Our history: We have been established in the Tri-Cities since 1972 when we began as
“Olympic Karate” under James Keating and Randy Wanamaker. In 1975, the name was changed to “Liberation Boxing” (Kempo). In 1977, the name was permanently changed to “Kempo Karate”. The year 1978 brought John Stewart to join Mr. Keating and Mr. Wanamaker. In 1982, John Stewart and Kevin Pleasant took over the day-to-day operation of the school and in 1984, John Stewart received complete ownership.
Sensei John Stewart retired from full time teaching in 1996 and remains as the school’s Senior Advisor. Sensei Rick Thompson is currently the primary instructor of Tri-City Kempo Karate and has run the school’s day-to-day operations since 1999.

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Our Focus

Our emphasis of training is “self defense”. Our goal is to enable students to defend themselves or loved ones in a variety of street situations one may encounter in our world today. We also utilize traditional karate techniques and drills in our regular classes and practicing traditional karate kata (forms) is part of our curriculum.

Our Goal

To empower our students and help them in overall character development.  This is for young and old, male and female.  If you come to class, eager to learn, then you will leave with high self esteem, improved self confidence and good physical fitness.

Our Instructors

We tailor our teaching styles to the student.   We meet the student where they are at physically and mentally.