Hi,
I was very busy lately, so I could not answer the questions at a time.
Now I try to answer them all at once.
Renegade: The main problem is in the name of Modern Arnis. At this time there is only one. Before there was two. One taught by Remy, and a second taught by his brother Ernesto. Most of the Europeans that do Modern Arnis do the Ernestos style were most of the Americans do Remys.
When Remy visited us in 1996, when I also got my Datu and 6th Dan, he saw a black belt grading of our association, with 17 people going for Lakan/Dayang Isa, Dalawa and Tatlo. This was at a time, when we had NOT yet adapted our system towards Remy´s style.
Here is what he said: (I have it on videotape, so I can write EXACTLY his words):
"It was very impressive. Everybody learned self defence. That is the key. I am very proud of the German Arnis Association, for what they are doing. You keep the good work. You are doing right. You uplift the standard of Arnis throughout the world. Thank you."
So he seemingly did not regard it as another style, because what Ernesto trained, was closer to the original Modern Arnis from the 60ies and 70ies as his late Modern Arnis (so I have been told.
Bill Lowery: A small point. What do the letters e.V., mean?
This means registered at a german court. In german sport, we have clubs, that give themselves a statutes, that have to be conform with a certain law. The court check that. If it is ok, you get the e.V. (in german: eingetragener Verein). This means that you are "gemeinnützig" which means beneficial to the community. When you have this, you get public halls for training, you can get subsidised for your equipment, you trainer may get some money from the council for the teaching etc. The main thing is, that it is not a private school but a club, that is non profit. Every profit you make has to be spend according to the rules of your statuses.
You have to have elections of the board of directors every few years. Another good thing is, that you don ´t have to pay tax, if your turnover is not too high.
So all together quite a good thing, if you don ´t want to live of it. I think 95 of the german sport is organized this way.
Yari: Maybe we can get knifeman.dk(tobey) in to talk about modern arnis in Denmark? And Johan (if's he's on the net) about it in sweden?
Well, Toby was not there when it started. FMA in Scandinavia and especially Modern Arnis began, when Jorgen Gydesen from Odense/Denmark came to a seminar in Freiburg/south Germay in 1993, where he participated in my Arnis class. He invited me up to Denmark. For about 8 years I went there twice a year to give seminars, starting in 1984.
Thorbjorn came I think in 1986 to the seminars when I was there and of course to the seminars of Jorgen. he want through the ranks and is an excellent arnisador today.
Jorgen relocated to Ulm in Germany in 1991 and Karl Gottliebsen and I think Thorbjorn at that time already made the work in the organisation. But I am not sure, perhaps Thorbjorn came in a little bit later. In the end, he was the one, to have the enthusiasm to run the danish arnis association. I occasionally still go there for seminars. Thorbjorn also has been to the Philippines, fought very successfully at WEKAF events and still has ties to Ernesto Presas.
Johan Skalbergs first contact with the FMA was during a seminar that i taught in Fredrikshaven in north Jütland /Denmark. I think it was in 1985. He was a brown belt Jiu-Jitsu at that time and he came with his Jiu-Jitsu instructor Uno Feldthusen, a 5th Dan under Professor Wally Jay.
They participated in many of my seminars and also went through the belts. In the end, Johan was even more interested in Modern Arnis, so that he continued to put a lot of effort in it. Beside the Modern Arnis, he came in contact with Jeff Espinous during a summer-camp of the Germany Arnis Association in 1991 and later, also through my contacts with Suro Mike Inay. This is his background in the FMA. the roost in Modern Arnis with extensive knowledge in Kali/Sikaran of Jeff Espinous and Inayan Eskrima of Suro Mike Inay. He also has been to the Philippines and was WEKAF World Champion in the Heavyweight division.
Red Blade: When did you and the DAV join the IMAF ran by GM Remy Presas?
We met him the first time in 1994 in Hamburg. We had a split from Ernesto before that and he said, that he would support us and help us to gain more knowledge in Modern Arnis.
He never asked us to join the IMAF and formally we never did. We had bad experiences with very tight bounds to Ernesto before that and he understood. He was aware of all the history and our background here in Germany in the beginning.
Though, I also got my Datu, 6th Dan and "European Modern Arnis Representative" of him on IMAF certificates.
I hope this answers the questions that arose during the last week.
If there are any more I will be glad to answer them.
Dieter Knüttel
Datu of Modern Arnis