On the weekend of August 27th-28th,  Bamboo Spirit Martial Arts hosted the 2nd Annual Toronto Modern Arnis Camp at  A.T. Martial Arts in Whitby. This was the second camp that I attended this year. I look forward to attending the annual ArnisFest, hosted by Master Ken, next month in Chicago!

It was a great success due to the fantastic teaching of Master Chuck Gauss and Master Ken Smith. We had 22 attendees at the camp, coming from Toronto, Sudbury, Windsor, Detroit, and Ottawa.

Master Ken and Master Chuck quickly took turns teaching the art of Modern Arnis. While doing so, they mixed in their stories about Professor.

The camp covered a wide variety of Modern Arnis concepts and techniques, including tapi tapi, sinawali boxing, pressure points, joint locks, and ground defences. Counters to sweeps, traditionals, knife drills, rolling drills, and self-defence techniques were also taught.

Several people commented on the seamless instruction from Master Chuck and Master Ken as the camp progressed. They did a fantastic job of teaching in a way that everyone, from beginners to advanced, benefitted.

We had a Filipino dinner served during the dinner break of the camp.

The fare included chicken adobo, spring rolls, kare kare, cassava cake, pansit (noodles), embutido (steamed meat loaf). steamed rice and a lechon! Many thanks to George Gonzales for his Lechon contribution!  I would also like to thank Terence, his wife (Christy), and his wonderful parents for cooking Filipino food and helping with the serving. It was FANTASTIC!

Group Photo

On Sunday, we observed a moment of silence in memory of Professor Remy A. Presas, a legend, our teacher, and the founder of the art of Modern Arnis.

I observed that while he may not be with us physically, his spirit was quite alive in Master Chuck and Master Ken throughout the weekend. We had an emotional closing ceremony with the memory of Professor Presas on our minds. We departed as friends and vowed to renew our ties next year.

Below is a slideshow that I created capturing some of the moments of the camp:

If you are not able to view this video, click here.

This was a fantastic sequel to the first Toronto camp I hosted last year. I look forward to next year!

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