Balintawak Seminar
This past Sunday, I had the pleasure of participating in a Balintawak seminar taught by GM Bobby Taboada. Sean Tyler hosted the seminar at his Raging Tiger Martial Arts school in Scarborough. GM Bobby was a long-time friend of Professor Presas, and the Professor was…
Toronto = Stockton?
Stockton, California has long been known for its’ long and rich history of Filipino Martial Arts, dating back decades. Stockton had a large Filipino community in those days, mostly migrant workers. Often, at night, eskrimadors would train in secret. I remember reading somewhere that Professor…
2010 Michigan Modern Arnis Camp
This year’s Michigan Modern Arnis camp was held from June 24th through the 27th. We had a fantastic turnout, with around 45 participants and 15 first-time camp attendees. Master Chuck Gauss, Master Ken Smith, Master Brian Zawilinski, Master Roland Rivera, and Master Earl Tullis took…
Professor Wally Jay
Among the many influences on Professor Presas’ development of Modern Arnis, none was arguably more significant than Professor Wally Jay. Professor Wally was the founder of Small Circle Jiu-Jitsu. If you are not able to view this video, click here. As many readers know, Professor…
Master Gaby Roloff Seminar
This past weekend, I enjoyed participating in two separate seminars by Master Gaby Roloff in Ottawa at the Stronger You dojo. Renshi Janet Heffernan hosted the seminar. A little background on Master Gaby. She has been training and teaching Modern Arnis since the early 1980s….
The Modern Arnis Six Count Drill
The 6 Count drill is one of the staple Modern Arnis drills. From our perspective, the most fundamental skill this drill teaches is check hand usage. It is often taught at Modern Arnis seminars worldwide. Before you learn this drill, you must learn the basic…
2008 Toronto FMA Workshop
Kudos to Mike Cooper for a great job in putting this together! I enjoyed the 2008 Filipino Martial Arts Workshop, which was very well organized by Mike Cooper and featured myself, Sean Tyler of FCS, and Punong Guro Rudy Cosico of Arnis Canada. I kicked…
Paul Vunak and Filipino Martial Arts
In the April 2008 edition of Black Belt magazine, there is an article on Paul Vunak and the topic of “Defanging the Snake.” This interview with Vunak was done in an interview format and one section piqued my interest: “Black Belt: Why should martial artists…
Modern Arnis-What it is and it isn’t
First and foremost, Grandmaster Remy A. Presas designed Modern Arnis as a self-defence system. While Modern Arnis and many Filipino Martial Arts (referred to as FMAs) have origins in bladed weapons usage, Professor Presas preferred not to teach the bladed aspect of the art. Over…
