By Shawn Hogendorf, Staff Writer 

When Ron Gentolizo gets done with his nine-to-five job at GE Commercial Finance in Eden Prairie he trades in his dress slacks and shirt for a traditional martial arts uniform called a Gi and gets ready for class.

He clears out a space in the basement of his Prior Lake home and gets ready to teach a self-defense skill that may save one of his student’s lives one day.Black belt kenpo karate instructor
Ron Gentolizo demonstrates a
“sleeper hold” on Hoang Tran of
Savage. (Photos by Shawn
Hogendorf)

But this is no ordinary self-defense class. In fact, it’s the only class of its kind in Minnesota.

Gentolizo is a black belt instructor of American kenpo karate, which is one of the rarest, yet lethal disciplines of martial arts. American kenpo karate isn’t for sport. There are no competitions, no trophies and no rules. There isn’t a controlled environment and the training isn’t based on a one-on-one fight.

But then again, when a person faces an attacker in the real world, there is no such thing as a controlled environment.

“Kenpo karate is simply realistic self defense,” Gentolizo said.

What Gentolizo does in the one-hour class held every Monday and Wednesday evening, is prepares his students for a worst-case scenario.

Nothing is off limits. His students are prepared for anything. Gentolizo teaches his students several ways to attack the groin. He teaches his students how to maim an attacker, how take their eye sight away or deafen them permanently if the situation calls for it.

But he also teaches discipline and understanding of what the skills can and will do if implemented.

Kenpo Karate is about speed. It uses strategic transitory stances to generate power, surgical strikes to stun and maim combatants and mental control to make split-second decisions.

“We are no better than any other martial art,” Gentolizo said. “No martial art is better than any other. But for what we do, we’re better suited. For what they do, they’re better suited.”

The training

On this beautiful Wednesday evening, class is held outside, beneath a gazebo at a nearby park in the Brookmere Boulevard neighborhood.

As the mixed group of men and women make their way into the gazebo, they sweep the floor and move picnic tables out of the way. After their studio is set up, the class gathers for a briefing, a salute of honor and an hour of combat.

Although the course is literally hands on, safety is always at the forefront. Respect is taught. And one can’t help but notice the feeling of family between the classmates.

Gentolizo’s students come from a wide variety of backgrounds. Some are recently graduated Prior Lake High School students who want to learn self defense before heading off to college. Others are sisters who decided to take the class together to feel more secure. Another is a staff sergeant for the Minnesota National Guard. But regardless of their backgrounds, these students walk away from class with more confidence in every aspect of their lives.

“This class helps me develop self-defense techniques that save my life,” said Paul Gudding of Prior Lake, a 20-year staff sergeant in the Minnesota National Guard.

Gudding is gearing up to deploy to Iraq in January. He is a yellow belt in kenpo karate and has been one of Gentolizo’s students for the past two years.

“I’m looking at life and death situations in my profession,” Gudding said. “When I’m in Iraq, I don’t want to be bound up in front of a television saying a few words before my head gets cut off. This is probably the most effective tool I have seen to take someone out in seconds, move on, and get ready for another line of attackers. In my line of business, you’re not just getting one.”

But for Gudding, the club is more than just self defense.

“I learn discipline, integrity and honor. It keeps me balanced in my life,” he said. “Ron’s integrity is impeccable. He passes on knowledge that is irreplaceable.”

Training military members isn’t anything new to Gentolizo. He spent several years training Marines in Kenpo Karate in Texas.

Kenpo Karate isn’t just for skilled combatants.

Ashley Cole of Savage came into Gentolizo’s class about a year and a half ago without any previous self-defense training. Today, she is the highest ranking woman in American Kenpo Karate International in Minnesota.

“The biggest thing I have gotten out of this class is a massive ass-kicking ability,” Cole said. “But it’s something you can control. It’s taught me a lot of respect for my body. He gives me the most I could do to hurt someone if I had to. When worse comes to worse. It’s nice to have an ace in your back pocket.”

Not for kids

Although Gentolizo isn’t picky about who joins his class, he does have one rule. He will not teach young children kenpo karate.

Gentolizo has gone through a lot of training to learn how to disseminate the knowledge of Kenpo Karate. Gentolizo said he is very good at teaching self defense to his students, but he also makes sure they understand what they are capable of doing.

“This knowledge is sophisticated,” Gentolizo said. “You don’t want a child to have this knowledge, because they don’t understand it. I teach my students how to maim someone if they have to. They can blind someone or deafen someone. Children don’t need that knowledge, because they don’t know when or how to use it.”

Along Gentolizo’s “journey” he studied and trained in American boxing, Brazilian jujitsu, taekwondo and shotokan karate in addition to kenpo. While studying martial arts, Gentolizo said he found some gaps in the traditional styles when it came to self defense in an uncontrolled situation. Gentolizo said he got hurt pretty bad in a couple confrontations, and then he found kenpo.

“Sport martial arts have things that are illegal,” he said. “If there is a situation on the street, someone in that style won’t use their weapons [hands and feet] illegally because they don’t know how to use them that way. In Kenpo karate you punch or kick in the groin first. That’s game over.”   

No one should walk through life frightened for their safety, Gentolizo said. This is about self defense. It’s better to have the knowledge and not need it, then need it and not have it, he said.

Gentolizo offers his class Mondays and Wednesdays from 7 to 8 p.m. for beginners and 8:15 to 9:15 p.m. for advanced students. The class costs $75 a month. Gentolizo said he also allows people to sit in and watch to see if the class is for them. To contact Ron Gentolizo to reserve a space or sit in on a class, call (952) 270-5746.

Shawn Hogendorf can be reached at (952) 345-6374 or shogendorf@swpub.com.