From: eskrima-digest-owner@hpwsrt.cup.hp.com To: eskrima-digest@hpwsrt.cup.hp.com Subject: Inayan_Eskrima/FMA-Digest V7 #300 Reply-To: eskrima@hpwsrt.cup.hp.com Errors-To: eskrima-digest-owner@hpwsrt.cup.hp.com Precedence: Inayan_Eskrima/FMA-Digest Mon, 19 June 2000 Vol 07 : Num 300 In this issue: eskrima: Re: Inayan_Eskrima/FMA-Digest V7 #299 eskrima: Higher State of Being eskrima: Happy Father's Day eskrima: Sundry eskrima: Full Contact "vs." Blade Fighting eskrima: Pekiti Tirsia Seminar eskrima: . ========================================================================== Eskrima-Digest, serving the Internet since June 1994. 1100 members strong! Copyright 1994-2000: Ray Terry, the Martial Arts Resource, Inayan Eskrima Replying to this message will NOT unsubscribe you. To unsubscribe, send "unsubscribe eskrima-digest" (no quotes) in the body (top line, left justified) of a plain text e-mail addressed to majordomo@hpwsrt.cup.hp.com. To send e-mail to this list use eskrima@hpwsrt.cup.hp.com See the Filipino Martial Arts (FMA) FAQ and online search the last five years worth of digest issues at http://www.MartialArtsResource.com Mabuhay ang eskrima! ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Kurokuwa@aol.com Date: Sun, 18 Jun 2000 14:43:47 EDT Subject: eskrima: Re: Inayan_Eskrima/FMA-Digest V7 #299 Greetings all! << The referee said I had better techniques, but it is my belief that I would have been cut pretty bad anyway if it had been real. >> It's very modest of you to say so. It's true...every participant would have been cut in real life, even the others like yourself who were "victorious." It was an unexpected privilege to be aske by Dr. Gyi to referee and, as I mentioned to many of you afterwards, EVERY bout was a difficult one for me to call... the caliber of attendees there was just that good. Train safe, and I look forward to seeing you at the next event. James Loriega New York Ninpokai ------------------------------ From: Chad Date: Sun, 18 Jun 2000 12:14:57 -0700 (PDT) Subject: eskrima: Higher State of Being Doc wrote: >Aggression is a great substitute for skill. The goal of aggression is >to psychologically pump you up and deflate the other guy and make him >psychologically freeze so that you can use your skills to their >fullest. Funny, I was actually pondering(yes I do ponder at times) on the relevance of aggression to zen while driving around the island yesterday. Actually, not aggression as in "aggression", but aggression in the sense of "that state in which adrenaline will automatically bring you into that higher consciousness(?)/level in which one experiences in a fight/confrontation/etc.?" and zen as in "the state of which one will bring himself into a higher consciousness through meditation/chi kung/etc.". I think aggression may be a poor choice of word here, actually, perhaps "adrenaline state" would better describe it. Just as with meditation, one may feel frightened by that "sudden peacefulness" or "out of body experience" that over comes the body and unknowingly pull itself out of that "state", so can adrenaline do the same to someone who has never experienced it before. Anyway...I was trying to compare and find reference points of similarity in two subjects that are often looked upon as quite different. Often times people will say that the way to "quiet" the adrenaline dump is to calm yourself through meditation-like breathing. (Which is easier to do at a tournament or dueling, but different when you get jumped/mugged/surprised.) I remember doing this the first few times we fought. Eventually, you get used to the adrenaline and it doesn't affect you the same because you have come to realization that it is a natural thing that your body does to protect itself. BTW, I've heard this over and over and said I understood it, but I realized that I didn't understand it until I actually experienced it. Today, I find it sometimes easier to "zen" myself before a fight, listening to classical music and settling my mind, and other times I find it easier to "hype" myself by listening to hard aggressive music and telling myself that I can't be beat. Both seem to work for me depending on the mood I am in, but think about how similar these opposite levels of a different consciousness just may be. ===== Chad Full Contact Stickfighting Hawaii http://www.fullcontacthi.com "What one man would or would not do, does not mean another should or should not do." __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Send instant messages with Yahoo! Messenger. http://im.yahoo.com/ ------------------------------ From: Chad Date: Sun, 18 Jun 2000 12:16:34 -0700 (PDT) Subject: eskrima: Happy Father's Day Happy Father's Day to all, go out and buy yourself a new set of sticks. ===== Chad Full Contact Stickfighting Hawaii http://www.fullcontacthi.com "What one man would or would not do, does not mean another should or should not do." __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Send instant messages with Yahoo! Messenger. http://im.yahoo.com/ ------------------------------ From: "Marc Denny" Date: Sun, 18 Jun 2000 17:39:34 -0700 Subject: eskrima: Sundry A Howl of Greeting to All 1) It has just been brought to my attention that the July issue of "Martial Arts Legends Presents" called "Masters of Combat" (sic) has an article on DBMA Stickgrappling. It was originally supposed to have appeared in Martial Arts Illustrated over 6 months ago. One never knows with these things. 