EXPLORE KENVIN FORM MARTIAL ARTS ACADEMY
The Art of Martial Arts
Our curriculum is a mixed martial arts (MMA) style curriculum based on traditional Tae Kwon Do (Kenvin Form), Aikido, Jiu Jitsu, and Aikijitsu.
We believe students should be competent in self-defense in any situation—standing, on the ground, or anywhere in between.
The core of our system is Kenvin Form Tae Kwon Do, a traditional, 1,600 year old style of Tae Kwon Do.
“Kenvin Form” refers to the traditional nine base forms, which date to 405 A.D. when they were formalized. These forms were practiced for 1600 years, predominantly by daoist monks in Korea. In the 1960’s, Master Richard Kenvin, then in the US Army, and having earned a black belt in Chung Do Kwan (one of the kwans, or styles, of Tae Kwon Do), was taken into the mountains by his instructor to meet these monks. He was accepted by them as a student and he spent the next two years learning and studying the forms from them. When asked what the monks called the system, they simply replied “What is, is.” When Master Kenvin returned to the US, he began teaching the forms system, giving it the name “Kenvin Form” to give the forms an identity in western culture. Master Kenvin is certified by Kukkiwon, the World Taekwondo Federation (WTF) governing body in Korea, as a Master Instructor, and the Kenvin Form system is recognized as a kwan, or style, by Kukkiwon.
Master Kenvin has taught over 3500 students in over 40 years of teaching. He has been an AAU certified Tae Kwon Do coach at the state and Olympic level and has trained students for Olympic competition. Master Kenvin still resides in Pitman, NJ with his wife, Carol, a 4thdegree black belt.
Mr. Scott Hornung, 4th degree black belt, is the Chief Instructor in the Kenvin Form Martial Arts Academy. Mr. Hornung began his martial arts training in 1983, studying Aikido under Sensei Yukio Utada in the Yoshinkan style of Aikido in Philadelphia for over four years, as well as studying Aikijitsu, Jiu Jitsu, and Hapkido. Mr. Hornung continued his training and practice of those arts until 1996 when he began training with Master Kenvin in New Jersey. Mr. Hornung earned his 1stdegree black belt in 1997, a 2nd degree black belt in 1998 and becoming a full instructor, 3rddegree black belt in 2003, and 4th degree black belt in 2008. Mr. Hornung began teaching students of his own in 1998 and after relocating to New Hampshire, opened the Kenvin Form Martial Arts Academy in 2000. Mr. Hornung then moved with his family to Georgetown, Texas in 2015 and is opening a new academy in that area. The New Hampshire academy continues to operate under the direction of Mr. Brian Curtis, Head Instructor.
“Tae Kwon Do” – The term means “Way of Foot and Fist”. It is a generic term, like “karate”. There are believed to be several hundred kwans or styles of what we now call “Tae Kwon Do”. The term “Tae Kwon Do” was formalized in the 1950’s by General Choi in Korea, who sought to bring unity to the Korean martial arts so that they could be nationalized and promoted throughout the world. For many years, Tae Kwon Do enjoyed top popularity among martial arts in the world and still remains widely popular today. It is important to note that there isn’t one style of Tae Kwon Do or one style of Karate or one style of Kung Fu. There are many styles and variations.
We teach a mixed martial arts (MMA) curriculum. Though the Kenvin Form traditional Tae Kwon Do system is the foundation of our system, we recognize and believe that to properly defend and protect oneself and our loved ones, we must be capable in all phases of personal defense—standing, clinch/contact and on the ground. We therefore train in each of these areas. Our system includes many components, principles and techniques from Aikido, Jiu Jitsu and Aikijitsu; these arts are Japanese arts which all originated from classic Jiu Jitsu, and which are based on controlling, throwing, redirecting, sweeping and/or submitting an opponent. Students therefore learn many throws, sweeps, takedowns, joint locks, and chokes, and they learn to apply these from any position, whether standing or on the ground.
Self-defense is taught in terms of “principles”. Learning principles and applying them to self-defense, we believe, is a superior way to learn self-defense, as compared to learning by applying a specific technique to a specific attack. Real fights are unpredictable and it is therefore our belief that by learning principles, any number of techniques or adjustments can be made in a given situation. If a technique doesn’t work, we try to adjust it according to the principle or abandon it in favor of another principle.
We seek to avoid and escape violent or potentially violent situations. We seek to obey the laws of the state but abide by our rights defined in the Constitution when applying force to stop a perceived or real threat of violence.
We do not compete in tournaments. We value sport oriented training and tournaments, but our approach is based on cooperation to perfect techniques. We also train in free fighting, which is an MMA-based approach to fighting and not appropriate for participation in Tae Kwon Do or Karate tournaments. We train to fight in standing positions, we train to grapple and we train in ground fighting, and we learn to move between these with equal ability so that we are well-rounded in all aspects of personal defense.
Weapons are used for training purposes only until black belt rank. At black belt rank, students learn to use the nunchaku, staff, hanbo (short staff), tanto (dagger/knife), ken (sword) as defensive weapons. New students do not need to purchase any weapons right away. Depending on state law, all minor age students may not be provided with martial arts weapons without parental or guardian consent. You will be required to complete and sign a Student Information Sheet to obtain consent prior to being provided any weapon).
We are a Christian ministry. We do not charge any fees to students for martial arts training or rank tests (other than Black Belt rank tests, in order to cover fees associated with obtaining embroidered belts, rank certificates, etc).