The Sap Wallet

Fred Perrin Sap Wallet

Joshua Morale of Stick and Knife Fighters of the World (stickfighting.ning.com) referred me to the “sap wallet,” something I was not familiar with. It sounds like a very handy weapon. I have spoken of the merits of saps here, which is a little-known category of weapon.

The sap wallet, designed by Fred Perrin, can be seen in action here. In essence, you put coins into the bottom of the wallet, which is swung like a sap. The sap wallet resembles a prison weapon in which a bar of soap is placed into a sock and swung.

The Atienza Kali people have a video here in which they showcase a weapon called a “trapo,” which is a weight in a sock. The sap wallet could be wielded with these techniques. (As an aside, “trapo” is Spanish for “rag.” In the Philippines vendors at intersections sell rags sewn into circles like potholders. Drivers buy them for a few pesos to wipe their cars or to help them hold the steering wheel in the blistering heat.

I would categorize this as a semi-impromptu weapon, in that it is a weapon that would fit into your environment and that you have selected ahead of time for its suitability as a weapon.

The Baseball Bat in the Movies

I just recently saw Quentin Tarantino’s movie, “Inglourious Basterds.” I was curious to see it because I knew at least one character in the movie wielded a baseball bat as a weapon. According to one review, actor Eli Roth “…portrays a merciless, baseball-bat-wielding Nazi killer dubbed ‘the Bear Jew’ by fear-stricken German soldiers in the film.”

Moving beyond movie entertainment, I believe the average person knows that the baseball bat is credible as a killing weapon. The average person also knows that it just wouldn’t be credible to have a terror-inducing Nazi killer wielding a 28 inch rattan stick, or even a 28 inch long, one inch diameter hardwood stick.

Eli Roth as "The Bear Jew"

My point is not to put down short stick stylists, but to get you to consider the merits of a weapon that most martial artists have ignored.

The Student-Teacher Relationship in the FMA

There is an interesting article at Filipino Fighting Secrets about an American who goes to the Philippines to learn the Filipino martial arts, but who doesn’t seem to view the art or the student-teacher relationship too seriously.

I signed up for kickboxing in Cebu City. What sealed the deal for me was that they offered arnis, too. Unfortunately, just as I finished a grueling two hour workout, the arnis teacher would show up. I was soaking wet from sweat, and there were blisters on my feet. So I tried to cool down while the teacher changed into a satin uniform with fringe on it (That should have been my first warning sign that something was wrong.).

Arnis lessons consisted of learning a long form, practicing strikes while stepping into deep cross stances. All the while I was trying to wipe the stinging sweat from my eyes.

About the third lesson the kickboxing teacher explained that there was a fee for the arnis. I thought the arnis lessons were part of the gym membership. The young guy in the frilly satin uniform handed me a sheet like a menu, and when I saw the fee at the bottom, I was shocked.

I really had no choice but to explain that I couldn’t afford to continue studying arnis.

Later I met the young guy’s teacher. I told the grandmaster, “Oh yeah, I took a couple of lessons in your style with so-and-so.”

The grandmaster looked troubled and shot a look to one of his associates. “I’ve talked to him about this. You see, he studied with me for years and paid nothing. I have asked him that if he wants to teach using my name and my style, that he should pay me some of what he makes. If he doesn’t want to do that, he should call his style something else and teach on his own.”

I relayed the grandmaster’s concerns to the gym owner. It didn’t seem ethical for me to have someone teaching who was defying the wishes of his teacher, the grandmaster. The gym owner explained that from the young teacher’s point of view, it was only fair because he often taught classes to foreigners while the grandmaster rested or talked with others.

This episode to me highlights an appalling lack of gratitude and respect for one’s teacher. If you were taught for free, is it really too much to ask you to repay something when you have the opportunity? Had the young guy thought that perhaps being assigned to teach others was not a chore, but a learning and growth opportunity? Teaching and doing are two separate skills. Many Filipinos have difficulty communicating with foreigners, which is a skill that can be learned by practicing speaking, such as by teaching.