2) Great fight last night between De La Hoya and Mosley. I had it clearly for Mosley, but thought both men fought quite well-- in terms of preparation, technique, fighting spirit and class. Respects to DLH for taking the fight, and so many others against quality opponents. Respects to Mosley for all of the above and for going toe to toe in the final round even though he was ahead. And glasses to the judge who scored it for DLH. Analyzing structures, I would say that once Mosley connected with his legs around R5 or R6, the fight was all his. Superior lateral movement and angles vs. DLH's more straight up straight ahead game. There were several moments when his game looked like a cross of Roy Jones and the southpaw Pernell Whittaker who gave DLH so much trouble-- he even fought southpaw at certain moments in the fight. Like Sugar Ray Leonard said before his fight with Hagler "You don't understand! You don't beat the man! You beat his style!" Woof, Crafty Dog ------------------------------ From: "BILL MCGRATH" Date: Mon, 19 Jun 2000 00:42:37 -0400 Subject: eskrima: Full Contact "vs." Blade Fighting I have been busy compiling the summer newsletter for PTI for the last few weeks, so I haven't been able to give my input on several interesting threads that came up on the digest at the time they were running. It's a little late, but here is my take on one past thread. Full Contact "vs." Blade Fighting: Tuhon Gaje always emphasized that Pekiti-Tirsia was a blade oriented art, yet he also heavily emphasized the importance of full contact sparring. He did not see any dichotomy in this, and frankly neither do I, provided you keep your ultimate mission in mind. I tell my students that if your goal is survival on the street, then you have to spar keeping the strengths and weaknesses of your own weapons in mind while you train to deal with the potential weapons of your opponents. In our training with Tuhon Gaje, even through he emphasized Pekiti's blade orientation, he seemed to train us in what I latter came to realize was something of a "worst case scenario" mentality. That scenario being one in which you have a stick and your opponent has a sword. You could deduct this from the training in that the sparring was geared towards you trying not to get hit at all, while you would try to hit your opponent with several hard shots (sounds obvious, but if it was sword vs. sword, then the sparring would have been geared towards who could deliver the first "cut" and you would work under the assumption that that "cut" had a major effect). While a few parts of Pekiti-Tirsia work better with sword then stick, most of the system is quite effective with a stick (this would not be the case if Pekiti was "only" a blade art). Let me describe how Tuhon Gaje first started us in full contact sparring. The old NY Pekiti group in the 70's didn't begin stick sparring until we had our basics down. Prior to any actual sparring, we spent about a year on the two man timing drills of 64 attacks, working on these until our sub-components where strong, fast and polished. Next we began a process of combining these sub-components in real-time. First Tuhon Gaje gradually eased us into the "waters" of sparring, starting at the shallow end of the pool. (I'll barrow the very helpful terms from last year's Black Belt article by Crafty on stick ranges to describe the process). Tuhon Gaje had us start with what he called "range sparring" which was more like "virtual" sparring. We would stay well outside of stick contact range and "spar" trying to fake and create "openings" in our opponent's guard while avoiding his "attacks". After a time he moved us into stick contact range, in which we sparred, but could only make contact with our sticks. Next he gave us light rattan and had us spar with contact, but with the proviso that we only make contact to the opponent's weapon hand at largo range (with no gloves we had incentive to keep our weapon hands moving!). After this we put on head gear and football arm guards and targeted the hands and head at medio range. Next we added body armor at corto range in which any target was fair game. Soon we went to medium weight sticks and the body armor came off. (Heavy sticks were reserved for fighting guys from other systems at tournaments). We spent a total of three years on basics (64 Attacks) alternating between learning a new technique, drilling in it and sparring with it. There was not much in the way of grappling during this early training. It was only when we moved onto the third set of Solo Baston Seguidas that we began to see grappling during Pekiti-Tirsia single stick work. Latter in