EMPTY YOUR CUP
The first time I saw Karate Kid was when I was a wide-eyed grade schooler with too many scraped knees and not enough interest in my studies. I was

entranced, as all other children my age were, with the flowing movements and esoteric disciplines "Daniel-san" and Mister Miyagi practiced. However, unlike the other girls who had crushes on Ralph Macchio, I found in myself the desire to actually *be* him.

I begged my mom for martial arts lessons for years, but it was only in college that I was finally able to get into it. I'd done my research prior and I knew that Arnis was an indigenous art (Nationalism at its finest, damn it), so I took it as a PE class and ended up joining the club.

Arnis has several hundred different systems (i.e. styles) all over the Philippines, and I had the honor to be able to study under Masters and Instructors of both Lightning (LSAI) and LESKAS.


My partner Fatima and I during an arnis demonstration in UP. (I'm the one in the tanktop.)

I am currently one of the Instructors over at our little dojo in UP Diliman, and am pleased to have found my way into something that makes me proud to be Filipino.

Arnis is currently the Philippine National Sport and we are all trying our darndest to get it into the Olympics. As it is, the South East Asian games is opening its doors to it in 2005-- definite cause for celebration. :)

To learn more about our particular style, please drop by UP SANGKIL KARASAK's website here.



 SPORT ARNIS
This was during the Ateneo de Manila Invitational Open (August 23-24, 2003). The person in red is my teammate Fatima, fighting against MuntinLupa, I think.

Competition is comprised of 3 two-minute rounds, the goal of which is to make five points before your opponent does. Each round ends when either the Red or Blue player reaches five points.
I'm the player in Red, up against a player from Liping Maharlika.

In the event that the clock runs out before either player scores five points, the player with more points is awarded the win.
I'm the player in Red, up against a player from Liping Maharlika.

Points are awarded only if three factors are present in the strike:

1) Proper Form (the delivery of which must adhere to your given style/system)

2) Distance (a strike must have an arm's length distance to be counted as a legitimate strike; whapping your stick like an ape in close quarters does not count.)

3) Sound (the strike must have a crisp, strong sound upon impact; this shows that you have both strength and the control of your weapon).


the UP arnis team warming up before competition. i'm on the extreme right.

The sport aspect of arnis is fairly different from its combative roots, though its spirit is still very much the same. I for one am delighted that it is steadily gaining as much respect as it has in foreign communities, and can only hope that it will continue to do so.

For a look at the foreign presence of competition arnis, check out the WEKAF (World Escrima Kali Arnis Federation) website here.

The rules that we are fighting under are ARPI (Arnis Philippines), and are different in both scoring and armor/weapon class.

To learn more about the UP Diliman team's tournament history, please drop by our website here.