Bruce Juchnik's Sacramento Gathering

The past couple of weeks have had a lot of intense martial arts energy. The weekend before last I went up to Sacramento for Bruce Juchnik's annual martial arts gathering. It's a busy event, with dozens of instructors from nearly as many disciplines and styles.

The FMA were a popular draw, with participants filling the conference room to which we were assigned. That was the first problem; as I looked at all the people crowded together, most clutching double sticks, I knew this was going to be a challenge for all. The second problem was the number of instructors sharing a tight schedule, meaning each one only had 20 minutes to teach.

First up for the morning session was Graciella Casillas, who grasped the issue and immediately told everyone to put down one stick. Watching her perform Serrada was quite interesting. Everyone has their own idiosyncratic personal style, and there's something to be gleaned from seeing that diversity. Graciella still has very fast hands, one of the hallmarks that made her the first fighter to ever hold simultaneous world championships in boxing and kickboxing.

Next up was grandmaster Arthur Gonzalez of Tenio Decuerdas Eskrima. A large man with an intense manner, he projects a commanding air, reflected in techniques honed for the street. He taught a couple of no-nonsense close-quarter self-defense scenarios against a knife that were simple yet quite effective in their details.

Remy Presas Jr. followed, demonstrating disarms and joint locks with the single stick. His ability to flow through techniques impressed the crowd, leaving many wondering how he could make it look so easy!

I taught next, and went back to knife work largely because of the crowded room. I showed how and why to bring an attacker's weapon hand tight to the hip when doing an arm bar, then finished with a basic wrist lock to teach the principle of finding the open direction in any disarm.

After that things became a bit of a blur as I circulated the room helping the familiar instructors, who followed: Mata Sa Bagyo founder and Serrada master Carlito Bonjoc, Serrada grandmaster Vincent Cabales, and Serrada master Ron Saturno.

We broke for lunch after that, and a couple of car loads of folks from Decuerdas and Serrada drove to a Chinese buffet. Listening to Stockton natives reminisce about that town's FMA history is an education in itself. There was a time when Arthur Gonzalez was a teenager and his father had both Angel Cabales and Gilbert Tenio working for him. Arthur was stunned when he discovered their pictures in a martial arts magazine!

Those are the kind of roots that make Stockton such an authentic breeding ground for FMA here in the United States. Just as in the Philippines, there are generations of families and students who have trained over decades. It's a tough town, where the art has not just survived but thrived in response. It's a wonder more students in America don't visit this Mecca to train; it's certainly as real and intense as the Philippines, and a heck of a lot closer!

The afternoon session was largely dedicated to Pentjak Silat with Victor and Paul De Thouars, assisted by Bernard Langan and another whom I don't recall. As always, I love the deadly beauty and sophisticated knowledge of body mechanics found in Silat. Alfredo Bandolan spent his time on Doce Pares sparring. The last person up was Glenn Abrescy, but that segment ended abruptly when he had to go to a different session scheduled at that same time.

I've since heard that there were some teachers at this weekend who were upset at the brevity of time allotted, or felt they should have had more priority billing, but one feature of this gathering is that teachers are introduced by name and style, but not by rank. This is to level the playing field so that participants choose with whom to train based on the art alone. Regardless, the key to my weekend was getting to meet and socialize with some of the best martial artists on the planet.

Stockton Legacy Tournament Feb. 20-21st

The United States FMA Federation is hosting a two-day event this coming February 20-21st in Stockton California. The Saturday portion consists of nine scheduled seminars through the day, followed by a tournament on Sunday.

With five seminar slots scheduled with different graduate students of the late grandmaster Angel Cabales, this event should be of particular interest to Serrada practitioners, bringing together for the first time these instructors, representing over 125 years of collective experience in this system.

http://www.usfmaf.org/Events/future/USFMAF_Legacy_seminar-tournament.pdf

Serrada demo video

This is a video of a demo by Frank Lile and Chez Tibon of the Angels Disciples club, posted recently on YouTube. I've always thought these guys do a great job highlighting the art of Serrada Escrima; note the ranging to get inside with the daga against the long stick. This was a hot day (over 100º) and an even hotter performance by maestro Darren Tibon's team!

Another great blog from Alex!

I'm going to be lazy and once again refer readers to Alex Castro's blog. Alex is a sharp writer and has benefitted from training with various guros in his travels and relocations. These days he's putting out cutting edge information on Serrada (pun intended), while I've been concentrating lately on retooling my shop for making my blades and improving my skills in that endeavor.

Serrada and Wing Chun

Alex Castro has written an interesting post comparing Serrada and Wing Chun. He was one of a number of people who trained with me who also trained under Wing Chun grandmaster Chris Chan.

Nice to be able to reference writings of someone with whom I've worked in the past, especially one with such a solid and varied background ....

Alex Castro's Serrada Blog

There's a new escrima blog by Alex Castro which I've linked in my sidebar. Alex trained with me for a couple of years when he started escrima. Since then he has lived mostly down in Texas, with some time spent briefly back here in California. Though he is writing from a Serrada perspective, Alex offers insights from a much broader perspective. He is a talented martial artist who was deeply involved in Shuai Jiao when I met him. He's often left thoughtful comments on my posts, so I'm happy to see him writing his own.