Datu Puti said:
First off I would like to say that it great the members of the Sayoc Kali group are represented here on MT and are participating on the forum.
Thanks Mr. Hartman. I've been a member for awhile now but have only contributed on historical threads. If anyone thought this thread was heated, they should venture to the debates I've had with some Western Martial Arts experts who thought the Filipinos were conquered by the Toledo Blade.
Datu Puti said:
If people want to train this way I think it should be done in closed door sessions. We as FMAers are ambassadors for our arts. We need to try to attract people to our systems and not scare them away.
This was the first open invite in thirty years of doing such training in Sayoc. When we first designed the invite, we felt that only those like minded individuals would respond. In the one on one interviews, we could determine if the individuals had prior training and would understand how the event was designed.
In the past, we've done training that would isolate other aspects of stick work, we felt there was a large vacuum of stick grappling material available for FMA which was taught by FMAs. As you stated the Japanese arts have books on this material in bookstores, there's bits here and there from FMAs but not available to the general public. There's material by the great Gene Lebell as well. However, nothing focusing entirely on the stick grappling and why stick grappling is an often ignored subject in the context of FMA. As ambassadors to our arts, the Sayocs have been able to show FMA concepts on a large budget Hollywood film (with more in the works), developed curriculum for the military, expanded historical research of Filipino tribal warfare, and now want to spread the word that the stick can also be a great equalizer against grappling or used in grappling mode.
How well the FMA community embraces this opens the doors to the HUGE untapped (pardon the pun) grappling student body that have not seriously studied FMAs.
If one were to surf the net, you can see grappling instructors, even former JKD students stating the 'dead' arts of FMA. As ambassadors of FMA, here is material that speaks their language and SHOWS them the validity of our close range techniques as well as their own grappling material adapted to FMA.
In the history of Filipino tribal warfare, there are documented instances where observers would indicate warriors not merely hacking away at one another, but tying up their opponent and pretty much restraining them to use their edged weapon, like a Kalinga head ax.
Datu Puti said:
What I1m trying to say is that people may not perceive this the way it was meant.
I believe people would choose to perceive anything we do based on their presumptions and background. Since this event is accompanied by instruction and not sold as a PRIDE or NHB entertainment type of material, we know that the positives outweigh the negatives. In fact, from all the forums we have posted only this one solicited so many INITIAL negative responses. We also knew that if we communicated and placed our POV constructively, that many here will see that the last statement that I wrote way back, "primal (snipped) brutal...WE call it training" would be universally understood. We trusted other FMAs such as you to recognize the training for what it was, no matter how much they were steered off by others in the beginning.
Datu Puti said:
If you1re ever out my way I would be more than happy to go out for a cup of coffee or something stronger to discuss different ideas.
Sounds great. You're also invited as a special guest to any Sayoc Kali event we have in the future (seminars, etc.). We've extended such to others in MA in the past and always had great times with them.
Again, I extend my thanks to the board and its members. Further Sayoc related questions can be handled at our site.
Gumagalang,
--Rafael--
Sayoc Kali
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