Instructors – Cornerstone Jeet Kune Do

Our Founders & Advisors

Fighters & Philosophers

No approach has it all. Everything has pros and cons. That said, the CORNERSTONE JKD approach and philosophy are the result of the unique experiences and training of Jonathan Parsons and Jason Korol. There’s a long history of JKD organizations best covered elsewhere. Sufficient for here is that Jonathan and Jason have been collectively students of JKD for nearly 40 years. Below is a little about their background. CORNERSTONE also has two primary consultants (shown below), Sifu Tony Massengill, a master instructor in Ip Man Wing Chun, and Rusty Starkey, as JKD expert, former police officer, MMA coach, and security professional. Other contributors are experts in related fields who graciously contribute articles for the website.

Sifu Jonathan Parsons grew up in New York where he gained recognition as being one of the best Karate fighters in the area. After leaving the Marine Corps he sought instruction in JKD, being a fan of Bruce Lee and loving his philosophy. Through books and self-study in the 80’s Jonathan incorporated Sijo Lee’s ideas into his karate. He loved the broken rhythm, footwork, and timing aspects articulated in the Tao of Jeet Kune Do and Bruce Lee’s Fighting Method series. Jonathan joined Sifu Lamar Davis’ United States Jeet Kune Do Alliance in 1992 and became an instructor under Sifu Lamar. During that time Jonathan traveled to meet and train with Sifu Ted Wong and trained extensively with him as well.

Sifu Jason started training in Wing Chun in 1981. His first formal introduction to JKD was with Paul Vunak in 1989. He began teaching under Mr. Vunak and his Progressive Fighting Systems in November of 1990. A year later in November of 1991 Jason achieved instructor status under Sifu Lamar Davis and began teaching Original Jeet Kune Do under Davis’ United States Jeet Kune Do Alliance. In 1995 Jason was introduced to Ted Wong by Jonathan Parsons and trained privately and in seminars with Sifu Wong along with Jonathan. Jason is vice president of the Ip Man Wing Chun Union under Sifu Tony Massengill as well as a JKD student and teacher.

How to Train With Us

Here’s how you can do it: attend Greenville Academy classes in person in Greenville, South Carolina. That’s obviously the easiest way. If you can’t do that you can attend seminars here or bring Sifu Jason or Jonathan in to your school.

Or you can join our online Jeet Kune Do Academy on Teachable (Greenville-academy.teachable.com) and take ongoing classes there. Sifu Jason also has many books on Amazon that can help too. We heartily recommend JKD Foundations and JKD Infighting along with the classic staples of Bruce Lee’s Commentaries on the Martial Way and The Fighting Method series.

All of our instructor testing is done in person or via FaceTime or Zoom. In all, if you know it, can do it, and love helping others learn it too, then we’d be ecstatic to have you on our team.

sifujasonkorol@icloud.com