The Value of FMA Methodologies.

As a 26 year student of the Filipino martial arts (FMA), I’ve had my fair share of people question me about the practicality of training with weapons. Most of the time the question comes from a genuine desire to know more about and understand the methodologies found in the FMA, but other times the question comes in the form of a challenge to the validity of the training methodologies used in the FMA. The former comes from an “open” or innocent form of ignorance while the latter comes from a “closed” and malignant form. Usually the source of this malignant ignorance comes from someone who with a narrow frame of reference with varying degrees of training and varying degrees of functional skill in another martial art or with wrestling or mixed martial arts (MMA) in their background. The methodologies of the FMA are lost to them because they don’t understand the paradigm. I generally don’t fault them for that unless they’re really pushing the issue, and more often than not the guys that want to push the issue with me won’t get on the mat with me, even without a stick in my hand. That last statement isn’t me bragging about my skills, but rather it is a statement of how pusillanimous my past detractors have been.

I’ve known a fair number of people that are MMA enthusiasts. Some are just fans of the sport, as am I, and others are (or have been) competitors. They are often quick to dismiss any martial art that isn’t represented in one-on-one completion. In the last few decades, mixed martial arts has dominated the minds of a generation of martial arts enthusiasts, and has done so to the degree that many people involved in MMA equate combative sport with all-out combat or self defense under exigent circumstances. They often fail to see the difference between mutual combat in a ring and everything else, and they often discount the practicality of everything that isn’t used in the ring. Now, in my opinion, MMA is great training. It is great for fitness and functional skill, but where it falls short is that it is a sport with rules, weight divisions and controls and restrictions in place for the safety of the fighters. That’s great. It all has its place and I would be the last person to declare what goes on in the ring as invalid of not practical. However, there are certain aspects of the combat sport mentality that are problematic outside of competition. For the sake of brevity, this won’t be addressed here but may be the subject of a future article.

Unlike “traditional” martial arts (TMA), the FMA begins with weapons training and them transitions to empty hand. The weapon is an extension of the body, and when the transition is made from armed to unarmed methods, the motions and skills gained from working with weapons are essentially the same. In fact, the motions learned from training with weapons are mechanically more natural than the methodologies of other martial arts, as such they are easier to perfect because they are gross motor skills employing natural lines of body mechanics and motion. The FMA paradigm allows for the same skill set to be used with or without a weapon in your hand as opposed to TMA, where new skill sets are learned to accommodate the introduction of weapons. Additionally, weapons training found in the FMA imparts a certain flow that is not found in many TMA methodologies.

One of my students, who happens to be quite close to my age, related an experience to me where, on two separate occasions, he ran into an old friend from his youth. While they played catch-up on what they had been doing over the years, the conversation turned to their study of martial arts. His friends were practitioners of Brazilian jujitsu and began to espouse the merits of BJJ and proving oneself in tournaments and questioned my student’s choice of martial art. They asked questions like: What would you do without a stick? How would you use that if somebody took you down? It was clear to him that his friends were trying to raise their own self esteem by trying to drag his down, so he gave way in the conversation and let them say their piece. From what had been related to me, it seemed to me that his friends probably were young men trapped in middle-aged bodies with unresolved “manly man” self-esteem issues. To me, their innate need for competition at their age demonstrates a certain degree of immaturity. Why else would a guy who is well on his way to 40 and works for a living (i.e., not a professional athlete) need test himself in a one on one combat sport competition? Anyway, when my student asked his friends how they would handle and armed assailant, they said they would back away or run. When he asked them about dealing with multiple assailants and the possibility of getting curb stomped while grappling on the ground, they were dumbfounded and could not muster an answer due to their narrow frame of reference and malignant ignorance.

In contrast, one of my oldest students (and closest friends) had studied MMA and JKD for a few years before I met him and had already attained a blue belt in BJJ. By his admission, prior to getting onto the training floor with me he thought that I was either full of shit or somebody that really knows something. I suppose he found out one way or another as he still calls himself my student, even when I refer to him as my training partner. His prior experience with FMA was limited and rooted in his attendance at a McDojo that claimed to teach Eskrima, but really offered a watered down “sporty” (not sport, but sporty) version on FMA. After hearing the tales for what passed for training at the place I understood where he was coming from. He saw the value of what I was teaching from day one and in the weeks that followed, he began making connections between what I was teaching him and his prior BJJ/MMA training. He took the FMA concepts I was teaching and applied it what he already knew, in the true spirit of “mixed” martial arts.

