The Law of the Fist, Tolliver's School of Kenpo Karate comes to Whiteman

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Stephen Linch
  • 509th Bomb Wing Public Affairs
WHITEMAN AIR FORCE BASE, Mo. --  It has been said that the best defense is a good offense. 

While Sensei Tolliver respectfully agrees, he asks the question, "is it too much to ask for both?" 

With this in mind, about twenty members of Team Whiteman came to Tolliver's School of Kenpo Karate's first class Feb. 2, at the fitness center to experience Kenpo first hand. 

Kenpo is a Japanese term that translates to mean "Law of the Fist." 

For those interested in learning the Law of the Fist, Sensei Tolliver offers Kenpo classes Mondays and Wednesdays 5 - 6 p.m. at the fitness center for $8 a class. 

Kenpo is one of the most practical and effective self-defense arts in the martial arts, said Staff Sergeant Larry Tolliver, Kenpo Karate instructor and member of 509th Security Forces Squadron. It is a combination of fast striking hands and kicking strikes to overwhelm your opponent into submission or knock out. 

It is one of the most complex of the self-defense arts, he added. 

"Sensei Tolliver really breaks it down for you," said Senior Airman Cory Todd, a Kenpo student and member of the 509th Bomb Wing Public Affairs. "He teaches things that give you the upper hand in a conflict." 

"He teaches a no holds barred, street oriented self defense," Airman Todd added.
Sensei Tolliver has trained in Kenpo Karate, Shorin-Ryu Karate, Aikido, Kung-Fu, Escrima (stick fighting), Chin-Na, Ju-Jitsu, Japanese Sword (Iaido) and Judo and is a certified instructor under The Tracy International Studios of Self Defense and The American Kenpo Legacy Association. 

"I have thousands of hours teaching and training experience behind me since I started training in the martial arts." Sensei Tolliver said. 

He didn't do it overnight though, knowing from a young age that he wanted to study martial arts, Sensei Tolliver started training in 1994. 

"I have always wanted to train in the martial arts from the time I first watched "The Karate Kid" and "Bruce Lee's Enter the Dragon" when I was six years old," Sergeant Tolliver said. "I actually never heard of Kenpo when I started it. There was a demo going on at the local K-Mart where I'm from in Tennessee and what the students were doing was pretty amazing. After, the demo they had a raffle for four weeks of lessons, and I won, the rest is history." 

Since then he has competed in tournaments for more than nine years winning several state, national and world titles and has been featured in magazines such as Black Belt Magazine Buyers Guide 2007/2008, Kung-Fu Tai-Chi Magazine and Black Belt Magazine. 

As well as winning titles for himself, he has trained many others. 

"I have trained students that have won first place six out of the last seven tournaments we have competed in," he said. "I want to show students that martial arts training is fun, exciting and the rewards are life changing. Martial arts training builds an indomitable spirit within a person that they can apply to all aspects of their life."