Pekiti single stick one also sees grappling elements in Solo Baston Contradas and Recontras. (There are also elements of grappling in Pekiti hand vs. knife and hand to hand, but it is limited to techniques that will work against an armed opponent and quick enough to use against multiple opponents. That cuts your available techniques down compared to an art that does not have these concerns). Looking back I can see certain common denominators in our training. We learned speed, timing and flow in our strikes and footwork before we learned any grappling. Why? Because we were training to deal with blades. Learning speed and avoidance skills has to come before grappling skills when dealing with someone who can take you out with just one strike like a fighter with a large blade can. While a grappler or boxer can use his arms to block ("take") a punch on the way in, obviously you don't want do this against a sword cut. In previous ED posts members have written complaining about fighters on a Dog Bros videos seeming to "take" hits on the way into a grappling technique. I have also seen this at my own seminars with students during their first few times at stick sparring, usually when someone with a strong empty hand background (but new to stick work) gets frustrated when getting hit at largo range. "Hey, if I am getting hit out here anyway, I might as well take one on the way in to get to a range I know I can work in." seems to be what these fighters are thinking. As a good empty hand fighter begins to get proficient with a stick you see less and less of this. I get the feeling that some list members are worried about getting their students into full contact sparring because they don't want them to get into the habit of "taking" a hit on the way in or, almost as bad, standing toe to toe and "kamikazeing" each other delivering strikes without any regard for defense. Instead of going from, "dry land" swimming practice right to dropping them into the "deep end" of the pool, try them at the shallow end working on one subcomponent at a time, so they can get used to the feeling of being in the water. Help them transition from drills to full sparring by starting them in full contact but with a concentration on only one particular skill at a time. Instead of starting them with the equation: FULL SKILLS + FULL CONTACT = FULL SPARRING, start them with ONE SKILL + FULL CONTACT = PARTIAL SPARRING to get them used to being in the water. Here are a few sparring drills that might help. 1. FIRST CUT: Each man is assumed to have a sword. The first one to make a good cut without getting cut in return wins. Start with 30 second rounds to develop their stalking and entry skills, but as soon as possible move them to short rounds (say 5 or 10 seconds) to discourage hesitation. This is a good warm-up drill, but don't stay to long here or they will train to hit only once in combat. 2. SWORD VS. STICK: Take a stick and wrap it with colored tape. This will be your "sword". Have two students spar, one with the "sword" and one with a stick. Explain that one cut from the sword can end the fight, but the man with the rattan will need to hit his opponent several time to have the same effect. You can also do this drill with a heavily armored advanced students as the sword man who "feeds" the stick man, gradually increasing the speed and complexity of his attacks. This is a good drill for the student who is willing to "take" a hit on the way in. You can make things really interesting by limiting the number of "cuts" the stick can sustain from the sword per round before the stick "breaks". The sword can also represent a crowbar, pipe, etc. 3. SINGLE STICK VS. STICK AND DAGGER: Another good drill for the student who is in such a rush to get inside where he has fighting experience that he neglects his defensive skills at largo and medio ranges. Using 1' diameter colored chalk as the "dagger" can help a student realize just how many times he "died" before he made his grappling takedown. Regards, Tuhon Bill McGrath http://www.pekiti-tirsia.com ------------------------------ From: JKDBerlin@cs.com Date: Mon, 19 Jun 2000 03:35:48 EDT Subject: eskrima: Pekiti Tirsia Seminar If you happen to be near or in Berlin/Germany, we have a Pekiti Tirsia Seminar with Guro Oliver McRae at our school, june 24th and 25th. For more info about adress and time, send email or check out our homepage. Thanx! Frank J.A.B. JKD Akademie Berlin http://jkd.cjb.net ------------------------------ From: Ray Terry Date: Mon, 19 Jun 2000 6:29:53 PDT Subject: eskrima: . ------------------------------ End of Inayan_Eskrima/FMA-Digest V7 #300 **************************************** To unsubscribe from the eskrima-digest send the command: unsubscribe eskrima-digest -or- unsubscribe eskrima-digest your.old@address in the BODY of an email (top line, left justified) addressed to majordomo@hpwsrt.cup.hp.com. Old digest issues are available via ftp://ftp.martialartsresource.com. Copyright 1994-2000: Ray Terry and the Martial Arts Resource Standard disclaimers apply.