Looking for a new school to host the HSMA Presas Arnis Instructor Development Course classes in 2018

New Presas Arnis Instructor Development Course class to start in early 2018

Students and instructors attending one of the 2017 Presas Arnis Instructor Development classes at North Texas Karate Academy in Bridgeport TX.

Hidden Sword is currently looking for another school to host a new Presas Arnis Instructor Development Course for 2018 as expand the course.    The goal is to find a school in the DFW area that is willing to host the classes during the 2018 year.  If you are wondering what the Presas Arnis Instructor Development Course is read on.

In 2016 at the suggestion of GM Dieter Knuttel, who is the technical director of the German Arnis Federation (DAV), guro Lynn created the Presas Arnis Instructor Development Course for 2017.  Over the course of a year the students and instructors who took part in the Instructor Development course and tested for the basic levels of the Presas Arnis curriculum at the December class.  This class will continue on learning the intermediate levels in 2018.

The first class which started in 2017 meets in Bridgeport TX at the North Texas Karate Academy, with instructors coming from Oklahoma, Jacksboro, and North Richland Hills. Next year this group will continue on to learning the intermediate levels of the curriculum.    In 2018 Hidden Sword is planning on starting another class to further “beta” test the basic levels of the Presas Arnis curriculum and we are currently looking for a school to host the class.

The Presas Arnis Instructor Development course is designed to reach out to students, instructors, and schools who are not primarily studying the Filipino Martial Arts (FMAs), but are well grounded in their primary styles; be they karate, kung fu, krav maga etc. etc.. By building on the foundation (business model) that GM Remy Presas laid by reaching out to interested students and instructors who are looking for a martial art program to augment their primary style instead of replacing it. 

Guro Lynn is the chief instructor at Hidden Sword Martial Arts and has been involved with the martial arts for 36 years and involved with the FMAs for 35.  Guro Lynn has earned black belts in five different systems of various degrees so he has designed this course to reach out to other styles and help them to see how Presas Arnis can enhance their primary system, and not to tear it down.  The focus of the class is to teach instructors how to potentially use Presas Arnis as a revenue generation vehicle for their school as an potential upgrade program, or to enhance their weapons self-defense tactics for their primary art, or perhaps as a vehicle for personal growth for the student by giving them a better understanding of impact and edged weapon defense. 

Currently students meet once a month at the host school for three hours and go over the curriculum.   Afterwards the students are encouraged to work together to practice till the next class.  Students and instructors who are enrolled in the Presas Arnis Instructors Development course are given access to the private Hidden Sword Presas Arnis Instructor Development Face Book page; where videos, photos, and discussions take place as another method of support.  Students can also visit the Mark Lynn Hidden Sword you tube channel for more videos.

If you are interested in attending or hosting a course class please email guro Lynn at [email protected]

2017 HSMA Presas Arnis Instructor Development Course overview

2017 Hidden Sword Presas Arnis Instructors Development Course

In February of 2017 Hidden Sword started their Presas Arnis Instructor Development Course at the North Texas Karate Academy in Bridgeport TX.  The Presas Arns Instructor Development Course is based on the Modern Arnis/Presas Arnis program that is taught at Hidden Sword.   Once a month the class meets for a three-hour class where guro Lynn would teach the attendees the Presas Arnis system.

  

As the name of the class implies this course is designed to develop instructors in hopes of them teaching the system and spreading the art. So guro Lynn concentrated on not only teaching the drills and skills of Presas Arnis but also the history of the art and instruction concepts behind the drills.  Over the course of the year the Presas Arnis Instructor Development class has also been helping to develop the students and instructors of Hidden Sword. Guros Jackie Bradbury, and Tomas Mendoza have each month assisted guro Lynn in the instruction of the class by walking the floor helping and training the students. However, it has also been a time of cross training for several of Hidden Sword’s students as well; Scott, Gabriel, Kaitlyn, and Kimberly have all traveled out to the school to train with the students of the class at one time or another.  

