Silat or Bando Schools in SoCal?

[oddball]

Hi, I'm interested in starting either Muay Thai, Silat, or Bando. I've found a Muay Thai place; and to try to keep all of my options open, I started trying to find a Silat or Bando school in my area, but have not had any luck so far. What would be the best way to find a school in the Inland Empire area (Southern California).
Thanks for any help you can give me.

 

[arnisador]

Hmmm, Silat schools can be hard to find! Here's a site with some Bando links:
http://stickgrappler.tripod.com/bando/bando.html

 

[jks9199]

I know there's at least one ABA Bando school in California; I apologize, but I don't have the contact info. The last I heard, my understanding was that the guy running that school had a TKD or other Korean school as his "full time" thing, and taught Bando to selected students around that.

Good luck.

 

[tellner]

You can't possibly go wrong with Cliff Stewart. He's got more black belts than a men's clothing store, decades of incredible experience from founding the BKF back in the bad old days to being bodyguard for the Sultan of Oman. He's a top-notch Silat player (Bukti Negara, Serak, Wali Songo). He's also an incredibly decent human being.

 

[tradrockrat]

I know there's at least one ABA Bando school in California; I apologize, but I don't have the contact info. The last I heard, my understanding was that the guy running that school had a TKD or other Korean school as his "full time" thing, and taught Bando to selected students around that.

Good luck.

The school is World Karate in El Segundo run by Michael Mai and he only teaches Bando to adults. I have trained with him extensively (he is in fact the reason I first visited California). His school is primarily TKD and his Bando class does not fight Hard Style sparring, but is more focused on the Middle style arts (forms, free sparring, etc.). It is an excellent school and the only Bando instruction I would endorse on the west coast.

PM me if you want more info.

 

[jks9199]

The school is World Karate in El Segundo run by Michael Mai and he only teaches Bando to adults. I have trained with him extensively (he is in fact the reason I first visited California). His school is primarily TKD and his Bando class does not fight Hard Style sparring, but is more focused on the Middle style arts (forms, free sparring, etc.). It is an excellent school and the only Bando instruction I would endorse on the west coast.

PM me if you want more info.

Thanks for the follow up; I simply don't have all the contact info anymore. So far as I know, he's the only one teaching on the West Coast who has current ties to the ABA.

 

[tradrockrat]

Thanks for the follow up; I simply don't have all the contact info anymore. So far as I know, he's the only one teaching on the West Coast who has current ties to the ABA.

He's certainly the only one I'd train with. I believe there may be one other actually teaching...

In 1992 I flew out there with my instructor to teach Mr. Mai in preperation for his ABA Black Belt Test. He had a TKD school and wanted to add Bando as an option for his students. I can endorse his school without reservation - he is an excellent teacher.

 

[oddball]

Ahhhhh, he lives relatively far away (1.5-2 hours commute), tho maybe I have some friends who'd like to try it (they're oc so closer). Thank you very much for the info tho, I settled on a muay thai place

err, random edit: I might go to UCLA for a quarter, so maybe then the commute won't be as bad, I'll take advantage of the offer then?

 

[tradrockrat]

Ahhhhh, he lives relatively far away (1.5-2 hours commute), tho maybe I have some friends who'd like to try it (they're oc so closer). Thank you very much for the info tho, I settled on a muay thai place

err, random edit: I might go to UCLA for a quarter, so maybe then the commute won't be as bad, I'll take advantage of the offer then?

If you do look him up, tell him Dan Carroll sent you. I don't live there anymore, but he'll remember me... lol

 

[kempo-vjj]

Cliff Stewart, He is my teacher's teacher. If he's anything like who I train under he's gotta be good. Plus I heard some good things thru the internet about him. Very kind man.

 

[tellner]

You really can't do better than Cliff Stewart. He's seen it all, done it all, kept it from happening in the real world and taught it to a bunch of really good people.

Just to choose one not-completely-random example here is what Massad Ayoob thinks about him.