# MARPPIO- Davenport seminar review



## Andrew Evans (May 4, 2004)

I have met many good practitioners and been to many seminars/camps but when it comes to the Filipino Martial Arts, MARPPIO and NSI seminars are the best I have seen. Dr. Remy Presas and Dr. Wilfredo Matias never cease to amaze me. This past weekend in Davenport, Iowa was no exception.

I've been pumping iron, running miles, practicing well into the night, but I still can't come close to the lighting speed of Dr. Presas. 

As for the material covered, WOW! I've been seen and experienced material from the MARPPIO tapes as well as material from others but Dr. Presas's stuff just keeps coming. He is a wealth of knowledge. 

You should see their counters to the disarms. And then the counters to the counters. And then the counters to that. Years ago, I thought Tapi-Tapi was the height of it all but no...That barely scratches the surface! 

Dr. Presas went over a lot of material. My favorite were umbrella blocking drills and wing blocks. With wing blocks, he taught disarms and, yes, you guessed it...counters to the disarming techniques from wing blocks. Oh wow, I was getting to see things the late Grandmaster never performed or taught in public and I have more tapes than you can swing a stick at. It's great seeing how Dr. Presas takes basic techniques and takes them to a higher level. 

MARPPIO instructors also did an impromptu demonstration at the highly acclaimed Morrow's Academy of Martial Arts in front of a huge crowd. Dr. Matias had some poor guy in various joint and fingers locks flipping all over the place. I've seen this before but never to that extent. That poor guy, I feel sorry for him...Wait a minute! That poor guy was me. 

Dr. Matias is so scary that at one point in the seminar when I was being used as the uke for knive techniques, nobody wanted to come close enough to hand me another knife. Everyone was simply tossing or sliding knives in my direction. LOL!

For all those who trained with the late Grandmaster, I HIGHLY urge you to check out his son, Dr. Remy Presas. 

Nothing beats getting it from the source!

Andrew Evans "going with the flow"


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## Andrew Evans (May 6, 2004)

I forgot to mention that Guro Ric Velando and Guro Gary Schroeder, their students and families were excellent hosts! They have set the standards in Midwest hospitality.

Guro Ric, the master of classical Arnis, did a good job of providing a sampler of his specialty. 

Guro Gary mixed BJJ, Grappling, Silat and Modern Arnis plus loads of law enforcement experience in his session. It was awesome.

I can't wait till next year's event.


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## Dan Anderson (May 6, 2004)

Andrew,

Congratulations on a successful event!

Yours,
Dan Anderson


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## arnisador (May 8, 2004)

Thanks for the great review! Sounds like they showed some interesting stuff.


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## Andrew Evans (May 10, 2004)

Thanks for the kind words. 

Before anyone provides friendly advice about not overtraining, I want to add that while I lift weights, run, and practice well into the night; I don't do them all on the same day. I even used the couple of days before the seminar to rest and load up on carbos. 

The point I am trying to make is that no matter how ready you are for Dr. Presas, he will blow you away!

Dr. Presas has a lot to offer. In addition to the advanced material, he is strict on having good form, techniques, blocks, paying attention to details, clean strikes, building a strong foundation, etc. Now that Dr. Presas has helped me in many areas, I can actually spot some bad techniques of those who have been practicing way longer than I have.


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