I was recently interviewed by writer Caitlin Basilio for an article about Filipino Martial Arts that appeared in a local newspaper. (You can see the article here.) As is often the case, only a small portion of the interview was included in the finished article. For those who might be interested, the text of the full interview is below. Enjoy!
What are the
philosophies behind Filipino Martial Arts?
FMA is all about practicality and flexibility. Methods and
techniques are not written in stone. It’s very open ended. You personalize the
art and do what works to defend yourself. Adaptability is key. A big part of
FMA philosophy is learning to see things as potential weapons. For example,
people wonder why bother learning to fight with sticks. Look around you; the
world is filled with sticks and stick-like items: car antennas, longneck bottles,
rolled-up newspapers, etc.
It’s important to remember that FMA has its roots in
warfare. The Philippines consists of over 7,000 islands with countless tribal
and ethnic groups who were often in conflict with each other. If the village a
few miles away periodically sends war parties to raid your village, you develop
some effective, easy-to-learn combat techniques.
When did you begin
practicing? What drew you to it and what keeps you interested?
Ii started training with Burton Richardson about 15 years ago. Even before taking up
FMA, I was interested in the art based on what I’d read. The integration of
both weapon-based and empty-hand techniques fascinated me. And I’ve always been
interested in hand-to-hand armed combat. It goes way back. My father was a
fencer, and his dad was a U.S. Marine Corps saber champion who learned machete
techniques from Filipino guerrillas while island-hopping across the Pacific
during World War II. I was playing around with real fencing foils and
quarterstaves from when I was a kid.
