What a great era for martial arts growth!
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It is interesting to meet practitioners from different styles of kali and learn their naming and numbering structure.We all seem to have common elements in our FMA style, although different guros may teach concepts from different perspectives.No matter what you call your martial art, Arnis, Kali, Escrima or perhaps something more specific like Pekiti Tirsia, we are finding out that we have much that is the same.We are simply branches of the same tree.
Through the years, I have seen individuals create arguments over such trivial things as martial arts vocabulary because in our minds, there are no dialects, no variance in terms that describe our arts.We could really get off track years ago by talking about the differences in arnis and say, escrima.To get my guro’s perspective and compare and contrast with eskrima and arnis, I simply asked about the words. Guro Nathan Defensor used to say that whether we call our arts Arnis, Eskrima, or Escrima it is much like saying car, auto, automobile, they are just words that refer to the same thing.It seems to me that more and more people describe their martial arts approach very differently today than they did just two decades ago.
We are now deeply rooted in a digital age, and it is great to have the input of martial artists all over the world to get their input and perspectives different aspects of martial arts.MySpace, Facebook, and Twitter are allowing martial arts practitioners to network and are helping to bring our perspectives closer that we have so much in common. YouTube video clips show us that, yep, we do that too.Back in the 80′s I can remember my karate sensei telling us that training in another art or another dojo was considered disloyal, I also remember Taekwondo teachers that forbid their martial arts students from attending classes in another style.
We are also seeing greater access to international trade, which means that escrima practitioners have greater access to exotic kali sticks such as kamagong sticks and bahi sticks. Twenty years ago, you may have known someone in your group that had fighting sticks made of Filipino hardwood, but finding a source was somewhat difficult. Now, we only need to do an Internet search to find the best sources for Filipino Martial Arts Supplies.
By fostering the collaboration and communication of martial artists all over the world, this digital age is an excellent era for the proliferation of martial arts!
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Tagged with: Arnis • Auto Automobile • Car Auto • Dialects • Different Perspectives • Different Styles • Dojo • Escrima • Escrima Sticks • Facebook • Filipino Martial Arts • Guro • International Trade • Kamagong Sticks • Karate Sensei • martial art • martial artists • martial arts • Martial Arts Practitioners • Martial Arts Students • Trivial Things • Twitter • Variance • Vocabulary • Youtube Video
Filed under: Martial Arts
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