Recently, I came across this video on Facebook, and it stood out to me. Take 10 minutes of your time and watch the whole thing. Some saw it as a metaphor for death regarding confronting the fear of the unknown.
“Stealing the lead” is a term often discussed in the context of tapi tapi. “Stealing the lead” means that one player has reversed the momentum of the other player and is driving on the other. In other words, one player
What is ambidexterity? In Modern Arnis, it is the ability to perform techniques with either hand. Every student of mine strives to learn techniques, whether it be cane, knife, or stick with both the right and left hand. The late
A concept that I teach in class concerns spinal alignment. I often explain that a weak structure will be easy to exploit. By breaking an opponent’s structure or moving the spine out of alignment, we can gain the advantage. Thus, disrupting
One of the fundamental concepts taught in Modern Arnis is the obstruction removal. Removing the obstruction is both an offensive and defensive maneuver. Among the vital obstruction removal skills are the slap off/pull off, clearing, and lifting. As one might
When playing the Modern Arnis version of tapi tapi, one will encounter the concept of baiting. In short, baiting creates advantages for the driver. By baiting the defender, the driver places the defender in a disadvantageous position. For starters, a
In recent weeks, while playing with Dref, I’ve experimented with training parameters. Some of those parameters include playing with the left hand only, limiting myself to specific Modern Arnis techniques, or limiting myself to defending against Dref. Among the parameters
One of the major concepts of Modern Arnis is footwork. In short, proper footwork creates favorable angles for the player. To do this, we utilize 45-degree footwork. By utilizing proper footwork, we can protect our centerlines while attacking an opponent’s
The late Professor Remy Presas said, “The check hand wins the fights!” One can check, defend, remove, and blunt the opponent’s attack. With this concept, one can delay, monitor, lock, and strike the opponent. Examples include the slap-off, clearing, joint
Every attack will have a counter, to which it will also have a counter. One can counter a strike, a lock, or a punch. The late Professor Presas often said “you must counter” or “you must counter the counter.” While
