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Green Belt
Sama Sama 2005, Legacy
After just returning from the Sayoc Kali 2005 Sama Sama event, I have to say this was one of the best training events that I have been able to participate in! There was so much going on all of the time that it will be difficult to capture it all here in words, but here are some of the highlights of this event!
Friday July 1st,
The weather was absolutely fantastic in the Pocono mountains of Pennsylvania! After a brief thunderstorm, the clouds broke and the sun was out! Training started with a Kerambit class with Tuhon Ray Dionaldo! It was a fast pace review of the Kerambit template, with a detailed breakdown of the application and variations of this devastating weapon! After working the template, Tuhon Ray continued on with various blade disarms, grip changes, arm trapping maneuvers and so much more! After the first 2 hours of this session I knew this years Sama Sama was going to be fantastic! After we broke for dinner, we returned to the training site for a surprise event featuring the the Sayoc Tactical Team, and Kevin Reeves (a specialist in tracking), I wont go into the details of this portion of the training camp but it was an eye opening event, which completed around 3:30 4:00 am!!!
Saturday July 2nd, 2005
Arriving early the next morning the participants enjoyed a hearty breakfast to load up for the mornings training.
Our first event was a demonstration and instruction from Guro Harley Elmore (www.warriorswaytx.com) in various aspects of Panantukan! The devasting combination of the panantukan material with Guro Harleys background in JKD and Silat added up to one very effective series of destructions sweeps and takedowns!
With so many participants training at different levels, Sama Sama was broken out into 2 broad categories during this portion of the training, Associate Instructors and Apprentices. Both groups were actively involved in renewing their rank, as well as testing for new levels of rank within the SKSTA. The theme for this years event was LEGACY and as part of the testing requirements for all associate level instructors was a written outline of all material that they practiced as well as a video or dvd of the outlined material! Even more than that, all associates had to learn several new Templates and Knife fighting drill #2, forcing us to work as a team to work out the details of the drills among ourselves. Apprentices, were then introduced to Sayoc Fighting Systems material from Tuhon Ray Dionaldo (www.warriorcraft.com , www.fcskali.com ). His work with the various stick fighting movements was just incredible, so wait till the highlights come out on the DVD! All this and it was just coming up to lunch time!
After a good lunch on site, we broke out again for more training and testing, Apprentices went over for an introduction to Talio Silat with Tuhon Roberto Torres, and the Associate levels were over for more testing and discussions with Tuhon Sayoc. For those of you who are not familiar with Tuhon Torres, he was an early student of Tuhon Sayoc and is a master of many other arts as well. He has an extensive Law Enforcement background, was a boxer and traveled and fought in the Philippines! (go to www.Taliosilat.com for more information)
Following the morning and early afternoon training was another opportunity for training in Atienza Kali (www.Atienzakali.com) ! Guro Allain Atienza and Guro Darryl Atienza ran us through our paces in the Atienza Evolutions. Teaching us the drills, applications and variations on forced anchor points, power striking, footwork, multiple man scenarios and a host of other principles and practices of their familys martial art! Guro Carl Atienza then gave a one of a kind opportunity to see how he drills and trains his students while he hones his double weapons skills! This was just awesome to witness!!
Up Next: Stick Melee!!
Here all participants are introduced to the melee emphasizing team tactics, multiple man attacks, individual protection tactics and just a whole slew of opportunities to hit and whack each other around! This event allows Sayoc Kali participants to begin to witness the unpredictability of a combat situation, with 80-90 people on the field, it is pure chaos in motion at times! Occasionally Tuhon Kier would then announce every man for himself! and all hell breaks loose! Alliances are formed and broken, individuals are swarmed, until it settles into to just a few people on the field striving to be the last man standing!
Finally it was a well-deserved break for dinner.