In a real warrior art, the teacher-student relationship goes beyond paying for classes. One of my teachers has high blood pressure, and told me that he once had to stop his medication because he couldn’t afford it. I told him that if he ever needed medication to get in touch with me, and I will see that he gets it. When I visit him I check to see that he has his medication, and I will get it for him if he doesn’t. It is not about paying for instruction, but about the ongoing debt I owe a man who taught me and who has done so much for the art.

Technique: The Power of Diagonal Strikes Part II

Yesterday I talked about the advantages of diagonal strikes over horizontal strikes. I am not saying that you should never do horizontal strikes –I just think you should be aware of the various pros and cons.

I was attending a seminar of a famous eskrima group that was teaching a high horizontal strike as its number one. When I approached someone about the awkwardness and potential vulnerability of the strike, I was told that this was the traditional method, and that it was being taught as a means of preserving the old way. If that is the case, I think students deserve to be advised of the flaws of the method they are being taught.

We should also ask if teaching less effective techniques is really a good idea, unless the purpose is to teach something fun and collect money.

High Horizontal Strike to Temple

Note how the position of the hand exposes it to a counterstrike. The hand position is also vulnerable to a disarm.

With a light stick the stress on the wrist may not be apparent, but could you do this technique with a crowbar? A hammer? A fireplace poker?

A diagonal strike is a better choice.

Although I do not believe that every stick move has a blade move counterpart, or that every weapon technique has an empty-handed counterpart, and vice versa, the general principle of the advantage of diagonal strikes applies to empty handed combat as well.

Horizontal Elbow

For the opponent with his hands up, the horizontal elbow simply hits his forearms. Note how my head is exposed.

Diagonal (Overleft) Elbow

The overleft diagonal elbow tends to come in over the opponent’s guard and between his arms.

The position of the elbow also serves to shield my head from a counterattack.

Horizontal Hook

The horizontal hook to the body tends to be blocked by the opponent’s guard.

Underleft Knee

Although I could throw a rising hook to the body, I prefer not to lower my hands. By throwing the rising knee (which comes both up and in from my lower left), I increase my chances of coming in under the opponent’s guard.

Technique: The Power of Diagonal Strikes

Diagonal strikes have advantages over horizontal strikes. If one does Cinco Teros (“5 strikes” or “5 shots”) in an X pattern, you have a simple means of outlining the major strikes one may encounter in a fight. GM Giron’s Bahala Na group uses the basic X pattern in long stick larga mano applications. The Portuguese staff art of Jogo do Pau also uses the X pattern.

Using GM Estalilla’s terminology, we can break attacks down to just 5 types of attack:

1) An overhand right blow, or an overight

2) An overhand left blow, or an overleft

3) An underhand right blow, or an underight

4) An underhand left blow, or underleft

5) A thrust

But what about horizontal blows? I believe that the diagonal X pattern teaches more effective strikes.

Depicted above, the horizontal strike is easily blocked by the defender. In fact, he almost has to do nothing.

Here I attack with an underleft strike. Note how it tends to come up under the defender’s guard. While he can block the strike, he has to work at it.

But let’s ask, “Why am I using a stick?”

“Why am I only hitting one-handed?”

Here I am striking at the same underleft angle, but I am using a baseball bat. I am also hitting two-handed.

This is the power swing in baseball. I will talk more about baseball and the martial arts in upcoming posts, but in baseball, too, the power strike is not horizontal, but ascending.

Although I can execute an underleft strike to the knee with a short stick, I must crouch, which places me in a vulnerable position.

With the long stick it is possible to strike with an overleft or underleft to the opponent’s knee, without crouching, and prepared for an immediate follow up.

Real Life Combat: Choking a Terrorist

Hero Jason Schuringa

What Went Down

On Christmas day a terrorist on a flight from Amsterdam to Detroit ignited an explosive device that he had concealed on his leg. Passenger Peter Smith described the muffled explosion as “a firecracker in a pillowcase.” “First there was a pop, and then (there) was smoke.”

There was a commotion and panic. The terrorist’s clothes were on fire, and passengers could see flames. Jason Schuringa bounded over seats to get to the terrorist and saw that he was holding a burning object in his hands. Jason pulled the burning object from the terrorist (burning his hands in the process) and yelled for water.