Currently there are two groups of students in the class; we have students who are interested in learning the art and improving their weapon based skills, and we have a select group of instructors who are interested in learning the art and being an instructor.  While the class was envisioned to primarily consist of senior students and black belt instructors of different arts, it has developed over time to include under black belt students of various ages as well.  On the 16^th of December 2017 the instructors at Hidden Sword tested two of the students for belt rank in the Presas Arnis system as well as four students for the  Basic Instructor Rank for those black belt instructors in other martial arts.

 (Note all photos are from earlier classes throughout 2017 North Texas Karate Academy in Bridgeport TX.)

In the photo to the right Jackie Bradbury is working with Randy Redus from Oklahoma on the supported blocking drill, she has just checked his stick hand with her empty hand.

 Photo to the left shows HSMA's chief instructor Mark Lynn translating the double stick material to empty hand techniques to the class.









In the photo below guro Lynn is demonstrating how a double stick  technique can be adapted to the Okinawan sai.

 In 2018 the Bridgeport class has elected to continue and will move on to learning the intermediate level material in the HSMA Presas Arnis curriculum.

HSMA is currently looking to start another beginner program at another school.  If interested in either hosting  or attending this class, please email guro Lynn. 

In the photo below guro Mendoza is helping a junior student on a double stick disarm.

Dieter's Photo Lesson at the Zoo

(All photos by Emily)

This morning (Friday the 25^th) after only getting a few hours of sleep Dieter (who’s staying at my house for the seminar) was up and ready to go.  Prior to his arriving in America I asked what else besides martial arts did he like to do and as it turns out we had a common interest in photography so we decided to go to the Ft. Worth Zoo to take photos and see the animals.  Emily who also has an interest in photography was also eager to go so we spent the afternoon at the zoo.

Right off the bat you could tell there is a huge difference between Dieter’s and my approaches to photography.  Dieter was outfitted with the packs for the various lenses, the adjustable tripod thingy, the sun deflectors on the lenses, all hooked onto his belt with quick release clips etc. etc.  Then there is me with my camera and my long range lens shoved in my pants pocket.

Who do you think got the best photos?  Of course Dieter.  He knew more about the subject, he was better prepared with the equipment, he had more control over his equipment (referring to adjusting his camera to different setting to get better results).  Once again Dieter was eager to share his expertise with Emily and I and he coached us on taking better pictures.

To me this is how we should approach our study of the martial arts and Modern Arnis in particular.  GM Remy passed onto us a living art, one in which there is room for growth and individualized expression in the art.  How boring would it be if we all tried to be Remy clones; if we all tried to speak with Remy’s tonal inflections, if we all tried to teach in the demo format that Remy taught in, if we all stayed with practicing only as we thought Remy taught it.

We were all there to practice taking photos and the subjects were the animals.  However we each had different animals or birds we liked to use as subjects.  We had different equipment with different settings all achieving different results in our photos and yet often times we were shooting the same subject.  Just like each of us learning a lock, or applying a lock, or a disarm, or a drill etc. etc.  Sure the technique might be the same but you could really tell a difference once it is applied, just like viewing a photo.  Some are photos are good but some are really WOW!  These are the ones that can really move you, just like most locks hurt but then there are those that put you on the ground with tears in your eyes.

It would have been boring if Dieter explained how to take a photo and then set it up, focused it and set the settings on the camera and stepped away and said “OK now go press that button” click.  Instead it was “Emily, do you know the Golden rule (referring to the rule of thirds)?  Here let me show you”.   Then after she took some photos he would say let me see and compare the pictures, make some suggestions and move on.  By the end of the day we all had a great time showing off the pictures to my wife and talking about them and again the education continued.

Through Dieter’s guidance today Emily and I learned more about operating my camera as well as how to take better pictures.  While it would have been fun (and probably painful) to play with arnis all day, and there will be plenty of that for us this weekend, taking a break from all of the martial art talk gave us a different lessons to be learned and fun memories for all.  