Sayaw
The last event for the evening was the Sayaw, and we were also treated to traditional drumming and cymbol music provided by Tuhon Torres and family. This is a special time to enter the alpha state and become one with your weapon as you move around the fire with other practitioners, feeling the music, swinging and utilizing your weapons. This year we were able to witness Master Mike Sayoc, and Tuhon Roberto Torres enter the Sayaw and witness their skill and focus while moving to the beat around the fire. (For those who participated, you all know it was awesome!) The night training finally ended somewhere around 12:00 am.
Sunday July 3rd, 2005
Another hearty breakfast was offered at the training site and we were off for another day of training opportunities.
Chopstick Wars!
This event broke down into several different events, The Hunt for Tuhon Dionaldo and Guro Mendez, Team on Team, and Last man standing! We started off on a hunt for Tuhon Ray, and Guro Neil, but all of the teams failed to capture them in the allotted timeframe, so we were back for team on team. The event consisted of a field separated by a line run between two points, both teams open fire and pick off the opponents side with head shots. This happens over several different ranges and continues until one team has no members. Then the next set of teams goes in until the final two teams are matched up. Of course there is the Last Man standing event, where it is every person for themselves and as in the melee you see alliances formed, broken and changed until a small group of members were left on the field. They were then called in for several elimination rounds which involved increasingly difficult rounds of quick drawing from disadvantaged positions. Not to mention the introduction of the Untouchables or Immortals the children who also can participate and cannot be killed, but who will hunt you down relentlessly! Truly a wild event!!
Projectile Practice, and Competition
Tuhon Tom Kier, gave and excellent lesson on the use of projectiles in combat as well as hand on instruction on the projectile targets set up on the site. There were both fixed and a movable targets, which gave people of different skill levels great opportunities to test their skills. Tuhon Kier also introduced the more advance practice of a Loader as part of a team, to continually feed the thrower projectiles. This was then demonstrated by Guro Steve Lefebvre, Guro Chuck Giangreco, Guro Harley Emore, Guro Kevin Blake and Guro Al Salvitti. Of course the now famous Projectile competition wore down to just 4 competitors, Guro Harley Elmore, Guro Al Salvitti, Nico Salvitti, and Guro Steve Lefebvre. Guro All is now the three year champion with a winning score at 1/16 of an inch from center!!
A quick break for a much needed lunch! Then we were back to instruction with Tuhon Roberto Torres and more advanced Talio Silat techniques. The triangular principles that Tuhon Torres teaches in Talio Silat are devastating! The way he pins and finishes his opponents are equally devastating, and have to be experienced. Tuhon Torres is just coming back from a hiatus from public teaching and will now be offering seminars and instruction to the public one again. Check out his website for continued updates on those training opportunities.
Stick Fights
As part of every years event are the stick fighting competitions! This year whole new twist was added, Two on Two fights! This consisted of two teams picking two competitors vs the other teams two competitors. If one person was killed the matches continued with a two on one fight. As the teams whittled down to the final four competitors, they were then paired off for the final event, Last man standing and the final winner was---Guro Gordon Katz
We all broke for dinner and then returned back to site at 11:00pm, for another Sayoc Tactical event! This event ran until 3:00 am, which left us all totally exhausted!
July 4th, 2005
I did have to leave early on this day, but instruction took place again and included, school operations by Guro Pat Consing, Instruction from Tuhon Sayoc, presentation of rank and appreciations and the final wrap up for this years event!
Now to just top this years event off, a new person has been elevated to the rank of Tuhon, Tuhon Ricardo Kayanan was awarded his new level by Tuhon Christopher Sayoc on July 2nd, 2005. Tuhon Ricardo was one of Tuhon Sayocs longest practicing students and has supported the organization for many, many years with dedicated instruction and coaching of all SKSTA members. Congratulations Tuhon Ricardo!
I would like to thank all participants of this great event, and special thanks to the Tuhon Sayoc, his family, and all the senior members of the SKSTA for putting together such a wonderful opportunity to come together and train!
