Eskrima Kombat

There is a local girl here in the Philippines with a bad eye. I had assumed she has a cataract, but last night I was told that she had got into a fight and had been stabbed in the eye with a barbecue stick.

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GM Maranga told me of robbers using a barbecue stick ( a pointed bamboo skewer) in the ribs as a low-key, low-cost holdup method. Here in the Philippines barbecue sticks are everywhere, in every street stall where they sell barbecue, fishballs, tempura, saang (sort of like clams on a stick), and so on.

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But this tragic story illustrates an important point –a single moment of letting your guard down can have devastating consequences. My teacher Al Smith Sensei told me the old saying, “Get hit in the body and you get hurt; Get hit in the head and you die.” What this means is that if you get hit in the body your may feel pain, but you’re still in the fight. But if you get hit in the head and knocked out, you opponent can start up the car and run over you while you’re sleeping.

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Which leads us to the concept of cover. It is crucial to always have your hands up. When striking you should aim to strike in such a way that keeps your head protected. In my boxing I’ve been working on my slipping and ducking. The goal is to make your head an elusive target, to have the ability to move your head out of danger.  It’s a new skill to me, but more and more I see its advantages.

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What’s Wrong With This Stance?

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What’s Wrong With This Stance?