 

Datu’s not the best, he just does it different

But he's Freak en awesome at what he does

 

Last night Dieter as he was sharing his methods with me brought up that he doesn’t want me to say that he thinks he is the best or that his way is better, instead I’m to say simply they (Dieter and the DAV) do things differently.  I concur.  I get to play (or train) with a lot of different folks in the Filipino martial arts (FMAs) of all different skills levels from instructors to beginners and I know there are a lot of different ways to do things.  I can say confidently that Dieter does things differently and it makes a lot of sense, it hurts as well. 

 

As Dieter was getting warmed up after teaching me the lesson about not solving a problem that hadn’t been asked (read the first post about training with Dieter last night), he then went onto to explain how they (the DAV) block the low strike (the #9) to the knee during the Tapi drills.   Now I’ve been shown to hack at the hand, I’ve been shown to pull the capturing hand upwards to release, move off at an angle etc. etc. but he showed me to simply pull my hand downward and let my free hand act as a barrier to the other hand if needed.   Simple right?  But hard for me to pull off since I hadn’t trained that way. 

Dieter said “grab my hand” sure enough I gripped his hand and he pulled it right out of my grasp to block the strike.   In fact this release is what I had been teaching my beginner karate students as a release from a hand grab, I tell them to seek the door way (area between the fingers) and pull and sure enough this was the same concept.  I couldn’t hold on to his hand to stop the defense and yet when it was my turn, I instinctively went for the harder release by reaching for the capturing hand with my free hand (which as I described ended up with me getting wacked each time.  It took me a while to free up my thought process and to start to do the low line defense as he showed me, but once again it was simple and it made sense.

We go back to watching the video and he’s saying “good”,  “good”, “we do that too”, “exactly” and then “Oh no we do that differently grab your stick.”  He noticed I was feeding a back hand punyo lazily and told me this is why you are having trouble with the lock.  I was feeding the punyo more on a slightly horizontal plane instead of a more diagonal plane towards the face.  Now this was an adjustment of about an inch or two in the angle (or tilt) of my punyo feed and it made all of the difference in the world of trying to get the lock.  Then Dieter corrected me on the lock, “You must do this first (getting the punyo over the stick and pull in by rotating the punyo and starting to set the lock), then you must take up the space, and then you rotate your upper body” Wham! That wrist lock was set and my body was being jerked around trying to lessen the pain.  Wow that correction made all of the difference in the world in the setting of the lock.

More corrections followed after he watched the next lock on the video, and the next one after that and so on.  All of the corrections made the locks work better, which meant the locks were more painful and more secure and easier to apply and set up.  Later he sees me on the video showing a drill that involved thrusting on the forehand side (#6) and the reverse (#7).   “Oh we do that differently” and he explains how they (the DAV) thrusts in on those lines and how as the feeder you counter and set it up so that your opponent doesn’t get the chance to block.  Simple changing the angle of the entry, again but hard for me to pull off since I haven’t trained that way.  After seeing the tip of his stick dominate the center of my vision each time I tried to block his thrust it is pretty unnerving to say the least.  When I tried to show him how another person was countering that thrust from a different style.  Dieter says “yes you can do that, but how do you counter him?”  I think “Duh I don’t know”.  He then tells me “Enter” and he shows one counter, “or you can do this” as he steps off line and palis palis (passes) it from the outside and behind the strike, “or you can do this” and he shows another and so on and so on.

This went on for nearly two hours and he covered anything he saw me do on the video with a different way of doing the technique which in my view helped me make my arnis better.  I didn’t have one thought of “well I don’t think that will work” you know when you see something and in the pit of your stomach your going “ahhhhhhhh” while you look away embarrassed.   I’m so glad that Hidden Sword Martial Arts is sponsoring him for a full two day seminar, because I feel confident that not only will Datu Dieter help my arnis, but I think everyone will learn something that will help make their art better.   If we all get better then we all can help raise the bar for our training collectively.

I’m not saying Datu Dieter is the best, but………  HE is pretty amazing at what he does.