Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by adamuk on July 28, 2010 at 11:26am

I have followed the FMA for over 25 years with interest and IMO without doubt Rene Latosa was the man who introduced and even popularized the FMA in the UK.

From there guys who trained with him early on, either stayed with his system or went in search of this new fascinating martial art called Escrima, Kali, Arnis.

Saying that, I have to admit that if it wasn't for Guros like Bob Breen getting involved with Dan Inosanto and spreading his art, a lot of amazing Grand Masters and their systems wouldn't be as well known worldwide.....let alone in UK.

Do you know that Lameco escrima has one active small club in England!
Petiki Tirsia is impossible to find unless you go up to Scotland!
Leo Giron's system has like one club here.............and I'm not talking about the Inosanto Blend guy!

To find complete systems in UK is still difficult, but I think we wouldn't have heard of most of them if it wasn't for Guro Inosanto's hard work to make everyone aware of these amazing styles available.

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Permalink Reply by Grandmaster "D" on July 28, 2010 at 1:00pm

Greetings MyFMA.net Fellow Members,

We must never forget one of the first martial arts lessons learned way back in the early 60’s & 70’s; and that lesson is “The student is but a reflection of the teacher & the teacher is but a reflection of the student”. Esoterically speaking, when a great performer is in the process of performing his or her craft, not many observers of the performance that is being given realize that there are multiple other personalities involved that are being simultaneously re-enacted by way of that performer or actor. I totally agree that GM Rene Latosa is highly co-responsible for the first popularity of Escrima in the U.K., and in Germany as well, beginning as far back as the mid 1970’s. However! Just like Guro Dan Inosanto, if GM Rene Latosa hadn’t had up close & candid personalized Serrada Escrima instructions directly from GGM Angel Cabales himself, not only would GGM Angel Cabales not be well known overseas; nor would GM Rene Latosa be well known overseas either. European people are a very discerning, scrupulous & meticulous kind of people, and they often can spot a charlatan very quickly. So if GM Rene Latosa didn’t really know what he was doing in terms of imparting his escrima knowledge inside of Europe, Again! The European martial arts community would have spotted this very quickly. Additionally! Like Guro Dan Inosanto, GM Rene Latosa also received his driver’s license or teaching credentials directly from GGM Angel Cabales in Stockton, California, while on military leave from Europe back in the 1970’s. Anyone who has ever lived inside of Europe knows just how important it is to have official diplomas & other official documentation in order to substantiate one’s qualifications to teach, or to operate any business inside of Europe. So like Guro Dan Inosanto, GM Rene Latosa’s international success & fame is due to a "Collaborative Affair" that he once had with the legendary GGM Angel Cabales.

Lastly, I just want to say that I have always supremely respected, been a strong supporter & a great fan of GM Rene Latosa. GM Rene Latosa is the person most responsible for hooking me up with GGM Angel Cabales, Great Grand Professor Gilbert Tenio, Grand Professor John Eliab, and GGM Leo Giron back in 1984.

1983/GM Rene Latosa demostrating at my "Lucaylucay/Inosanto Seminar" held in Northern California

1983/Guro Dan Inosanto & Guro Cass Magda demonstrating "Jeet Kune Do/Kali & Escrima at my Northern California Promotions

Immaculate Regards to all!
GM “D”/WSEF/MAI

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Permalink Reply by Tasi H. ALO on July 28, 2010 at 3:55pm

At 4:43pm on July 27, 2010, Zach Jenkins

said…



Thank you Grandmaster "D" for extending the hand of friendship and accepting my friend request. As far as titles are concerned, my students refer to me as Guru or Guro Zach since I teach Eskrima and Pentjak Silat. I have adopted my teacher's philosophy and just go by Zach or Brother Zach as I still have so much to learn. I'm looking forward at the opportunity to learn as much as I can from you and to continue our rich discussions about the art. One of my students from Germany, Guro Bernd Balser wants me to visit Germany soon so I told him that I would visit next summer, perhaps in late June or early July. I'm sure we're destined to meet just as you said and I'm looking forward to it! I wish you all the best and thank you again for your encouragement and offering to help me to increase my knowledge in the art.

With Warmest Regards and Respect,
Guru Zach Jenkins

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Permalink Reply by Zach Jenkins on July 29, 2010 at 5:43am

Grandmaster "D",

You're absolutely correct! It's very important that these great teachers not be forgotten, especially since much of the younger generation that practice the art, have no idea who many of the pioneers were that made it all possible. It's almost like the music industry with the new artists re-making (copying) music from the great singers and musicians. My kids would say, "dad, have you heard this new song?" And I would say yes, about 30 years ago.

Like the great pioneers that brought the FMA to the world, we should also recognize the ones that were not as well known outside of the Philippines like the ones Mr. Ducay mentioned.

Respectfully,
Zach Jenkins

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Permalink Reply by Tasi H. ALO on July 28, 2010 at 3:52pm

It seems to me that the students of the manongs are the one's that have gotten credit for sharing what they learned from those manongs with the public, yet never quite emphasize the fact that if they never met those manongs in Stockton & Hawaii and learned from them like GM D says the European students would have spotted them as not being genuine. Thats why I make sure that I share FMA HISTORY with my students since I specialize in teaching Davis/Cabales Serrada Eskrima to children at Wahiawa Kajukenbo Foundation in Suisun City, California. I want them to give credit where credit is due. In this way they will respect what they're learning and understand how this knowledge came to them making it incumbent upon them to pass this knowledge on to the next generation.

