Date: Sun, 09 Mar 2008 02:48:23 +0100 From: eskrima-request@martialartsresource.net Subject: Eskrima digest, Vol 15 #63 - 4 msgs X-Mailer: Mailman v2.0.13.cisto1 MIME-version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain To: eskrima@martialartsresource.net Errors-To: eskrima-admin@martialartsresource.net X-BeenThere: eskrima@martialartsresource.net X-Mailman-Version: 2.0.13.cisto1 Precedence: bulk Reply-To: eskrima@martialartsresource.net X-Reply-To: eskrima@martialartsresource.net List-Unsubscribe: , List-Id: Eskrima-FMA discussion forum, the premier FMA forum on the Internet. 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Provided in memory of Mangisursuro Michael G. Inay (1944-2000). See the Filipino Martial Arts (FMA) FAQ and the online search engine for back issues of the Eskrima/FMA digest at http://MartialArtsResource.com Mabuhay ang eskrima! Today's Topics: 1. Re: Teaching and fighting with FMA (Ray) 2. Teaching fma (steormerod) 3. Re: Teaching fma (Guru Mike Casto) 4. RE: Teaching fma (2@msfencing.org) --__--__-- Message: 1 From: Ray To: eskrima@martialartsresource.net Subject: Re: [Eskrima] Teaching and fighting with FMA Date: Fri, 7 Mar 2008 18:55:05 -0800 Reply-To: eskrima@martialartsresource.net On Mar 6, 2008, at 10:18 PM, Guru Mike Casto wrote: > Will do. Met Jun (can't remember his last name - GM stays with him > in San Jose) last night. And Anthony Kleeman. Very cool folks. Jun Cautiverio. Jun gets to be Cacoy's demo partner a lot. I don't envy Jun... :) Ray Terry EskrimaDigest@sbcglobal.net --__--__-- Message: 2 From: "steormerod" To: "eskrima digest" Date: Sat, 8 Mar 2008 03:12:17 -0500 Subject: [Eskrima] Teaching fma Reply-To: eskrima@martialartsresource.net Absolom - here here! I for one left doce pares in the uk because of the promotion to 'black belt' of people that were unworthy. I spent years of training under my instructor, Dave Green, Master Danny Guba, Andy Gibney and GM Cacoy on his visits to the uk. I bled, sweated, studied and worked bloody hard for years to achieve my black belt and the right to instruct. A few months later people were then being given them merely for hosting seminars, or helping with paper pushing! It seems that greed and laziness are all to common in our great arts. How can we weed this out? --__--__-- Message: 3 Date: Sat, 8 Mar 2008 08:30:18 -0800 (PST) From: Guru Mike Casto Subject: Re: [Eskrima] Teaching fma To: eskrima@martialartsresource.net Reply-To: eskrima@martialartsresource.net I've seen the same thing from time to time. In fact, my first degree black belt was something similar. I'd been doing Eskrima for many years and some of that training was heavily influenced by Doce Pares from the training my instructor had under Diony but I had very little experience at the time with Cacoy's material. I considered my promotion to be completely honorary - a recognition by GM Cacoy of what he saw in my motion. I was OK with that. Later, when he said to me, "You're ready for your second degree." I was shocked. I didn't feel ready. But I couldn't really tell this man that I respect so much, "Well, Lolo, I don't really think I'm ready so I'll pass." So I got promoted to 2nd Dan. Then, when I saw some of the other people getting promoted - and I'd worked with most of them during the seminar - I thought, "Wow! Only a couple of those guys, in my estimation, are really qualified for the rank they have. Well, if they're going to be representing Eskrido then I guess I'd better get comfortable with my rank because even at this point I'm a better representative than they are." At that point, though, I decided, "OK. I'm going to really spend some time working with this system so I feel that I've earned this 2nd Dan." I started working the material and developing my understanding of it. By the time I got promoted to 3rd Dan, I felt comfortable with the promotion. For me, the bottom line is that I love Lolo Cacoy and the material he teaches. I love spending time with the man and training with him. He has had a huge impact on my personal understanding of Eskrima and martial arts in general. At least in my experience, for the most part, Cacoy wasn't to blame. People under him were promoting their students and he was just signing off on the promotion. I think it's a shame that it happens. How do we weed it out? I don't know that it's possible. I think it will always happen to some extent in an organization as large as Cacoy Doce Pares. There will always be people who crave that recognition - whether they deserve it or not - and there will always be people willing to sell it to them for some sort of price. The larger an organization, the more difficult it is to maintain quality control and the more likely it is to happen. For me, all I can do is continue training and sharing what GM Cacoy has taught me and acting as one of his representatives to the absolute best of my ability. I can only hope that my representation is enough to positively influence some people who, in turn, may go out and have a positive impact on others. I always try to remember that the *only* person I have any real degree of control over is myself. I can influence others to some degree and any changes I make in myself will influence the interaction I have with others and, in turn, influence their response to the interaction. But I can't fix the world. In fact, I can't truly fix anything outside of myself. I can only offer guidance and hope my students find their way safely along the path. I can't walk the path for them. And I can't do anything about anyone else who has been given rank they aren't qualified to have. Mike ----- Original Message ---- From: steormerod To: eskrima digest Sent: Saturday, March 8, 2008 4:12:17 PM Subject: [Eskrima] Teaching fma Absolom - here here! I for one left doce pares in the uk because of the promotion to 'black belt' of people that were unworthy. I spent years of training under my instructor, Dave Green, Master Danny Guba, Andy Gibney and GM Cacoy on his visits to the uk. I bled, sweated, studied and worked bloody hard for years to achieve my black belt and the right to instruct. A few months later people were then being given them merely for hosting seminars, or helping with paper pushing! It seems that greed and laziness are all to common in our great arts. How can we weed this out? --__--__-- Message: 4 From: <2@msfencing.org> To: Subject: RE: [Eskrima] Teaching fma Date: Sat, 8 Mar 2008 11:09:07 -0600 Organization: 2@msfencing.org Reply-To: eskrima@martialartsresource.net > I always try to remember that the *only* person I have any real degree of > control over is myself. I can influence others to some degree and any > changes I make in myself will influence the interaction I have with others > and, in turn, influence their response to the interaction. But I can't fix > the world. In fact, I can't truly fix anything outside of myself. I can > only offer guidance and hope my students find their way safely along the > path. I can't walk the path for them. And I can't do anything about anyone > else who has been given rank they aren't qualified to have. Well spoken Mike! It has always been interesting to me that in Japanese, Kyu means 'step' and Dan means 'grade'. The idea implied is that one must progress through several elementary steps before obtaining a grade. Therefore, several steps and then grades exist. Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately), the ranking systems of different martial arts do not share an absolute value by which all martial artists may be measured. Some arts have less content/techniques to learn than others and thus take less time to learn than other more involved arts. It is even more unfortunate when there is a disparity in performance between members of the same rank within the same martial arts organization. I think Mike's attitude is the appropriate one; to focus on your own actual progress and ability in the art itself rather than get bogged down with ranks, especially the ranks of others around you and whether or not they deserve them. Grace and Peace, Rez --__--__-- _______________________________________________ Eskrima mailing list Eskrima@martialartsresource.net http://martialartsresource.net/mailman/listinfo/eskrima Subscribe or Unsubscribe: http://eskrima-fma.net Old digest issues @ ftp://ftp.martialartsresource.com/pub/eskrima Copyright 1994-2008: Ray Terry, MartialArtsResource.com, Sudlud.com Standard disclaimers apply. Remember September 11. End of Eskrima Digest