Norman R. Rolando, 6th Degree Black Belt in the Ed Parker system of American Kenpo Karate, has been owner since 1992 of Champion Youth Programs, a Kenpo and personal safety program for children aged 6 to 18 offered through the public schools in Minnesota's Twin Cities.

Mr. Rolando was, he says, the "typical picked-on kid in school" in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan when he began studying martial arts at age 16. Unable to find a karate school or instructor, he collected Bruce Tegner's self-defense paperback series and raced on his bike to the bus station every month to be sure of getting one of two copies of Black Belt magazine ordered by his newsstand. He practiced what he learned on his brother, and in his senior year of high school had two "altercations" with the kids who had been picking on him, ending his bullying problem.

Mr. Rolando joined the Marines in 1967, studying Okinawan-style Shito Ryu karate while in the service. In 1969 he started college at California State University at Fullerton on the G.I. Bill, planning to become a science teacher, but also taking advantage of college clubs to learn a variety of styles including Sil Lum Kung Fu, Aikido, and fencing. In 1970 he encountered American Kenpo Karate for the first time in Anaheim, California, at an Ed Parker franchise school run by Fred Brewster and Tony Sartor. When the Parker franchises closed, Mr. Rolando continued to take studio and private lessons with Brewster and Sartor until 1978. During this period he also studied San Soo Kung Fu under Al Rubin and Lou Casamassa's Red Dragon style with Floyd Burke, while sparring and competing in tournaments in Orange County.

In 1979 he decided to go directly to Kenpo's source, and began driving every Saturday to Ed Parker's school in Pasadena to take advanced classes, first with Paul Girad and later with Mr. Yoshio J. Furuya. In 1982 he tested for first-degree black belt in Pasadena with Mr. Furuya. Ed Parker granted him his second degree black belt, and Mr. Furuya his subsequent promotions. Mr. Rolando helped Paul Girad work out the descriptions of Mr. Parker's technique extensions, and assisted with the editing and production of Mr. Parker's Infinite Insights series.

Wanting to return to the North to live, he came to the Twin Cities in early 1992 planning only to stay a week or so, but stayed to found a program that would compete against the strip-mall Tae Kwon Do franchises dominating local martial arts instruction. Mr. Rolando chose relatively easy and useful techniques from the Parker system to create a curriculum for Champion Youth Programs that would help teach children basic safety, self-defense, and self-discipline. Today his program employs 8 part-time instructors and reaches from 600 to 1,000 children each year in 18 metro and suburban Twin Cities schools--over 10,000 kids since the program began. Rolando also offers an adult class, and has graduated 6 adult black belts of his own.

More information on Champion Youth Programs is available at www.americankenpokarate.biz. Kenpo stylists interested in starting similar programs in their areas are welcome to contact Mr. Rolando at (763) 427-0208, or by e-mail at nrrolando@gmail.com