Ok folks!

here's a chance to see what sort of stick drills each of us practices on a regular basis

the ones we practice regularly are

4 count
6 count
12 count
heaven 7
earth 7
single sinawali
double sinawali
redondo
banda banda

Due to shortage of time today I won't list the strike patterns at the moment but will do them later.

Feel free to add your own drills and patterns.

I'm really bad with names, so i'll go with as much as i can here -

Single and Double Siniwali
Panantukan/Wing Chun/Jun Fan empty hand drills
Defense against the 5 basic striking angles (stick and knife)
Heaven 6 - yes, we have six (hi, lo, mid and hi-lo-hi)
Flow drills of all kinds
Some game where you have a knife in one hand, your opponent has one in his and you've both got each other's wrists. The idea is to break free or cleverly get the knife into their vitals.

SPARRING

well, time to go to class....

...oh, I don't know (it was never presented w/ formal names)

maybe:
1) "bang da stick"
2) "don't get da knuckle hit"
3) "hit wen da stick drop"
4) "no trying disarm all da time"
5) "hey man, let go my stick"

(sorry)

I like "Hey man, leggo my stick".
Is it more effective if you go ?

Carlos Navarro (Black Eagle Escrima) taught a really simple drill:

break hand
break hand
break leg
break face

Ouch, I actually saw that one demonstrated between a master and top student in a school rivalry (yes, we have those here).

I assume it's double stick drills you're asking about...

I'll go from sources

(from Doce Pares)
4 count (variations, open and closed)
8 count (variations, open and closed)
12 count following
6 count series

(from Inosanto kali)
kob-kob series
6 count series
lacosta 8 count
abecedario 6 and 8 count
gunting drill
sombrada (can be done with 2 sticks)

(from Bakbakan kali)
the 17 individual techniques in the lakbay siniwali form
ang batikan form

(from DiamondBack eskrima)
the 4 part siniwali drill (64 moves in total...)

There are also a few drills from pekiti tirsia we play with sometimes, but they mostly show up in the Inosanto kali stuff.

But for single stick, knife, double knife, stick and dagger and empty hand, there are a *bunch* more...

This isn't a specific list of drills, however I'd like to explain our 5 stage process of how we teach people stick fighting. Here's how we do it (and this has ZERO to do with "styles"):

1. Put stick in beginners hand and go over the basics of stroking from the forehand and backhand positions, straight in, etc (this would normally include the 9 basic angles).

2. Show them basic defense (evasion, evasion with hand hit, evasion with head hit, blocking and crashing)

3. Thai pad drills with sticks (swinging out at them and letting them return fire into the "shields"

4. Progressive resistance drills and sparring (stick vs. stick) using the basic strikes and the basic defenses as well as the progressive use of equipment (starting with hockey glove and elbow pads, then knee pads, the helmets, etc).

5. All out sparring with soft sticks (all ranges, including the ground), then with rattan sticks.

And that covers EVERTHING. People get up to speed right away.


-John

Just out of curiosity, do you guys go all out with the rattan sticks? Is it like a Dog Brothers kind of thing where people get really messed up, or is it soft sparring or what? Do you use hockey gloves/fencing masks always, or just in the beginning? The reason I ask is I might start teaching a handful of people Kali and I want them to progress without getting scared off. It's hard to figure out how much is too much.
thanks

ShikataGaNai wrote:

Quote:

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Just out of curiosity, do you guys go all out with the rattan sticks? Is it like a Dog Brothers kind of thing where people get really messed up, or is it soft sparring or what? Do you use hockey gloves/fencing masks always, or just in the beginning? The reason I ask is I might start teaching a handful of people Kali and I want them to progress without getting scared off. It's hard to figure out how much is too much.
thanks

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You gotta ALWAYS be sane about things. What the Dog Brothers do isn’t for everyone. I mean, I personally don’t believe you need to go quite that far in order to learn something about yourself and develop the ability to fight.

Take vale tudo for example. There is no better way of learning about yourself than by doing vale tudo. No one gets seriously hurt because of the jiu-jitsu aspect and the ground fighting. It isn’t like boxing where it’s “forced brain damage” in other words (where the very rules force you to stand and trade, taking punches to the head).

As I mentioned in my post, we use PROGRESSIVE RESISTANCE in all things (not just stick fighting, but in MMA/Vale Tudo as well). What this means for stick fighting is, you start with the easy stuff, using light rattan and not swinging for the fences. Allow people to become accustomed to having a stick swung at them while working their defense. You can use focus pads for targets during this phase.

Then you put on hockey gloves and practice hand sparring only. That is another progression of resistance. Then have them wear kali helmets and hockey gloves, adding another level of resistance. You can use soft sticks during this phase, or light rattan.

Add some good knee pads and allow targets to the hand, head and knee (again using soft sticks or light rattan). This is good for experience and is a gradual progression, as always. Once you have people adjusted to having sticks swung at them (using good protection), this will go a long way toward developing their confidence and technique.

THEN, add crashing (roof blocks, etc) and work the clinch using punyos, knee strikes, elbows, takedowns, etc. Then allow them to continue on the ground, working for the fang choke for example or, some other submission.

The key is to make it a gradual process that doesn’t outpace a person’s skill or readiness level. Always use progressive resistance.

It’s a process of addition then subtraction. What I mean is, over time in training as students become more comfortable with the process, you progressively add protective equipment and intensity to the sparring and drilling. Then as they become even more comfortable, begin to progressively and gradually take the protective equipment AWAY until it’s as minimal as people are comfortable fighting with.

That’s a general outline that has worked for me and others (JKDU and the SBG to name a few).


-John