For most people, the sight of someone wildly wielding a weapon is a great opportunity to test how fast their legs can move in the opposite direction.
Not Willy Soriano’s students.
These rare individuals are practitioners of a martial art called Eskrima, a weapons system based on stick fighting. Part of their training involves a drill called “sinawali,” in which a pair of Eskrimadors takes turns throwing and blocking each other’s strikes in rapid, fluid, and rhythmic combinations.
Another part of training—if they so choose—is to spar full contact.
Though rattan sticks are the weapons of choice for Eskrima, most fighters transfer to various bladed weapons and even unarmed combat.
“What intrigued me were the takedowns, like the Jiujitsu- and Aikido- type arm locks. You can lock with your body and you can lock with a stick. I can tie you up like a pretzel and you can’t do anything about it,” explained Jesse De La Cruz, who has been a student of Soriano’s for about seven years.
“This art teaches you how to be effective with both your hands and how to manipulate limbs to your advantage. I like that aspect of it. … The whole art is just fascinating. The fluidity of how the Filipinos developed the art is just like dancing,” De La Cruz said.
Eskrima is an ancient weapons system developed by the natives of the Philippine islands. The origins of these techniques come from China during the ninth century, when travelers looking to trade began offering the knowledge of martial arts to Filipino tribesmen.
As centuries passed, each region of the Philippines began developing its own distinct art. Eskrima techniques were used in wars between tribes and then utilized against Spanish colonizers, who would eventually conquer the Philippines and outlaw the practice of martial arts. However, Filipinos found ways to train in Eskrima under their oppressors’ noses—similar to how Brazilian slaves practiced Capoeira by disguising techniques as choreographed dances.
Over the years, people developed various branches of fighting styles, until 12 of Eskrima’s most respected masters banded together to form one unified system. It is this system, Doce Padres (or “12 equals”), that Soriano and his students train under.
Today, Eskrima has transformed into a worldwide sport. Two of Soriano’s students, Max Carlon, 56, and Kimberly Webb, 17, have earned a chance to compete in the World Eskrima Kali Arnis Federation tournament, which will take place in Las Vegas on July 16.
The tournament will host national champions from countries all around the world, including Germany, Sweden, Britain, Philippines, Australia, and countries from South America, according to Soriano.
Carlon and Webb are both preparing to represent the United States. Webb, a national silver medalist, will be participating in the “forms competition.” She will be judged on the gracefulness, power, speed, variation, and authenticity of her techniques.
Carlon will compete in full contact sparring—with rattan sticks. But he will be fully padded and trained accordingly.
“Most people fight with gloves, mask, and chest armor,” De La Cruz explained and went on to say that combatants are allowed to wear as much padding as they want.
However, the extra protection comes with a price: “We call people who wear excessive gear ‘Robo Cop’ because they’re all padded up and can barely move,” De La Cruz said.
Competition Eskrima looks like a primal and rugged version of fencing, with its own style of grace. De La Cruz explained that to the untrained eye, a stick fight might look like a blur of flailing objects swung with shut-eyed panic and violent desperation, but an experienced spectator can distinguish a sloppy strike from effective technique.
“These guys have a lot of guts. I mean, it takes a lot of guts for me to compete in hand-to-hand combat, but sheesh, man, with weapons?” said Soriano, who has instructed Carlon for almost three years.
Sparring matches are three one-minute rounds with 30 seconds of rest in between. Though three minutes might not seem long when you’re micro-waving a Hot Pocket, Carlon found out how time stretches in the heat of battle.
“My first match that I ever did I almost wanted to quit. I was out of breath, two-minutes was too long but they talked me into doing another round. After that I told myself I would never go back in the ring feeling like that again,” Carlon said.
To get in shape for the tournament, Carlon has been training with a jump rope equipped with one-pound handles to simulate the weight of his sticks. He is also building stamina by sparring weekly.
“Normally we spar two to three times a week. We’ll fight anywhere from 40 one-minute rounds in a row,” said De La Cruz, who trains with Carlon. “When your skill level is the same, usually the person who is in better shape or stronger prevails. So you got to keep in really good shape.”
Although Eskrima is an aggressive and violent art, training in it has other benefits as well.
“The wellness that you get from the fitness part of it—I get the fitness part of it from the full contact stuff—the other part just helps me feel fit and self confident,” said De La Cruz.
Carlon, who teaches at a vocational school, also credited Eskrima with giving him the patience, respect, and discipline he needs for his job.
De La Cruz said that training in Eskrima has taught him patience as well.
“We’re more in control. We fight so aggressive and we train aggressively, so if someone comes at you a little bit more aggressive you can be more patient with that person. We’re use to aggression, we can control it,” he said.
With all the talk about violence, De La Cruz stressed a point, “The full- contact stuff is just for the aggressive people who want to learn how to fight and go out and fight full contact to see how effective they can be,” De La Cruz said.
“Not everyone in our class does full contact stick fighting. There are only three or four of us who do it and our class has 12 people in it. There are the other parts of Eskrima that people need to see,” he said.
Contact Intern Jason Banania at intern@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in Apr 12-19, 2012.