Our instructor
is Ed Ursulom. He began his Martial Arts training in Karate in the Fall
of 1979 training under Sensei Peter Hilhorst
in Comox, B.C. He trained for a number of years in the Comox Dojo while
at the same time training in different discipline some privately.
He attended also numerous seminars - the first one was in Coquitlam, B.C.
given by Professor Remy Presas attended by I believe Datu Kelly Worden
and Datu Shishir Inocalla, my first formal Filipino instructor.
Ed is an instructor in the art of KOMBATAN Filipino Combative Martial Arts under Grandmaster Ernesto A. Presas
Sr. of which he has had the good fortune of training privately with him,
apprentice instructor under both Professor Remy Presas and Grandmaster
Bobby Taboada. He also holds a brown belt in Karate.
Ed is a firm believer in training in a variety of different arts and be an all
around student. So he usually encourage students to go out and experience
other martial arts as all of them have something good to offer. To borrow
a phrase take what is good for you and disregard the rest. And keep an
open mind.
Ed is a proponent of self
defense. He believes that actual self defense should be taught seperate
from the regular classes, teaching only simple but effective techniques.
He has taught at the local recreation centre on a regular basis as well
as doing numerous demonstration for local groups.
Our
Curriculum
While not getting into too much details the system that is taught at our
club is as follows:
Modern Arnis under both Professor Remy Presas
and Grandmaster Ernesto
Presas of KOMBATAN. While the two brothers teach and use the term Modern Arnis
both have their own organization and both teach in a way that is unique
to their own. I have used the term Arnis: Presas Style on many instances
to denote Grandmaster Ernesto Presas and IPMAF
which is his own organization. But in 1998 a meeting of a group of IPMAF instructors along with Grandmaster Ernesto
was held. A new name was chosen to further distinguish the two Presas brothers. This name was KOMBATAN - Filipino Combative Martial Arts.
This way I feel each brothers can be given due respects in as far as where the instructions came from.
Modern Mano Mano which incorporate many empty hand styles and Daga
sa Daga from Grandmaster Ernesto Presas who is the founder of Modern Mano
Mano.
Basic Balintawak Arnis Cuentada under Grandmaster Bobby Taboada and from Guro
Louie Lindo who teaches an eclectic blend of Kali/Eskrima/Arnis from well known grandmasters, masters and instructors from the Filipino Martial
Arts and from the Indonesian Martial Art of Pencak Silat Mande Muda.
As well we train from boxing, kickboxing and wing chun. While we teach
different arts it is the Arnis: Presas Style under the International Philippine
Martial Arts Federation banner that we concentrate mainly on. And it is
this system that we get ranked on.
Sub Systems of International Philippine Martial Arts Federation
Within the framework of KOMBATAN - Filipino Combative Martial Arts we have 5 sub system:
1. Solo baston.
2. Doble baston or Sinawali.
3. Spada y Daga.
4. Daga sa Daga.
5. Mano Mano.
It has been said that the weapons are an extention of tha hand so what you do with
a stick or blade one can do with the empty hands or vice versa with some
modification when handling specially bladed weapons.
Within these sub systems one will find styles of fighting techiniques like abaniko,
ocho ocho, banda y banda, de cadena, doblete, redonda, rompida, sungkite/tutsada/saksak,
palis palis and ikis to name a few.
While many systems of Arnis/Kali/Eskrima do have more than one sub systems some rely
on or concentrate mainly on one. Like for example the Balintawak system
as taught by Grandmaster Anciong Bacon and his student Grandmaster Bobby
Taboada, they rely mainly on one stick.
The basic foundation for all the sub systems are the ABCD or abakadas - alphabets. They are
a series of strikes or any sequential movements or actions ( ie: footwork
and learning to strike ) that promotes the student in having a good, strong
foundation on which to build upon.
