Carter Hargrave was born in Oklahoma and ever since he was a child he had a passion for martial arts. He decided to start training when he was only 6 years old, under the instructions of Goju Ryu Karate Master Lou Angel. Unfortunately, it wasn’t something he could handle at that age, so he stopped for a while, but decided to become someone in the world of martial arts. He fulfilled his dream because he now has an astonishing career in this field.
He is the one that founded the American Combat Kempo, a type of martial arts and he is currently the president of World Jet Kune. This is the largest international Jet Kune Do organization and Carter founded it in 1992. Jet Kune Do or JKD is the only non-classical Gung Fu system that currently exists. Bruce Lee combining more styles in order to find an ultimate combat art put it together. Carter Hargraves’s organization offers original JKD training and has over 8000 members all around the world. He wanted to make Bruce Lee’s teachings are available for the public in an original manner and he managed to do so, because he considers that he learned a lot form Bruce Lee and he can pay him homage this way.
Carter’s dream became a reality and his name really means something in the world of martial arts. He is in the Martial Arts Hall of Fame after being awarded the Instructor of the Year in 1993 for the way he teaches Jet Kune Do. His achievements go even further and in 1996 he receives another important award: the Best Martial Art Schools in the United States. His certifications and awards are now extremely numerous and the U.S. Congress, the United States Senate and the Governor of Oklahoma recognized his achievements.
Carter Hargrave currently owns many organizations among which World Jeet Kune Do Federation, World Kempo Association, Hargrave Martial Arts Systems, Hargrave Arts LLC, Combat Martial Arts Press, and Hargrave Media. His private schools have served the purposes of many individuals and agencies and taught them the principles and techniques of self-defense programs. Carter also speaks at international seminars and can be contracted for special events. He spreads his knowledge worldwide and he has many things he can teach others. He is proud about the fact that unlike other teachers that only focus on the physical aspects of the training he also goes deep into the human mind and deals with conflict resolution also.
In his attempt of spreading his knowledge, Carter Hargrave also published three books on martial arts. The first one, “Japanese Kempo Karate Manual”, speaks about the American Combat Kempo, the type of martial arts he founded himself. The second book, “Japanese Kempo Karate Entrance to Secrets Manual”, is for advanced training and the third one, “The Original Jeet Kune Do Training Manual”, which deals with the Bruce Lee style, is an international best seller. This is because the book is the first one of this kind that goes into details and also includes pictures of the moves it teaches. Carter is a second generation JKD teacher because he had the opportunity to learn JKD from an Original Bruce Lee School student. He is the only one who had the courage to bring Jet Kune Do to the public. This was never done before, so Carters’ attempt of forming the World Jet Kune Do Federation came as a innovation. It turned out successful because it didn’t get involved into politics from the very beginning and it didn’t tolerate those who did. It was the political issues that prevented the Bruce Lee style to become more popular, so when those were eliminated, Carter Hargrave’s school managed to bring students and teachers together and to make them cooperate.
Besides the three books, Carter also put together DVD trainings in order to also be able to teach people that can’t come to his school. He is a pioneer in this field and he has made 20 films on martial arts.
Although his path was very difficult, Carter Hargrave managed to make a name for himself and to bring some important innovation in the martial arts field. Many people were helped in order to be able to master self-defense techniques and many are grateful for this. He is recognized as a very good instructor and he currently holds seven black belts. His awards and certification are too many to be counted. The style he formed, American Combat Kempo can’t be compared with any other style. It is also controversial because many masters consider the principles to be too revolutionary. However, Carter’s contribution to martial arts can’t be denied. The style he created might be different and some can even call it brutal, but Carter’s principles are solid and real: one should maintain an overwhelming superiority even if he doesn’t fight fair in order to be able to defeat the attacker.