"It is difficult to understand the universe if you study only one planet." – Miyamoto Musashi (The Book of Five Rings)

I have often said that at its core, any martial art is nothing more than geometry (arcs and angles), and an understanding of spatial relationships and timing. All martial arts in all cultures have that in common. Once you understand these things it is possible to dissect and gain understanding of any system of martial arts.

The core of my training and teaching regimen incorporates 18 classical methods or “styles” of FMA and five basic drills, each with several variations as well as numerous empty hand applications. The training paradigm used in our training sessions is geared toward exposing students to a broad spectrum of methodologies and guiding them to discover the connections between them. We use a series of striking patterns and drills to address concepts regarding geometry, range and timing. Through various drills, with and without weapons, students are exposed to appropriate responses to various arcs and angles of attack at various ranges. The focus of all of this variation is to train students to learn the dynamics of circular and linear motions and the mechanics that make them applicable in various situations. After being exposed to all of this, it becomes apparent that what seems to be an expansive curriculum is in fact built around a core of basic concepts and simple movements that are interrelated and universal.

“… it’s not just the hits, it the motion in between.” Neil Peart (Rush: Beyond the Lighted Stage)

The importance of spatial relationships is also imparted and students learn how to affect and control spatial relationships through footwork and body shifting in order to move to a position of advantage over an opponent. Combat is not just fluid, it’s dynamic. Striking and blocking is only as good as how you get there. Being aware of your body, where your weapon is in relation you your opponent and where his is in relation to your position and how your body is aligned at a given moment seems like minutia, but when playing a game of fractions it is everything. Taking a small step forward or backward, displacing to the side or weaving and rolling while attacking and defending not only makes you elusive, but by moving it is also opens and closes windows of opportunity for attacks and counterattacks. Look at any fighter of any consequence - past or present. You will see that they have developed impeccable footwork and positioning due to their high degree of awareness and mastery of spatial relationships.

"The great mistake is to anticipate the outcome of the engagement; you ought not to be thinking of whether it ends in victory or defeat. Let nature take its course, and your tools will strike at the right moment." Bruce Lee (The Tao of Jeet Kune Do)

Lastly, but probably most important of all, students are taught about timing and rhythm. In terms of timing, there are only three paradigms. You are either behind, matched with or ahead of your opponent. Each carries with it certain nuances that both limit and create opportunities, and each is heavily influenced by the rhythm or tempo of the engagement. Rhythm is either fluid or broken and it is rhythm that determines where you are in the regards to timing. One must have at least a functional understanding of rhythm in order to make any martial art work. We often strive to always be one step ahead of our opponents by overwhelming them with explosive barrages of fluid attacks and counter attacks. However, it is through the use of broken rhythm that we can really gain the advantage. Fluid motions create fluid rhythms that can be predictable and disrupted by broken rhythm, and it is by slowing down or being still where it is possible to bait your opponent, fooling him into thinking he has the initiative of superior timing and then stealing the initiative when he makes an anticipated move.

“… learn to forget..” Jim Morrison and the Doors (Soul Kitchen)

All three of these core concepts are pulled together not just through drills, but through “breaking” the drills to which they have been exposed. The purpose of drills is to isolate concepts, develop attributes and impart strategy. However, no matter how many movements a drill has in its structure, it is nothing more than repetition. Memorizing and mastering the movements in sequence is perhaps the lowest stage of learning. Learning a drill is not the end of the learning process. The desired end state to learning drills is that you forget pattern, forsake the drill and simply act. Yes - ACT, not react. In order to spontaneously flow you have to dissect the drill and extract the essence and then discard it. If you do not, the pattern will become habit and you become slave to your routine and will fail to act in an appropriate manner when the time presents itself. The highest level of development is where you have internalized everything you have learned and have transcended the superficiality of patterns and the dogma of style and system.

