Master Craig, chief instructor of the East Coast Doce Pares Institute (ECDPI), started the seminar by addressing the most common question people have towards the Filipino Martial Arts (FMA), “What do you do if you don’t have a stick?”. By demonstrating the link between various stick drills and their empty hand equivalent, the stick angles and targets in the FMA mimic very closely those of the bladed and empty hand. This was done in a stepwise manner progressing from blocks/parries, to locks and then takedowns. A similar progression was employed to demonstrate various Eskrido techniques. Eskrido is an eskrima innovation developed by the legendary Supreme Grandmaster Cacoy Canete in 1948 that incorporates Jujitsu/Aikido style locks and throws with traditional eskrima techniques (an amalgam of ESKRI-ma and ju/aiki-DO). The seminar culminated with participants attempting to randomly apply certain eskrido moves in an exercise affectionately known as the Swimming Drill. This drill is one step removed from the characteristic Cacoy Doce Pares training tool known as Controlled Sparring, which is a completely free from and somewhat chaotic exercise, loosely resembling the more familiar Chinese chi sau, used to develop sensitivity and enhance defensive and offensive instincts, greatly increasing recognition and reaction times to unanticipated circumstances. As Master Glen Gardiner (6^th degree CDP) once said – “It’s like chess with sticks!”

The Filipino Elusive Warrior (The F.E.W.) is a group, spearheaded by the celebrated martial arts pioneer and legend Tino Ceberano Hanshi - that embraces, promotes and propagates the original fighting arts of the Philippines. We look forward to a visit by Masters Mike and Heikki to the east coast of Australia for a series of seminars and hope to expand the national network of FMA’dors in the sharing of martial concepts and practices.