The one thing that you continue to disregard is Professor Presas' dynamic and diverse relationships that he had developed, not just in the Philippines.
Now, I'm sure he had developed a good student/teacher relationship to his core students in the Phil.; I know that there were people dedicated to him, who trained with him diligently while he was in his native country. Maybe Marppio, his own children and others, were some of these dedicated students. I can't say for certain (nor can you), for we weren't there.
But the sad fact is, Professor was tossed out of his own country, and was forced to come to the U.S. Why do you continue to deny the possibility that while he was here in the U.S., that he could have had some "American" students who had the same level of dedication as did his students in the Philippines? That is why I brought up the race thing. I just call things like I see them. Because you continue to deny even the possibility that an "american" (non-filipino) could possibly have the same, if not more dedication then his "Filipino" students, I thought that your stance is culturally biased. You must admit, when seeing things from my viewpoint, that your stance does seem culturally biased, doesn't it? Regardless, you said that it was not a racial thing. So, I will take your word for it and move on.
Now don't think that I was "pissed off" because you were somehow correct. I was angry because I have someone who is not really in the system that I have been dedicated to, or who knows all the facts, making a bunch of accusations, declerations, and assumptions. This would piss off anyone. And I'm sorry if I was rude, but if you go into a situation with out knowing all the facts, you should expect to get spanked. Unfortunatily I was the one to do the spanking. I am glad that there is no hard feelings because of it.
Now, having said that, I might understand where you are coming from. I'm guessing that you've taken your stance because your experience of Modern Arnis and Remy Presas' students has been through maybe a few day seminars, or camps. This is a fair guess, because that was how Remy taught. I am also guessing that you noticed that it seemed like most of the people in the seminars were there to suppliment their training in another art, and were people who only saw him twice a year, if they were lucky. This has probably lead you to believe that Remy's students in the states couldn't possibly have even close to the same understanding of Remy's art as his students who were with him in the Philippines. If I am wrong in my assumptions here, please tell me. If this is correct, however, then I can actually understand why you took the position you did.
Having said that, let me shed some light on a different side that you may not have seen through your few encounters with Remy, or from your connections with other FMArtists. There were a good # of students (although smaller in %) that were greatly dedicated to them. They allocated one weekend a month at least to see him and train, wherever he was. Some of these people are career martial artist. Others (like myself, actually) are not career Martial Artists, but had the benifit of being able to allocate the $$ and time to see him that often during different periods of their life.
Now, lets figure this out, and do some silly math. Let's say someone was able to go to 4 camps in a year (this is not unreasonable, for we usually had 4 in the midwest that I could hit every year if I wanted to, about one for every season). Your usual camp runs Friday, Saturday, and part of Sunday. You train about 12 hours (morning, afternoon, evening sessions) on Fri. and Sat., and maybe only about 6 on Sunday. So that is about 30 hours a camp. Now the Michigan Summer camp started with an afternoon and evening session on Thursday. So for that camp, we are looking at about 38 hours of training. Then let's say that this very dedicated person was able to hit about 6 seminars that year, in addition to the 4 camps. We'll low ball our figure, and say that each seminar was about 6 hours long (some were longer, but that was about average). 6x6=36. None of this is unrealistic; 6 seminars and 4 camps is only 10 times for one year. So, lets add it all up....90 (from the 3 camps)+38(summer camp)+36(seperate seminars)=164 hour of seminar training w/ Professor during that year. I just outlined my basic training schedule (by the way) for a couple years running before the year of Remys death. Considering that I'm nobody special, this isn't unreasonable.
That adds up to be about 3 to 3 1/2 hours of training a week if you had access to a FMA instructor all the time, or at a school. This is just from seminar training alone. Even though it is of a diffrent quality because it is one-on-one training, I only see Manong Ted Buot for my Balintawak training only 1-2 hours a week, and I would consider myself a dedicated Balintawak student.
Now, Let's also figure that this seminar "junkie" has students, or has a Modern Arnis Instructor who is just as dedicated to train with, for about 2 hours a week(as I did until my original instructor retired and I inherited students and trained even more). If you figure this for lets say 48 weeks (minusing any breaks, missed classes, or holidays), then that adds up to be an additional 96 hours of VALID training, even if it is away from Remy. If you add that to my figure above (96+164=260) then that adds up to be 260 hours of training. This averages out to be ruffly 5 to 5 1/2 hours of training in a FMA school every week.
Then let's figure out people who hosted Remy for the seminars. If did what you were supposed to as a host, you gave him nice accomidations, and made sure he was completely taken care of. If you were smart (like I was the one time I had the pleasure of hosting him
) then you bugged him to train, and maybe got about 4 hours of personal time in.
None of these figures include personal training time, mind you.
Kuntawman, I just detailed out my training schedule, maybe give or take, for a running few years before Professor Passed away. The years prior to this, when I was too young and didn't have the means to take on such a gruelling schedule, I had the benifit of training with a Modern Arnis Black Belt who had this same level of dedication, to help develop my skills when I could only see Remy Presas twice a year. The point is, I am a nobody. I have no title or significant position in Modern Arnis. There are others who had gone to the 2 week camps (12 hour sessions for 2 week straight), and who had professor stay with them for weeks and months at a time, and got a ton of personal training time in. Now that's dedication. Since we talking about "children" taking over the art, there was one of these dedicated students, an american, who addressed Professor as "father" in Taglog, as Professor addressed him as "son." This person, as well as some of these other dedicated people, are todays Modern Arnis leaders.
Now is this the same as having your instructor around in one place at one time. No, it is definatily different, and more sporadic. However, I would argue from my experience that when your not sure when you'll train with your teacher again, or if you know you have to wait a month to see him again, you cherish every moment, more so then if you were training at a school somewhere. So, I wouldn't discount these people who trained in America in this fashion of not having the dedication of his students in the Philippines. That just isn't a fair assessment. Training in this fashion may be different and unique, but it doesn't make these students who had to train like this any less in terms of dedication and skill.
Now after having shed a different light on the subject, maybe now you can see what I am saying. I must also say again that I am not trying to take away from Professors Filipino students, or his children. But I am trying to level the playing field, so to speak. If you choose to deny the facts that I am proposing to you here, then there will be nothing I, or anyone can do to change your mind. I hope, however, since I took the time and care to give you this lengthy explaination, that you will reconsider your position.
Respectfully,
PAUL
