About 9 years later when I read an interview that Professor gave to Guro Rick Mitchell, it was already ‘old news’, to me, but seeing it spelled out in print was exciting. Professor stated:
“I like to call modern arnis ‘the art within your art.’ It can work side by side with other styles or systems such as kenpo, kajukenbo, judo, aikido, tae kwon do or shotokan karate. Once I teach modern arnis to other martial artists, they are surprised to see how it compliments what they already know.” (Mitchell, 1991, p.16)
With that single statement Professor established two of the guiding principles of his art, innovation and flexibility. These 2 guidelines have influenced the course of action that I have taken over the full tenure of my teaching career in the martial arts. I was then, as I am now, fully committed to ‘the art within your art’ approach to teaching martial arts.
When I first found out that Professor had taught Modern Arnis at several colleges in the Philippines before he immigrated to the USA , I vowed that I would teach a Modern Arnis program at Erie Community College USA
I opened the first of the courses in September 1987 at Erie Community College – South Campus, Orchard Park , NY National College for Physical Education in the Philippines
In 1989, Professor, gave my curriculum a detailed, in-depth review. It took 4 hour for him to review the entire curriculum with me. I had to demonstrate every exercise, drill, anyo and technique in the exact order that each item appeared in my curriculum. I was assisted by Mr. Duane Brown and Mr. Tim Kashino, my student teaching assistants at the time. The review was exhaustive and no detail escaped his scrutiny. He questioned numerous items and I had to explain each one in detail. His biggest concern was reserved for why I taught the entire first course in the sequence without giving my students any stick training. I explained that I wanted to ensure good body and hand control plus emphasize safety training among my students before allowing them to do the stick work. It was also easier to get PE Departmental approval to run the courses by delaying the stick training until the second course. On the other hand I did introduce, triangular stepping, trapping hands, the de cadena drill, empty hand translations of the 12 stick angles of attack and defenses against 6 stick attacks in the first course. I simply made sure that only the instructor(s) used the stick.
Professor ultimately approved my curriculum in writing. I presented the signed document to the PE Department Curriculum Committee as part of the final review process for all 4 courses. The complete Kenpo-Modern Arnis Self-defense Program was given permanent status in the college course offerings beginning in September 1990. Over-all the ECC self-defense program has now run for 40 consecutive semesters or 20 uninterrupted years. To the best of my knowledge, this is the ONLY Modern Arnis college credit bearing program being taught in the USA or Canada
I believe that the reason I was able to secure Professor Presas’ endorsement for the ECC Kenpo-Modern Arnis Program because I included all of the salient points of Modern Arnis within my curriculum. My Modern Arnis core curriculum begins with the assumption that Modern Arnis is a fighting art that is based on the blade. I use replicas of the Presas jungle bolo and the Negrito bolo in my ECC program. I also teach Modern Arnis as a self-defense system. Further, I have adapted my Kenpo-Modern Arnis Program to fit into the American cultural context in general and NYS Penal Law in particular. Secondly, I have read and fully utilized all three (3) of Professor’s books:
Modern Arnis: Philippine Martial Art – Stick Fighting,
The Practical Art of Eskrima,
Modern Arnis: The Filipino Art of Stick Fighting
My ECC curriculum is based on Professor Presas’ statements and ideas as he published them in these books. The Rick Mitchell interviews published in Inside Kung Fu, merely added credence to my existing curriculum ideas.
I also used Professor’s original 6 volume video tapes series to gain visual confirmation of some of his ideas. These tapes allowed me to clearly see what he was doing and review it as many times as necessary to get it right. My goal was never to mimic, copy or clone his movements. I wanted to make sure that I understood what he was doing and why he did it in a particular manner. With those understandings in place I could build my Modern Arnis curriculum with confidence. By adding my own
on-site training experiences with Professor as well as sifu Zanghi, I could build on the newer innovations that I was seeing and learning as Professor continued his own development within the art.
In the final analysis I have concluded that the essential principles that drove Modern Arnis under Professor’s leadership can be summed up as follows;
1. Modern Arnis is a blade oriented art, even though Professor presented it as a stick art in order to gain greater general public acceptance. He wanted the art to grow in size and popularity. (Presas, 1974, p. 9)
2. The weapon, be it stick, bolo, sword or knife is clearly an extension of the hand. Anything that one can do with their weapon can be approximated by the empty hand.
(Presas, 1974, p. 9)3. The single and double stick plus the espada y daga drills
are taught to familiarize Modern Arnis students with some
fighting styles commonly found in the
the stick striking patterns and drills convert to empty hand
drills. All of these drills are actually precursors to some
practical empty hand self-defense applications.
(Presas, 1974, p. 9)
4. All weapons drills are translatable to empty hand drills and by
extension to self defense applications.
(Presas, 1974, p. 9)
5. Arnis can and should be taught a part of a general physical
education program at schools, colleges and universities. Arnis trains
students to defend themselves against armed and unarmed attacks.