These concepts are not evident to those who don’t train in the FMA even though they are universal to all martial arts, and sadly they are often overlooked by those that do. Many just can’t see past the superficial and spend their time and energy simply mimicking their instructor and trying to be just like them. I can only suppose that they do so because it is easier to copy excellence than to be excellent. The late Remy A. Presas had been known for encouraging those he taught to find the connections and “make the art for yourself”. He was also known for saying “it’s all the same” referring to the motion of hand and weapon as well as and concepts surrounding the FMA. I have embraced this idea. I feel that my teachers have helped guide me toward doing just that and feel that I must pay all of that forward to those who come to me for training.

A Developmental Sequence for Martial Arts Instruction

           Over the past 30 years of instructing Tracy Kenpo, Modern Arnis and Paradigm Escrima, I have come to realize that there is a fairly consistent pattern or sequence that exists with regard to student learning.  This sequence involves four (4) stages or steps which my associates and I refer to as the “subject / material acquisition sequence”.  The four stages are as follows:

Mechanical: consists of rote memorization of the system basics and foundational movements that the student must learn in order to proceed through the early introductory portions of the system.  The student is learning the stances, stepping methods, evasive movements, hand strikes, forearm blocks, balance points for kicking, simple kicks along with some simple self-defense techniques.  The students must learn how to coordinate their hands, eyes, feet and body as a single unified whole in a reflexive manner without thinking before they move.   

Technical: involves taking the mechanics that one has already learned and using that previous information to develop an understanding about how and why these mechanics actually work when executed properly.  Within this stage the student is concerned with blending both the art and craft aspects of a particular system, plus improving their performance of each technique.  The improvement involves developing an appreciation for the minute details within the movements of each technique.  The student then learns and refines their own understanding of the techniques through one on one coaching of the newer students at the school.

Conceptual: taking all of the previous ideas and behaviors already learned, and finding the relationships between them, by comparing and contrasting the effectiveness of these ideas/behaviors for one’s self. This process is always on-going and is “tailored” to fit one’s own physical abilities, body type, flexibility, strength and mental /moral orientation.  Each individual will very likely find within other martial arts systems items, ideas and movements that are similar to what one has already learned or mastered.  The on-going comparison allows each individual student to gain and benefit from a better understanding of their own original martial art system.  The conceptual stage validates the strengths found within one’s own system.  Because the individual student is able to move beyond thinking strictly in terms of definitive set of concrete terms within a single system approach, they can begin thinking abstractly.  This newer style of thinking and understanding makes it possible for the student to develop their own ideas within a particular martial art system.  The conceptual stage allows a student to find a concomitant approach to various martial arts systems such as Kenpo, Arnis, Tai Chi, Pa Qua and Escrima, for example.  There are numerous ways in which various martial arts systems can serve as companions to one another, but only individual martial artists can make these connections for themselves.  The art has to be altered and “tailored” to fit the body and mind-set of each individual person without resorting to cloning and mimicry.  

 Innovation: the student has moved beyond merely repeating the movements as they have been initially taught, drilled and rehearsed.  In this critical stage of development the student is beginning to understand how to mix and match parts of techniques with one another to meet a specific situation at that precise moment in time and space.  The student reflexively understands that he (or she) must act in a spontaneous manner but draws on all of their previously learned movements to fashion a “new” set of behaviors to cope with this specific situation, right here and right now!

For analytical purposes the four stages are presented as separate and distinct from one another, however, in reality these stages overlap.  A student can be in different phases of 2 stages at the same time.  The transition is not always smooth and seamless. There is not a really clear, definitive demarcation point between each of these stages, nor is every student going to experience the same rate of transition and growth.     

As a teacher, I know that the above sequence exists, however I present all of my instructional information in small units to my students.  Depending on the topic and the skills of various individual students who I am teaching at a particular moment, I will present 1, 2 or at most 3 units of instruction at a time.  I never exceed 3 instructional units because that seems to be the upper limit that most people can absorb and utilize in a single instructional period.  Once the initial lessons are learned and the students can demonstrate physical control of the material, I will add 1, 2 or 3 applications of the techniques or drills.