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Permalink Reply by David Ducay on July 29, 2010 at 11:00am

You’re teaching of the FMA backgrounds and history is a fantastic way of spreading and keeping the art intact.
From the very start of instructing the arts in our teachings I’ve adopted the way Guro Dan conducts his class. When ever he shares a technique, style or system that he will teach he gives the background of where it came from and who taught it to him. This is a great way of paying homage to the teachers or pioneers of the arts.

…because KaJuKenBo’s foundation came from composite (hybrid) art (Karate, Judo, Jujitsu, Kenpo, Kung-Fu
and Boxing), I promote all FMA arts, so techniques that are divulge or shared to any student, we will say this was from Kabaroan taught to me by GM Remeo Estirilla or a La Puente technique, Panantukan knife from Ted LucayLucay, came from Chavez Arnis, Guro Dan Inosanto, GM ‘D’ etc.

The same with all other arts, I’ve adopted this in KaJu-Won Hop Kuen Do, I would say this principle was taught to me by Sijo Emperado, this is how GM Al Dacasco does it, Chuan-Fa from GM Joe Davis or taught to me by Instructor Larry Hartsell, Rickson Gracie, Jim Davenport, Chai Sirisute, Gini Lau.
To me it shows that you are a resourceful, respectful instructor, and that you can take some or all of those peoples / arts and uses it in your own M.A, if you wish. ala JKD!

More importantly, we are giving credit to the people who deserve it, where the knowledge came from…

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Permalink Reply by Zach Jenkins on July 29, 2010 at 11:21am

I love it! Mr. Ducay, very well put!

Thank you,
Zach Jenkins

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Permalink Reply by terry joven on July 29, 2010 at 10:29am

If anyone is in the Stockton Ca area this saturday.... Manong Dentoy Revillar will be performing with Bahala Na Multi-Style Escrima at the Obon Festival 07-31-10 at 6:00 pm. Maestro Revillar is an early student of Manongs; Cabales, Giron, Tenio and Sarmiento and consolidated the knowledge that he had aquired and created "SLD" Serrada Largomano Dequerdas. Bahala Na Multi-Style is the only club that teaches The Original Giron Escrima and SLD system. We perform in honor of all past Stockton Escrimadors and give credit where credit is due!

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Permalink Reply by Don Lirette on July 30, 2010 at 1:51pm

Well mine goes to Guro Dan Inosanto and (I guess he would be at Guro status) Guro Jeff Imada. Guro Dan for just his patient intro of an art that had to be US familierized and accepted in a culture that had it heart set on the Japaneese arts in the 50's and 60", Kungfu and Kenpo in the 70's and Smal Circle jujitsu and Kyoshu Jitsu in the 80's and then Brazillian jujitsu since the dawn of the UFC. Guro Jeff for his ability to bring it to the cinema and help its flurishing in the USA.
Guro Dan and the others that have had their systems thrive in the US, had to let the american culture catch on to the " Knives , to sticks, to empty hands " mentality. I'm glad they did. FMA is great!!!

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Permalink Reply by Dan Medina on July 30, 2010 at 3:25pm

Greetings to all FMA practitioners
There are a great many GGM, GM, Master’s and Guro’s who have greatly influenced FMA in the US. Many have already been named and most contributed to Dan Inosanto’s knowledge base in one way or in other. I would like to name my teachers GM Narrie Babao the first full contact fighting champion of the US and Zena Babao writer for inside Kung-Fu and GGM Braulio Tomada Pedoy the first Filipino to openly teach FMA to non Filipino’s in Hawaii around 1961 as per House Resolution State of Hawaii no.633. The banner at the Philippine embassy when we celebrated GGM Pedoy’s induction into the Hall of Fame it says 1961 I believe. There are many instructors and Dan Inosanto went to all of them and passed on the knowledge and history as was relayed to him by everyone mentioned in previous posts. So I concur with you Zach in the US its Dan with quite a few others running a close second. But let’s not dwell on the past today we have a new crop of instructor’s and we all need to do our part to keep the word of FMA going.

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Permalink Reply by Zach Jenkins on July 30, 2010 at 4:43pm

Thanks Dan for joining this discussion! It's great to hear from so many FMA instructors with such a high level of experience and expertise. I also agree that there are many new instructors that are perfecting their skills in FMA as we speak and are destined to make their presence felt among other great instructors, past and present.

I enjoy the videos that you've posted and I hope that you will continue to share your knowledge and experience with the rest of us.

Warmest Regards,
Zach

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Permalink Reply by Ron Kosakowski on July 30, 2010 at 8:58pm

Guro Dan Inosanto yes, I can agree that he probably was the biggest influence in all around SE Asian fighting methods. We can add Remy Presas who spead FMA's around very well going back into the 70's. Leo Gaje was a big speader of the fighting game more than anyone else was really. The combination of the 3 made it what it is today.

It is funny how many walk in my school and say, "what am I going to do with a stick, sword or knife?" Kali has always been my smallest class. Kuntao is really big but weapons are taught a little later in that FMA style. Appeciation for weapons training along with seeing the practicality of it has to be a gradual learned thing for those who do not understand it. There seems to be a natural fear against weapons and training them for some reason or another.

Ron Kosakowski
Practical Self Defense Training Center
847 Hamilton Ave (Rt 69).
Waterbury, CT 06706
203-596-9073
info@psdtc.com
http://www.psdtc.com
http://www.TraditionalFilipinoWeapons.com

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