Gumagalang
Guro Steve Lefebvre
www.Bujinkandojo.net
After just returning from the Sayoc Kali 2005 Sama Sama event, I have to say this was one of the best training events that I have been able to participate in! There was so much going on all of the time that it will be difficult to capture it all here in words, but here are some of the highlights of this event!
Friday July 1st,
The weather was absolutely fantastic in the Pocono mountains of Pennsylvania! After a brief thunderstorm, the clouds broke and the sun was out! Training started with a Kerambit class with Tuhon Ray Dionaldo! It was a fast pace review of the Kerambit template, with a detailed breakdown of the application and variations of this devastating weapon! After working the template, Tuhon Ray continued on with various blade disarms, grip changes, arm trapping maneuvers and so much more! After the first 2 hours of this session I knew this years Sama Sama was going to be fantastic! After we broke for dinner, we returned to the training site for a surprise event featuring the the Sayoc Tactical Team, and Kevin Reeves (a specialist in tracking), I wont go into the details of this portion of the training camp but it was an eye opening event, which completed around 3:30 4:00 am!!!
Saturday July 2nd, 2005
Arriving early the next morning the participants enjoyed a hearty breakfast to load up for the mornings training.
Our first event was a demonstration and instruction from Guro Harley Elmore (www.warriorswaytx.com) in various aspects of Panantukan! The devasting combination of the panantukan material with Guro Harleys background in JKD and Silat added up to one very effective series of destructions sweeps and takedowns!
With so many participants training at different levels, Sama Sama was broken out into 2 broad categories during this portion of the training, Associate Instructors and Apprentices. Both groups were actively involved in renewing their rank, as well as testing for new levels of rank within the SKSTA. The theme for this years event was LEGACY and as part of the testing requirements for all associate level instructors was a written outline of all material that they practiced as well as a video or dvd of the outlined material! Even more than that, all associates had to learn several new Templates and Knife fighting drill #2, forcing us to work as a team to work out the details of the drills among ourselves. Apprentices, were then introduced to Sayoc Fighting Systems material from Tuhon Ray Dionaldo (www.warriorcraft.com , www.fcskali.com ). His work with the various stick fighting movements was just incredible, so wait till the highlights come out on the DVD! All this and it was just coming up to lunch time!
After a good lunch on site, we broke out again for more training and testing, Apprentices went over for an introduction to Talio Silat with Tuhon Roberto Torres, and the Associate levels were over for more testing and discussions with Tuhon Sayoc. For those of you who are not familiar with Tuhon Torres, he was an early student of Tuhon Sayoc and is a master of many other arts as well. He has an extensive Law Enforcement background, was a boxer and traveled and fought in the Philippines! (go to www.Taliosilat.com for more information)
Following the morning and early afternoon training was another opportunity for training in Atienza Kali (www.Atienzakali.com) ! Guro Allain Atienza and Guro Darryl Atienza ran us through our paces in the Atienza Evolutions. Teaching us the drills, applications and variations on forced anchor points, power striking, footwork, multiple man scenarios and a host of other principles and practices of their familys martial art! Guro Carl Atienza then gave a one of a kind opportunity to see how he drills and trains his students while he hones his double weapons skills! This was just awesome to witness!!
Up Next: Stick Melee!!
Here all participants are introduced to the melee emphasizing team tactics, multiple man attacks, individual protection tactics and just a whole slew of opportunities to hit and whack each other around! This event allows Sayoc Kali participants to begin to witness the unpredictability of a combat situation, with 80-90 people on the field, it is pure chaos in motion at times! Occasionally Tuhon Kier would then announce every man for himself! and all hell breaks loose! Alliances are formed and broken, individuals are swarmed, until it settles into to just a few people on the field striving to be the last man standing!
Finally it was a well-deserved break for dinner.
