Stickman's Escrima Blog

Marc Denny meets Arthur Gonzalez - GM to GM

Published on 2011-10-11 10:41:00

Yesterday I went out to Lodi for the first meeting of GM Arthur Gonzalez of Tenio's Decuerdas Eskrima and GM Marc Denny of the Dog Brothers. Since I was the person who put them in touch with each other, I was very interested to see the results of my matchmaking. I met Art Gonzalez a little over a year ago and was immediately impressed with his no-nonsense down-to-earth approach to self-defense. I first met Marc Denny back in 1988 at the 1st National Eskrima Championships in San Jose, and I've

2010 World Series has a Filipino twist

Published on 2010-10-28 15:25:00

Congratulations to the San Francisco Giants and starting pitcher Tim Lincecum on their victory last night to open the 2010 World Series. What few people know is that Lincecum is half-Filipino on his mother's side.In 2008 the Giants also became only the second major league baseball team to have a full-blooded Filipino on the roster. Geno Espinelo pitched one season before going back down to Giants' minor league affiliates. The first Filipino to play in the majors was Bobby Balcena, who briefly

An Odd Premonition

Published on 2010-10-06 18:53:00

It is with sadness that I learned yesterday of the deaths of two pillars in the Filipino martial arts community, with the passing of grandmaster Ben Largusa and master Christopher "Topher" Ricketts. Ben Largusa, age 83, was head of the Villebrille-Largusa system and one of the early big-name instructors here in northern California. Christopher Ricketts, only age 55, was a protege of Tatang Ilustrisimo and the founder of the Bakbakan association. The following story, which I was already writin

Bruce Juchnik's Sacramento Gathering

Published on 2010-10-06 16:18:00

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

Return of the longwinded blog

Published on 2010-09-13 16:58:00

Okaaaaay ... It's been nearly 9 months since I posted on this blog, a new record for letting it slide. A lot has gone on in that time, some events worth noting, many more perhaps now forgotten. Writing, or at least making a stab at good writing, takes time. Unfortunately I've never yet earned a penny at it. It's a bit disillusioning when one's best talent is financially of such little worth, but the illusion of contributing to society makes up for that. Regardless of motivation, when the mu

Stockton Legacy Tournament Feb. 20-21st

Published on 2010-01-17 04:02:00

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 ex

Eskabo Daan Grand Opening

Published on 2009-12-23 15:14:00

Eskabo Daan Grand OpeningNovember 7th was the opening of grandmaster Robert Castro’s Eskabo Daan school in San Francisco, and it certainly kicked off in grand style with drumming and demonstrations throughout the day. This is a significant milestone not only for grandmaster and founder Robert Castro and the growth of his system, but also for the Filipino martial arts community in general. While there are many people teaching here in the Bay Area nowadays, almost all are using facilities such

Autumn Leaves

Published on 2009-10-24 03:51:00

It’s a warm and sunny late October afternoon. The elm trees are starting to drop their leaves; I’m raking the back yard in preparation for a class. I breathe deeply and take in the fresh air and suddenly what began as a necessary settles into a timeless meditative rhythm, connecting me to every martial art student who has ever swept a dojo floor. The scratching of the rake as it creates little piles of the fallen leaves puts me in a reflective state, bringing to mind an awareness of morta

Upcoming Bay Area November Events

Published on 2009-10-24 03:13:00

Saturday November 7th, GM Rob Castro is having a grand opening of his new Eskabo Daan headquarters in San Francisco at 1920 Polk Street (cross street Pacific) from 10:30am to about 4:30pm. Donations will be collected for Philippine relief aid for the recent typhoons, to be delivered to the Philippine consulate.For those who wish to make donations outside of government channels (there are many complaints of poor distribution or corruption, which I am not in a position to verify) the following li

The Great Rattan Shortage of 2009

Published on 2009-10-02 14:00:00

I've been quite surprised at the shortage of rattan over the past 2 months. I've checked my usual sources and they have no idea when they'll be able to restock! I've got orders I can't fill and I've been turning away other customers looking for rattan. One possibility is that the Society For Creative Anachronisms (SCA) has adapted many of their weapons to rattan, and with their upcoming Fall tournaments, perhaps there has been a run on sources. I'll say this for the SCA, from a small backyar