Accounts have Jason getting the bomber in either a headlock or a chokehold and dragging him to the first class section. Some accounts have other passengers helping Jason subdue the terrorist. At that point the terrorist was bound and searched for explosives.

Hero Todd Beamer

Lessons Learned

Learn to Choke Someone Out. Regardless of the type of martial art you do, and even if you don’t practice the martial arts at all, you should be able to apply a chokehold. The beauty of choking someone is that it doesn’t matter how doped up and impervious to pain he is, he still needs to breathe. Properly applied, a chokehold enables you to subdue someone without injury.

I have found a great article here that details the basics of choking.

We Have to Fight Back. Just three days before this attack I said:

“How long is it before terrorism comes to America? …Let me suggest that it’s not enough to teach the martial arts, but that we as martial artists must advocate for a strong society that reacts to violence with overwhelming and disproportionate force. I think it’s time we started fighting back.”

The old platitudes about “Just give him your wallet,” “Don’t resist, it only makes things worse,” “Don’t resist, you’ll just enrage him,” “Don’t take things into your own hands,” “It’s a police matter,” “Let the police solve it,” and so on, are prescriptions for disaster.

Like Captain Gaffaney, Todd Beamer, and Jason Schuringa, you may find yourself defending not just your own life, but the lives of dozens or hundreds of others.

David Alan Basche as Todd Beamer

I agree wholeheartedly with this blogger:

” How long will it take Secretary Napolitano (at least) or President Obama (my preference) to visit [Jason Schuringa] in the hospital if these facts turn out to be true?  Passengers are the last and most effective line of defense in cases like this.  But the incentives to sit tight are still great.  We need to honor the heroes who react quickly to thwart attacks in the air.

Christmas -A Reminder of the Spiritual Side of the Art

GM Ramiro Estalilla

GM Estalilla’s father fought against the Japanese in WWII. His unit had two Bibles with them, one in English and the other in Ilocano. They left the Ilocano Bible untouched because it was their first language, but eventually wound up using pages from the English Bible for cigarette papers.

The elder Estalilla had left for battle an agnostic, but returned as a Christian. He explained, “Son, there are no atheists in the foxholes.”

There is a good reason why there should be a spiritual component to the martial arts, and all of my Filipino teachers are devout Christians. GM Maranga said to me one day after training, “Forget about me, forget everything I’ve taught you, but never forget God.”

GM Drigo Maranga

The spiritual component of the art, rather than draw warriors away from reality, in actuality grounds them in reality –that they are human, and therefore mortal.

Too many martial artists use the arts to fuel fantasies, such as fighting bare handed against six men with swords and emerging unscathed.

The fantasy martial artists imagine that they are the world’s deadliest man. I’m reminded of the psychiatrist who had several patients in a mental hospital, each of whom thought he was Jesus. The psychiatrist had the idea that he would put all three into the same room, and that in time they would realize, “Hey, wait a minute, we can’t all be Jesus, I must be delusional.”

The psychiatrist was disappointed when each man told him, “I’m the real Jesus, those other two guys are imposters.” That’s the situation we have today, with hundreds of fantasy martial artists each claiming to be the world’s deadliest.

Not only does the fantasy martial artist need to delude himself about his invulnerability, but also needs to puff himself up above other “lesser” martial artists. The result is a proliferation of outlandish costumes and ever more grandiose titles. Acknowledging the debt he owes to his teacher(s) implies that there is someone greater or better than he is, so he is compelled to invent his own style and to pretend that he never had any teachers, or that he has surpassed those who were practicing the art before he was born.

I’m using the occasion of this holy day of Christmas to point out certain spiritual truths:

We are all human, and therefore mortal

We are not superior to anyone else

Regardless of our skill level, life and death (particularly when

weapons are involved), hangs by the most frail thread

Regardless of our skill level, we can learn from anyone, and anyone is

capable of defeating us in the right circumstances

Life is a fragile and therefore precious thing

In the light of an all powerful God, we are compelled to be humble and to

respect others

God bless you all, and Merry Christmas

Maligayang Pasko (Tagalog)

Naragsak nga Paskua (Ilocano)

Maayong Pasko (Bisaya)

Feliz Navidad

What Will Your Legacy Be?