It is very important in my opinion to have a larger, comprehensive curriculum written out.  The three unit lesson plan is worthless if there isn’t a larger plan which supports the smaller unit lessons.  There are a good number of martial arts instructors who literally teach “the lesson of the day” right off of the top of their heads!  They only have a very vague idea about what the end plan or goals are for their instructional ventures and that leaves their students in a bind.  They do not know what they are actually learning and how the various lessons connect to one another.  The lack of perceived connections in turn makes it very difficult for all but the very best students to move successfully through the developmental sequences to mastery of the particular art style or system.

The lack of long term curriculum planning on the part of many instructors is a reflection on how they themselves were taught the martial arts system that they are now attempting to pass on to a new generation of students.  We all are products of our own past experiences, both good and bad.  Most martial arts instructors in the USA have not been tutored and schooled in the art and science of instruction.  Simply because someone has persevered long enough to earn a black belt/sash, diploma or certificate does not mean that they can in turn properly instruct others in that same art form.  Even if someone were a highly accomplished performer in martial arts tournaments, with an impressive array of trophies and medals, that alone does not qualify the individual as a knowledable or skilled instructor.  All too often the people, who and operate open martial arts schools, while well intentioned, are in fact very poorly prepared for the art and science of instruction.

In my opinion, instructing others is a noble and honorable task.  However, it is not as easy as it might appear to those who have never tried their hand at it.  This is why I have written this essay on the developmental sequence of learning.  It is not that this sequence of some sort of closely guarded secret that can only be passed on to a select few, lest the martial arts would suddenly become overrun with would-be experts and instructors.  Quite the contrary, the developmental sequence is well known and has been utilized by numerous people in nearly every area of instruction regarding physical skills training.  I am simply putting this information forward in a martial arts context with the hope that my essay will spur some in-depth discussions about how the next generation of martial arts instructors should be trained and instructed in the art of instructing others. 

Time will be the true test with regard to whether or not some people in the martial arts are able to step beyond their own systems and learning experiences to engage in some serious discussion about how to instruct students.  The individual martial arts systems are not the important thing in such a discussion.  Each martial arts system has a set of drills, forms, techniques and a discussion involving instructional concepts does not have to touch any of those things.

The real issue involves developing a curriculum plan and establishing a measurable set of goals for each individual martial arts system in general and a particular school setting that strives to teach that art competently.  I have some ideas about curriculum development within the martial arts and I am looking forward to an in-depth, ego-free discussion with other serious minded martial art instructors.

Jerome Barber, Ed. D.
Director and Mataw Guro,
Independent Escrima-Kenpo-Arnis Associates
Suite 230, 5999 South Park Avenue
Hamburg, New York 14075

A different dimension of training?

Greetings. My name is Tom Gerace and I have been invited to post here. I author a blog called The Things Worth Believing In. My blog focuses on what I define under the umbrella term of "warriorship"; which in essence is the sum total of topics such as; martial arts, weaponcraft, self-defense, martial philosophy, codes of conduct, fitness and so on, but with the important inclusion of "service" and "dedication to craft". The former without the latter being a "ticket puncher" and the latter without the former an "artist".

For my first post here I would like to address the issue of how you train your martial arts skills. We have all seen the difference between instruction/skill training:

and sparring or dog brother style gatherings.

These seem to stand as the two ends of the FMA training spectrum with varying degrees of skill/intensity in between, depending on how hard, fast or freestyle you intend to practice.

My friend, Guro Paul Martin and myself have been training with something of a different sort:

By incorporating the burpee, which approximates the fighting skill of the "sprawl" and induces an approximation of combat fatigue and physical stress, one can add a dimension of training that is neither strictly skill centered nor outright sparring.