Sayaw
The last event for the evening was the Sayaw, and we were also treated to traditional drumming and cymbol music provided by Tuhon Torres and family. This is a special time to enter the alpha state and become one with your weapon as you move around the fire with other practitioners, feeling the music, swinging and utilizing your weapons. This year we were able to witness Master Mike Sayoc, and Tuhon Roberto Torres enter the Sayaw and witness their skill and focus while moving to the beat around the fire. (For those who participated, you all know it was awesome!) The night training finally ended somewhere around 12:00 am.
Sunday July 3rd, 2005
Another hearty breakfast was offered at the training site and we were off for another day of training opportunities.
Chopstick Wars!
This event broke down into several different events, The Hunt for Tuhon Dionaldo and Guro Mendez, Team on Team, and Last man standing! We started off on a hunt for Tuhon Ray, and Guro Neil, but all of the teams failed to capture them in the allotted timeframe, so we were back for team on team. The event consisted of a field separated by a line run between two points, both teams open fire and pick off the opponents side with head shots. This happens over several different ranges and continues until one team has no members. Then the next set of teams goes in until the final two teams are matched up. Of course there is the Last Man standing event, where it is every person for themselves and as in the melee you see alliances formed, broken and changed until a small group of members were left on the field. They were then called in for several elimination rounds which involved increasingly difficult rounds of quick drawing from disadvantaged positions. Not to mention the introduction of the Untouchables or Immortals the children who also can participate and cannot be killed, but who will hunt you down relentlessly! Truly a wild event!!
Projectile Practice, and Competition
Tuhon Tom Kier, gave and excellent lesson on the use of projectiles in combat as well as hand on instruction on the projectile targets set up on the site. There were both fixed and a movable targets, which gave people of different skill levels great opportunities to test their skills. Tuhon Kier also introduced the more advance practice of a Loader as part of a team, to continually feed the thrower projectiles. This was then demonstrated by Guro Steve Lefebvre, Guro Chuck Giangreco, Guro Harley Emore, Guro Kevin Blake and Guro Al Salvitti. Of course the now famous Projectile competition wore down to just 4 competitors, Guro Harley Elmore, Guro Al Salvitti, Nico Salvitti, and Guro Steve Lefebvre. Guro All is now the three year champion with a winning score at 1/16 of an inch from center!!
A quick break for a much needed lunch! Then we were back to instruction with Tuhon Roberto Torres and more advanced Talio Silat techniques. The triangular principles that Tuhon Torres teaches in Talio Silat are devastating! The way he pins and finishes his opponents are equally devastating, and have to be experienced. Tuhon Torres is just coming back from a hiatus from public teaching and will now be offering seminars and instruction to the public one again. Check out his website for continued updates on those training opportunities.
Stick Fights
As part of every years event are the stick fighting competitions! This year whole new twist was added, Two on Two fights! This consisted of two teams picking two competitors vs the other teams two competitors. If one person was killed the matches continued with a two on one fight. As the teams whittled down to the final four competitors, they were then paired off for the final event, Last man standing and the final winner was---Guro Gordon Katz
We all broke for dinner and then returned back to site at 11:00pm, for another Sayoc Tactical event! This event ran until 3:00 am, which left us all totally exhausted!
July 4th, 2005
I did have to leave early on this day, but instruction took place again and included, school operations by Guro Pat Consing, Instruction from Tuhon Sayoc, presentation of rank and appreciations and the final wrap up for this years event!
Now to just top this years event off, a new person has been elevated to the rank of Tuhon, Tuhon Ricardo Kayanan was awarded his new level by Tuhon Christopher Sayoc on July 2nd, 2005. Tuhon Ricardo was one of Tuhon Sayocs longest practicing students and has supported the organization for many, many years with dedicated instruction and coaching of all SKSTA members. Congratulations Tuhon Ricardo!
I would like to thank all participants of this great event, and special thanks to the Tuhon Sayoc, his family, and all the senior members of the SKSTA for putting together such a wonderful opportunity to come together and train!
Gumagalang
Guro Steve Lefebvre
www.Bujinkandojo.net