There was a big name Filipino martial artist, a name you would recognize, I’m sure. I was thrilled at the prospect of meeting him and studying with him. In order to study with him I drove an hour to my teacher Tim Evans’ house, and then we drove another hour and a half to Bakersfield.

Yet once we got to Bakersfield this big name never really taught anything. He had not heard of GM Estalilla, and he was curious about what he taught, so I demonstrated some of Estalilla’s Kabaroan techniques. I hoped that Mr. Big Name might reciprocate by showing me something, but no. And I drove several hours home on the return trip late at night.

I was getting frustrated (I was paying for these lessons.), so I approached Mr. Big Name and told him I felt I was spinning my wheels. Well, in order for me to study with him, I would need to pay several thousand dollars (Keep in mind this was in the early 80’s). I wanted to study with him, but I just didn’t have that kind of money.

Mr. Big Name put on a seminar sponsored by my teacher, and so I drove long distances again and paid yet again for a “seminar” that was a slow motion train wreck, only without the excitement. Mr. Big Name taught us how to twirl a stick and later, after my teacher approached him with everyone’s complaints, admitted that he just made the whole thing up as he went.

It was in the middle of that disastrous pseudo-seminar that the late GM Leo Giron unexpectedly entered with two of his students and put on a demonstration. That was the highlight of that otherwise miserable day.

Years later I heard that Mr. Big Name had died. I was shocked because he was young. As I reflect on my experiences with him, I realize that I learned more from GM Giron, even though I was never a student of his and only met him a few times, than I did from Mr. Big Name’s classes. Hell, I taught Mr. Big Name more than he taught me. How ironic is that?

I’m writing this post because we are in a season symbolized by giving. What are you giving to the art and to others in the art?

I look at Mr. Big Name, and to me his legacy is empty. I am not suggesting that you should teach for free or let yourself be exploited by insincere takers and users. But my memory of Mr. Big Name is of a guy stalling, of someone angling for the big payoff, and willing to collect gas money from you until you were desperate enough to sell your kidney to pay his king’s ransom.

If this judgment seems harsh, that’s the real bitch of dying, in that you can’t change the impression you’ve made and the legacy you’ve created. The minister standing over your coffin is obligated to say nice things about you, even if you’re Jeffrey Dahmer, but the truth is out there, and as you’re lowered into the inky void there’s nothing you can do about it.

I’ve decided that I’m going to give. Sure, I like money, but I want my legacy to be of eskrimador who remember me for have shared something with them, for having given something of value, for having been a friend, and for having a passion for advancing the art.

Tim Evans Sensei

Toward a More Realistic Espada y Daga

Espada y Daga is Spanish for “sword and dagger.” In this method the practitioner has a long weapon, such as a sword, machete, or stick in the dominant hand, and a shorter weapon—almost always a knife– in the other hand.

Espada y daga is not as impractical as it may seem. In many localities it is legal to carry a knife. If you have a stick, and you carry a knife with you, you are ready to go. I almost used my eskrima skills in real life combat only once, and that one time I had a stick in my car and I always carried a folding knife, so when I got out of the car, I had a stick in my right hand and a knife in the left.

There are a lot of very pretty espada y daga techniques. If you go onto You Tube you can see plenty of them. The basic pattern is the “expert” ties up the opponent’s stick, say with a snake disarm, then counters the opponent’s knife thrust, with the end result that the attacker is completely crossed up like a pretzel. There are also techniques where the opponent leads with a knife thrust, or the combatants trade stick blows, then knife thrusts.

But the question needs to be asked, “Are these realistic techniques?” “Are these smart techniques?”

If you look here, you see two guys practicing espada y daga. It looks like nothing, but this is realistic. If the opponent has a stick and a knife, are you going to get in close, and risk getting stabbed, or stay out at a distance? The whole purpose of the knife is to keep the opponent at a distance –anyone who rushes in to disarm you is going to get cut. You are not going to lead with the knife, either, because it’s too easy for the opponent to use his reach advantage with the stick to blast your knife hand.