(Presas, 1974, p. 12)
6. ‘Make the art for yourself” because any martial art style or system
that is fixed, rigid and tradition bound is not flexible enough to
change to the times and new situations.
(Presas, 1983, p. 3)
7. Body shifting and evasion are essential skills that students need to
master because weapons defense require greater awareness and
skill to defeat your opponent(s).
(Presas, 1974, p. 28 & 1983, p. 26)
8. The core or ‘life and soul” of Modern Arnis are the 12 stick angles
of attack. These 12 angles are paralleled by the 12 blocks, the 12
disarms and the empty hand strikes that mirror the 12 stick strikes.
(Presas, 1974, p. 32)
I simply took Professor at his word and then I tested everything to see if I could reasonable replicate his results.
As a sociologist by training and temperament, applying the scientific methodology gave me the opportunity to discover the validity of Professor’s approach. As my research results come in and were analyzed, I concluded that Professor was essentially correct. I followed his advice, tailoring everything to fit my own body and mentality. Modern Arnis is a very effective self-defense art.
Professor has written that everyone should adapt “…arnis principles to his own feel for each technique. The method should fit the person not the other way around.” (Presas, 1983, p. 5)
From 1983 when I first attended a seminar with Professor, until we had our last conversation in 1999, Professor always told his students and Modern Arnis instructors that we should ‘make it for ourselves’. When he referred to the “flow” in a conceptual sense, rather than as a technique, he wanted us to find, “…the comfortable place where the movements of arnis and the individual human body meet for maximum effectiveness; body and mind blend to achieve the most natural fighting style based on an individual’s needs and attitudes.” (Presas, 1983, p. 5)
It is important to recognize that while Professor wanted his Modern Arnis students to be open, flexible, innovative and adaptable; there are, however, some very definite skills within the system that must be mastered. Modern Arnis is not based on an ‘open ended, anything goes’ approach. It is imperative that the dedicated Modern Arnis student learns and masters:
the basic 12 single stick strikes and blocks, the use of
the umbrella and slanting stick blocks. Then, following in rapid succession, the students must learn and master
the following traditional stick striking patterns, figure 8,
rompida, up & down, banda y banda, abaniko corto,
abaniko largo, abaniko hirada, abaniko double action,
double zero, single stick redonda, redonda x, sinawali
movements (single, double and reverse), crossada,
palis-palis, espada y daga and cinco tiros (five strokes).
Then the student progresses to the empty hand translations and applications of all of the above stick striking patterns along with the trapping hands techniques and de cadena drill with applications. Subsequently still other skills are developed, including, learning joint-locks, spinning throws, take-downs, stick locks, empty hand and stick disarming techniques, sword/bolo disarming techniques, 6 count drill with variations off the basic drill, single stick sparring and counter for counter single stick drills and tapi-tapi drills.
Given the above mentioned skills and techniques that a student must learn and master in order to become proficient in Modern Arnis, it would seem obvious that one can not learn this art solely through attending seminars and camps several times a year. The student must be taught thoroughly and have the opportunity to work toward refining each of these skills over a considerable amount of time.
The ECC Kenpo-Modern Arnis Program is dedicated to teaching all aspects of Modern Anis. This is supplemented by the companion student club program which gives my students further opportunity to continue their Kenpo-Arnis training 1 or 2 evenings a week after they leave the college degree credit program. At the 1992 Arnis Conference held in the Philippines
In my effort to continue the work begun by Professor Presas and passed on to me through Sifu Don Zanghi, I have built and maintained the ECC Kenpo-Modern Arnis Self-defense Program for the past 20 years. I have been fortune enough to have some very dedicated students who have assisted me over the years: guro Tim Kashino, guro Richard Curren. Guro Kenny Q., guro Paul Martin and guro Debra Moore, as well as an off-campus training partner, guro Keith Roosa. Each of the above mentioned former college students have earned the minimum Arnis rank of Lakan Isa (1st degree Black Belt) in Modern Arnis.
Guro Battaglia, my Kenpo-Arnis senior and an instructor at the “Fighting Back Institute” under sifu Don Zanghi, has been a consistent resource and sounding board for me throughout my entire martial arts career. He runs his own school, “Amer-Asian Defensive Arts Academy ”, in Kenmore NY
In September, 2006, 2 new sections of the Kenpo-Modern Arnis Self-defense Program were opened at the City Campus of Erie Community College. Guro David Battaglia, began teaching PE 200, Basic Kenpo-Arnis for Self Defense during the day and Guro Paul Martin offered the same course during the evening session. The 3 of us have worked together to establish the City Campus program and we expect that it will grow and prosper over time as has the South Campus program. The Tracy Kenpo –Modern Arnis Legacies of Professor Remy Presas and sifu Donald Zanghi, are continuing to grow at Erie Community College
C. Jerome Barber, Ed. D.
Professor,
November 24, 2007
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