Grandmaster Remy Presas Modern Arnis Training Camp

Grandmaster Remy Presas Modern Arnis Training Camp

Will be held on June 21 – 24, 2012, at Villanova University, Philadelphia, PA and hosted by Guro Michael Bates.  As of this date the following people have been announced as presenters at the camp:

GM Crispulo “Ising” Atillo, Master Dan Anderson, Datu Kelly Worden, PG Tom Bolden,      Dr. Jerome Barber with special appearances by Dr. Mark V. Wiley and Datu Tim Hartman.  More names will be added as instructors give affirmative replies to their invitations to serve as presenters.

You can visit the camp website at www.remypresasimaf.com  and contact Guro Bates via e-mail:

Yours truly,

Jerome Barber, Ed. D.                                                                                          Director,  Independent Escrima-Kenpo-Arnis Associates

(Note:  The order of the presenters names was taken from the website and may indicate the order in which invitations to present were accepted.)

Modern Arnis: The Art Within Your Art

          When I first began my training under sifu Don Zanghi, in 1982, at the “Fighting Back Institute”, in Buffalo, NY., he was teaching the Tracy Kenpo System.   Sifu Zanghi had just returned from a two week summer training camp with Professor Remy A. Presas, the founder and Grand Master of the Modern Arnis System and to put it mildly sifu Zanghi was ‘pumped’.  He informed us that were about to embark on a new course of martial arts training.  Sifu Zanghj had re-written his curriculum and he was blending Tracy Kenpo with Modern Arnis.  The more our training progressed and the more that I learned about Modern Arnis the more I began sharing Sifu Zanghi’s enthusiasm for his newly blended system.  I could see and ‘feel’ the connections between Kenpo and Arnis.  I was really hooked on the ‘art within your art’ concept long before I ever met Professor Presas. 

          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, where I was already a tenured sociology professor.   All I needed to do before I could get started on my ECC plan was to complete my own under-belt Kenpo-Arnis training with Sifu Zanghi.  When I mentioned my plan to Sifu Zanghi and Professor Presas, they both encouraged me to proceed with my project; however, neither man offered me any curriculum guidance.  I later found out why there wasn’t any offer of help.  Professor did not have a written curriculum, nor did he have a permanent headquarters school in the USA.  I would be on my own.  The quick and simple solution became readily apparent.  I would take my notes from Sifu Zanghi’s instruction, add my notes from Professor’s seminars and camps which I attended as well as use Professor’s first video tape series as my curriculum resource materials.  I completed my under-belt studies with Sifu Zanghi in December 1985 and immediately began compiling my collected data.   I presented my curriculum proposal to the ECC Physical Education Department Chairman, Paul Barone, in April 1986.  After the necessary departmental reviews and approvals, I was granted permission to offer the first 2 courses of my ECC Kenpo- Modern Arnis Self-defense Curriculum in February 1987.

I opened the first of the courses in September 1987 at Erie Community College – South Campus, Orchard Park, NY.  The courses were set up to run in a sequential manner over four (4) consecutive semesters. The students could join the sequence at any point.  New students or beginners would be separated from the more advanced people enrolled in the same course.  I also planned for my more experienced people to mentor and coach the beginners.  The ECC Kenpo-Modern Arnis Self-defense Program had a 2 pronged approach.  I was teaching all of my students Kenpo and Modern Arnis techniques for self-defense, but I was also running a martial arts teacher training program.  Once again I was following directly in Professor Presas’ footsteps.  He had taught Modern Arnis at the National College for Physical Education in the Philippines.   Professor had been a ‘teacher of teachers’.

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 Philippines.  All of
     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, the assembled grand masters and masters agreed that a reasonable time table for learning the art required at least 2 training sessions per week for a minimum of 1 hour per session for at least one full calendar year to qualify for ranking at the top of the under-belt grades.

        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 (1^st 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.  Together, guro Battaglia and I have retained and built on the legacy given to us by sifu Don Zanghi, through a private commercial venture and at a public educational institution.  I am mentioning this fact because I believe it is important for the readers of this essay to fully understand that Professor Presas’ dream of making Modern Arnis a world recognized martial arts is happening.  I am just one person working toward making the dream a reality.  I am also cognizant of the factual reality that I did not get to this position through some magical process or without help from a number of other people, some of whom I have named above in this essay.

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, Erie Community College
Orchard Park, NY

November 24, 2007