The one time it almost came down to real combat, I had a stick and a knife as I was chasing a purse snatcher across an Albertson’s parking lot. I didn’t know it at the time, but he had a pruning knife. Although you can’t really stab with a pruning knife, it has a wicked curved blade like a sickle, which will tear you up in close.

So what was the better strategy?

1.  To close in and try to tie up the opponent’s arms while hoping that a photographer from Black Belt magazine comes by to get a picture of my wonderful technique, with the possible downside of getting ripped up by a pruning knife.

2.  To hit him with the stick from a distance, where he cannot possibly use his pruning knife against me, and stab him if he gets past the stick. The downside here is that I will never do espada y daga seminars or DVD’s, and people will go to sleep during my espada y daga demonstrations.

Once you eliminate the fancy moves, you can do espada y daga with almost anything, like a beer bottle and a folding knife, or a hammer and a screwdriver.

I was just reading on someone’s website about espada y daga “takedowns.” My idea of an espada y daga takedown is to hit someone in the head and watch him slump to the floor.

REAL LIFE COMBAT: TACKLING THE GUNMAN

Big Stick Combat

What Went Down:

In the first incident, an Idaho pharmacist chased a man who had stolen six bottles of anti-anxiety medication. The pharmacist, Jerry Gunderson, who had wrestled in college, initially followed the robber with the goal of getting information for the police.

Suddenly the robber was stopped by the store’s locked doors. He yelled out, “I’ve got a gun!” and reached into his pocket. Jerry had a decision to make. Not certain whether the hoodlum had a gun or not, and not wanting to find out the hard way, Jerry rushed him and tackled the punk. The gun fell to the floor, and the two men struggled until cops arrived.

In the second incident, two armed robbers pulled out guns within seconds of entering a medical marijuana dispensary in Denver. When one of the robbers pointed a gun at her daughter’s head, she snapped and tackled the gunman from behind. He fired off two shots, but she held on until the police arrived. In the news video, there is blood on the sidewalk from one of the fleeing suspects.

Big Stick Combat Gun Disarm

Lessons Learned:

1. A Weapon Does Not Make You God. I don’t care if that weapon is a stick, a knife, a gun, or a bazooka, you are still human and therefore mortal. Anyone who confronts you with a weapon may have the advantage, but he is still human and therefore mortal.

2. Know Your Gun Disarms. Gun disarms are techniques you should have down cold. I share this advice from Ellis Sensei, my first martial arts teacher of Kenju (Kenpo and judo).

A) If confronted with a gun, sign over the house, give him your wallet, promise him your firstborn child.

B) If your life is on the line, you want the gun in your teeth (i.e. as close as possible).

One of the Kenju students had a gun pulled on him at a pool hall. He was able to disarm the gunman, even though in the process a shot went off and passed along his forearm and through his sleeve

3.  If You’re Grappling for a Weapon, Don’t Just Wrestle. This is the time to headbutt, bite, go for a wristlock and break his wrist, choke him out, get a scissors on his ribcage, etc.

It’s Time to Fight Back

Lastly, the pharmacist who tackled the robber was fired by Shopko for violating company policy. I am reminded of the employee at a convenience store who was herded into a backroom with several other employees. Fearing that the gunman was about to kill them, the employee pulled out his concealed gun and shot the robber. The company fired him.

Although I believe that you shouldn’t take foolish risks and endanger your life, there comes a time when you have to fight back. We as a society are slow to realize this. As a schoolteacher I saw administrators become more and more passive in the face of increasing violence by students.

How long is it before terrorism comes to America? And it already has, in the form of Major Hassan’s attack at Fort Hood. In a world that made sense, a US Army base would be the last place on earth to try a terrorist attack, yet craven policymakers prohibited soldiers from carrying guns on an army base! It is reminiscent of the Beirut barracks attack that killed 241 US soldiers, in part because policy prohibited them from carrying loaded weapons.

Let me suggest that it’s not enough to teach the martial arts, but that we as martial artists must advocate for a strong society that reacts to violence with overwhelming and disproportionate force.

I think it’s time we started fighting back.