Grant Morrison - Senior Instructor/Owner

My martial arts training began in 1985 in Blenheim, NZ.  A new club was starting under the banner of Robert Gemmell's Kempo-Bushido-Ryu.  I had no idea what this was but I was shown 3 self defence moves and was hooked (Mr Gemmell's art was a hybrid of karate, kung-fu, tai-chi and a small amount of 'Parker' kenpo self-defence techniques).  I spent 10 years with KBR, both in Blenheim and Porirua, before leaving in 1995 as a 3rd black.

I started NZKKA with 2 others (both who have now left the club) in 1997 to train and teach the full Parker Kenpo syllabus (there have been numerous addition and deletions of techniques that very few could say what 'full' means these days!).  Without a direct teacher, I used Larry Tatum's video series to learn the forms and techniques and did this quite well (including training with Mr Tatum in California in 2000).  However, I became frustrated without a regular teacher as i knew there had to be more to the system than just knowing lots of separate self-defence techniques and some forms.  It took me a while but I finally sought out Richard "Huk" Planas in 2012 to see if he would give me the guidance I needed. 

I am glad to say Mr Planas accepted and I bring him to NZ or train with him overseas every year.  NZKKA is now a lineage school of Mr Planas and I have been accepted as a personal student of his.  In 2018 I became a 1st generation black belt under Mr Planas when he ranked me 5th degree black.