| |||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
What is Rossi Kun TaoBy Ron Kosakowski
There has been a lot of politics over Rossi Kun Tao on
who is the now "leader of the pack" since Grand Master Joe Rossi's death
back in 1998. This happens with a lot of systems once the Master of a
certain system passes away and leaves a bunch of students with no where to
go. No where to go but toward power! Many of us have seen that before. There
are a few out there that are claiming to be the "inheritors" or "Grand
Masters" of the Rossi
Kun Tao System. Some of which do not know anything but a few techniques
in Kun Tao. They tend to blend it in with their existing martial art that
was going no where, or a style that was not giving them the fame they were
seeking. Kuntao, due to the content of the style, can easily make any
system a little better by having something within it that makes practical
sense. But on the other hand, that does not make it a Kun Tao system,
especially a Rossi Kun Tao system. The late Joe Rossi has taught many people
over the years. He taught them what he felt would fit them personally.
Toward the early to late 90's his health was failing badly. His knees were
going, he was getting a bad case of arthritis, he had a hard time driving so
people had to get things for him and drive him where he wanted to go. I know
this because I was driving him around a lot of the time. On top of all that,
he was slowly loosing his mind. He was getting a little forgetful among a
few other problems and he started handing out some ranks to people who
hardly trained in the system fully if at all. Which leaves us with
this...how could ANYONE who started training with him, especially in the
90's, be an inheritor of the Rossi Kun Tao System when he was to the point
of teaching nothing more than a few joint manipulation movements? Believe it
or not, there are people out there making that claim!
Now, back to the question...what is the Rossi Kun Tao
System? And here is the honest answer. Back around 1996, I had been working
hard to put together a good structured system of Mr. Rossi's Kun Tao that I
had been learning from him since the mid 70's. The reason being, as I said,
many out there were learning Kuntao but only had bits and pieces of it. I
saw this when there were gatherings of some of the students showing some of
the stuff they knew. I did not like what I saw because they were saying this
that and the other thing was a Kuntao technique they learned from Joe
Rossi. I talked to Mr. Rossi about that, so I had to put a halt of this
problem. And he agreed with me at the time, so, with the structure I came up
with, I also came up with a name for the system. I called it simply "The
Rossi Kun Tao System!" This was to name it after the man who brought it
here to the US. I worked with a student and a now friend by the name of Paul
Ledney who is also now a Pekiti Tirsia player. He was well versed in
computer graphics even back then. I drew out a design for a logo and he took
the name of Rossi Kun Tao and he put together a logo for me. I showed all
this to Joe Rossi and he loved it. Of course he would! It was just a start
in a way I planned on carrying on his legacy. I told Mr. Rossi that I wanted
to get everyone on the same page in his Kuntao if they were going to start
claiming they are Kuntaoists. He agreed! The original idea was for everyone
to get together and start learning a structure so it does not look like a
disorganized system with a blend of who knows what added to it.
Unfortunately just before all this could take place, Joe Rossi got very
sick. He started with getting around with just a walker, then not to long
after that, I got a phone call that he was not doing well. And I ended up
watching him die when I went to see what was wrong.
Of course right after that, I could see power plans
already being made. Claims to having Rossi Kun Tao "trademarked" and every
other BS thing you can think of including being told that they are the
inheritors of the system! Imagine being an inheritor without being told you
are the inheritor? There were people opening up schools all over the place
utilizing the Rossi Kun Tao name! I see their videos and some of the stuff
they do and all the intricate movements and footwork is not even part of
what they teach. How could these people sleep at night? Not even going
through what we had to go through in the old days of constant training and
drilling. Hours of footwork training going back and forth at the Rossi
Academy of martial arts. Not to mention getting an actual White, Purple,
Brown, then Black Belts...not jumping into some high level of Black belt!
So, the conclusion of what Rossi Kun Tao is...it is Grand
Master Joe Rossi's personal system! Bottom line! Again, I will say that he
taught many people and many have some legitimate technique and others do
not. Some are missing pieces of their technique not to mention the style
itself. Either way, they got pieces of Rossi Kun Tao. ONLY Joe Rossi
himself had Rossi Kun Tao. Having spent much more time than anyone out
there under Joe Rossi's teaching, I am the only one with the credentials
enough to have personally given the name Rossi Kun Tao to him and I did it
for a very good reason.
Now the question can be, how can you tell the difference
if it is real or not? A non-martial artist can go into any school and be
told that theirs is the best. I say know and understand the differences by
comparing. Check mine out and then check theirs out and make a comparison.
If you are not in our local area, look at these videos
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ltxzNkYJ47U&feature=related and
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kcwKu_UzwQk&NR=1. And if it does not
resemble what you see in those videos then it is not Rossi Kun Tao nor is it
Kuntao the way it is taught at the PSDTC!
The style taught at the PSDTC is the only system of Filipino
Kuntao recognized by the head of the Kuntao elders, Ali Sharief of the
Maranaw tribes in Mindanao Philippines. That speaks loud
for my style of Kuntao!
Rossi Kun Tao/Kuntao 847 Hamilton Ave (Rt 69). Waterbury, Connecticut 06706 203-596-9073 or 203-802-8533 info@psdtc.com |
|
|
