Of Kempo

by Debra Lawless

            “Konnichiwa!” the six students in the Kempo karate practice demonstration at the Chatham Community Center shout in unison to a visitor to the karate dojo (hall). “Good afternoon!”

            The group is gearing up to demonstrate karate techniques to a Harwich Cub Scout troop in a couple of weeks. Sensei (teacher) Nancy Kew, a third degree black belt, leads the four boys and two girls, ages six to 14, through a routine involving complicated maneuvers with nunchucks, two sticks connected with a chain.

            “Horse stance,” Kew says, and the six instantly stand with legs to the sides, as if they were riding a horse. Next the group pairs up and begins a self-defense skit.

            “All right, you all know what you’re doing, but you got to put a little spirit in it,” Kew say. “Go, step, and punch.”

            “Hai!”

            Next the group practices cartwheels on a blue foam mat. And after that, the students cartwheel over Kew, who crouches on all fours on a mat.

            Yellow belt Colby Chasse of Harwich, 6, likes to break boards with his hand. As Kew holds a yellow board with a slit up the center, Chasse approaches and—snap!---breaks the board. It’s not as easy as it looks.

            Next, Christian Andersen, 6, of Eastham, breaks the board with his knee.

            Riley Chipman, 8, of Brewster, approaches the board. “Pretend it’s my head,” jokes her older brother Rory, 14. Riley breaks the board.

            As well as Riley and Rory, sister Maggie Chipman is here.

            “Karate reemphasizes everything we’re emphasizing as a family,” their mother, Barbara Chipman, says. “Responsibility, diligence, respect.”

            Barbara’s husband Russell studied judo in college, and a few years ago Barbara was looking for something to bring her son Rory “out of his shell a little bit.” Karate seemed to fit the bill, and that is how the Chipman family met Kew. Since then all three children and Barbara have clocked in years of Kew’s training.

            “Nancy always encourages people to do their best,” Barbara says. “Without dumbing down she’ll bring it to a child’s level. She makes it fun.”

            The class proper has four students: yellow belts Ryan Neiser of Chatham, Chasse and purple belts Andersen and Riley Chipman. Rory and Maggie Chipman, both green belts, depart with their mother after the demonstration practice. They’re heading to an advanced class in Orleans.

            This karate class begins like many others by reciting a creed in unison. “I will avoid anything that will reduce my physical and mental health,” the group shouts. “I will never be abusive or offensive.” Next the group kneels and meditates for a moment. Their foreheads touch the floor. The students rise to their feet with “hai!” and count, together, from one to 10 in Japanese. (Kew gives her new students a handbook of the Japanese terminology they’ll be using in class.)

            And next come a series of callisthenic muscle-stretching exercises.

            “The more you work on that stretch, the faster you’ll earn that patch,” Kew says. “Can you bring your head to your toes?”

            Yes, six- and eight-year-olds can.

            These four students began learning their moves back in November. Neiser and Chasse started out, as all beginners do, with white belts. They earned their yellow belts last month.

            Kew took up Shotokan karate in 1977, when she was a teenager growing up in Somerville. When she married and moved to Cape Cod, she put her karate on hold to raise two children. But then she came back to karate, this time in the Kempo discipline, an eclectic, Americanized version of karate. She earned her third degree black belt in 2005. Moving to the next rung will take her four years of training, she says.

            The first order of business now is a test for a white stripe, which signifies good form. One by one they go through the moves, a kind of complex choreography. Kew walks around, scrutinizing the group and praising them.

            At the end of class, the group works through a safety exercise. The children learn what to do when a stranger threatens.  “Our goal right now is to have that safe zone,” Kew says.

            “Stand back, you’re too close,” Riley Chipman shouts, her fists raised as Kew looms.

            “What happens if I reach out and I grab her?” Kew asks the three boys. “She’s going to stomp my foot and she’s going to run to safety.”

            Riley has learned her lessons well. Last month she earned her orange stripe for self-defense.

            “Most people think karate is go out there, kick them,” Barbara Chipman says. But through karate “you become more in control of yourself in a certain way so that people are intimidated. The way you handle yourself deters people who would harm you.”

            Kew knows, realistically, that life will offer these young students a lot of opportunities and they may leave karate.

            “I want them to love karate because they’re so young,” she says. “If they stop training they may find their way back to it. I want them to enjoy the journey.”

            Applications for those 6 and older to join the beginner’s class in the Chatham dojo are available in the community center. An adult class in Chatham for those ages 14 and older is now forming. For more information call Cape Kempo at 508-246-5867 or visit the website at www.CapeKempo.com.

2/21/08