Kumu rick'S Bio

Rick Metzler - HEAD Instructor

Kumu Rick Metzler is a 8th Degree Blackbelt in The Pit Hawaiian Kempo under the world-renowned fighter & mixed martial arts trainer, Grandmaster John Hackleman. Kumu Rick is also a 3rd Degree Blackbelt in Cacoy Doce Pares Eskrima (Filipino stick & knife fighting) & 3rd Degree Blackbelt in Cacoy Doce Pares Eskrido (Filipino stick submissions) under the 5 Time World Champion Full-Contact stick fighter & Grandmaster Anthony Kleeman.

In 2008, Kumu Rick was nominated & inducted into the 21st Annual U.S.A. International Blackbelt Hall Of Fame for "Martial Arts Dedication” & "Outstanding & Extraordinarily Inspirational Martial Arts Leadership".

In 2009, Kumu Rick was nominated and inducted into the United States Martial Artist Association Hall Of Fame as its "Humanitarian Of The Year".

In 2010 Kumu Rick was inducted into the Cacoy Canete Doce Pares World Federation Hall Of Fame where he was awared this honor in Cebu, Philippines by Supreme GrandMaster Cacoy Canete.

These recognitions for Kumu Rick's success and personal achievements in martial arts has recorded yet additional milestones in his career with these Hall Of Fame organizations being respected in over 55 countries across the world for their standards of integrity and professionalism. The list of fellow inductees is long and includes such names as Wally Jay, Jhoon Rhee, Don Madden, Reme Presas, George Dillman, Chien Liang Huang and International inductees such as Raul Gaulterez (Spain), Song Swee Hee (Malaysia), Edmund Bousaglo (Israel), Jurg Ziegler (Switzerland), Carlos Diaz (Puerto Rico), Peter Chong (Singapore).

Kumu Rick began his martial arts training by taking a Shotokon Karate class at the local community center in 1978 at 9 years old and trained and sampled several different systems such as Tang Soo Do, Kung Fu San Soo & Muay Thai before finding a home with John Hackleman in 1987. At that time, in meeting John, it was not known that he was playing an instrumental role in the history of martial arts and more specifically, the Hawaiian Kempo lineage as we know it today.

Rick spent 9 years training and fighting for The Pit with an undefeated boxing & kickboxing record before earning his Blackbelt in 1996. Since then he has also gone back to his KaJuKenBo roots in earning the rank of Blackbelt in Cacoy Canete Doce Pares Eskrima, Eskrido & Pangamot as well as being asked to join the USA Full Contact Stickfighting Team competing in both Los Angeles and Cebu, Philippines where he won the Bronze medal.

Hawaiian Kempo has been instrumental in making the martial arts world what it is today. Since it's inception back in "the old days", it has continued to seamlessly fuse together traditional martial arts and MMA, to create an effectively disciplined workout that holds onto the hard-core philosophies of traditional training while removing extraneous material that has been revealed as impractical and ineffective. Our Hawaiian Kempo workout introduces “state of the art” training concepts and incorporates a style of fitness that is tested and proven in modern MMA as well as the always-unpredictable situations that arise in our day-to-day lives. In short, we have created a fitness and fighting system that is unequaled in the Martial Arts of the 21st Century.

Rick has taken his 45+ years of martial arts training that includes 37+ year with The Pit and combined this with the Filipino fighting concepts and weapon awareness that his Blackbelt ranking in Cacoy Canete Doce Pares brings to the table. Our KaJuKenBo roots were established under a simple philosophy of, “use what works and discard what doesn’t.” Whether you are training for a martial arts competition or cross training for any other sport in the world, the workouts and overall philosophy you'll find here at The Pit will get you closer to your goals of ultimate fitness and conditioning and get you there while making friends and having fun.

Having fun & staying healthy is key to longevity in the martial arts and if you can do that while "filling your toolbox" with tools that will actually work in real life situations, then you have yourself a system that is worth your time and effort to learn. The Pit's Hawaiian Kempo combined with the Cacoy Canete Doce Pares and Brazilian JiuJitsu creates a blend in concepts and techniques that result in a training method that assures you that there is no wasted effort.

Over the past 32+ years, Rick has worked extensively with the children of Malibu California, both as a preschool teacher working with the little ones for several years and as a therapist working with teenagers & adults within the residential treatment environment as well as working on staff for over a decade within the psychiatric setting. Rick's years spent working with the children here in Malibu also includes teaching swimming, surfing & working as a lifeguard as well as being a registered AYSO Coach, Referee and Certified Safe Haven Provider.

The Pit Malibu brings it back to Southern California where it all began. As the only teaching Pit Blackbelt to come out of the of the Original Pit and in a community that has played such an influential role in Rick's life, The Pit-Malibu is THE place to be training for children and adults alike.