The World Eskrima Kali Arnis Federation (W.E.K.A.F.) World Championships were held in Debrecen, Hungary July 24-27, 2014.  I trained hard for months, all my gear was packed, and I was as ready to go as I was going to get.

I left on Sunday evening, July 20th, flew to London, then onto Hungary arriving on Monday the 21st.  I stayed a night in Budapest before catching a train to Debrecen on the 22nd.  After checking into our hotel we walked a few blocks to the convention center where the event was being held.  There I registered and weighed in at 181.1 lbs., safely under my fighting weight of 185.  After a quick cell phone call, I met up with the rest of the US team in a nearby restaurant for dinner before heading back to the hotel.

All my fights were originally scheduled for Friday, but once I got there I found out that the schedule had changed.  I was now fighting first-hit stick on the opening day, Thursday, then again with knife on Friday, and finish up the event with staff on Saturday.  I had planned on catching an early flight out of Budapest on Sunday morning, but I figured things should wrap up in time for me to make the 3 hour train ride Saturday night, I would just have to skip the closing ceremonies.

The event began with an elaborate opening ceremony including a parade of nations.  Teams had come from all over the world, including Great Britain, France, United Arab Emigrates, Canada, and Australia.  Competitors filed in as their respective country’s national anthems played one by one.  The largest teams were the United States, and the host school, Hungary, each with about 20 competitors.

After a long day of watching forms, I ended up fighting first in the men’s first-hit stick division.  There were 12 of us on the bracket.  I won my first fight against an Austrian, but lost a close second bout to a member of the Hungarian team.  Luckily I stuck around after the event, because the officials suddenly decided that they were going to change the schedule and squeeze the first hit knife fighting in Thursday night.  Next thing I knew I was back in the ring in the first knife fight against Perry Zmugg of Austria.   Guro Zmugg is the chief instructor of Center 6 Martial Arts Training Center in Stattegg, Austria.  In addition to having advanced degrees in many styles including Hapkido and Wing Chun, Grandmaster Zmugg is also the founder of the Real Arnis Federation.  Perry and I were pretty evenly matched, going point for point for the full two minutes before he finally edged me out at the buzzer.

Thursday there was no fighting for me, and I was pretty bummed that I had not placed in either of my first two divisions.  Saturday rolled around and I had one more chance at a medal…or did I?  Turned out that one of the Team USA members from the West Coast could not attend, so there was a slot open in full contact double stick fighting.  I was asked if I wanted the position, and, since it is not in me to back down from a challenge, I accepted, even though I had not trained for this particular event.  When I got to the ring I discovered that the slot was in the men’s heavyweight division, 200 lbs and up.  I drew a 240 lb. man from a mining town in the middle of Australia.  A former world champion himself, he was no push over, but after 3 hard rounds the match was tied, so it went a fourth round, which I lost in a split decision.  It was a close battle, and the crowd cheered their approval at the show!  In the end I took 4th place in that division.

Finally, after a full day of fighting, including exciting team fighting with representatives from each country taking turns in the ring in rapid, succession, my event FINALLY came up.  By this time it was 6 PM and the last train to Budapest left at 7.  I knew it was going to be close as I suited up to fight.  I ended up fighting with against Grandmaster Perry Zmugg of Austria, again.  We fought for three hard rounds, each of us bruised and battered from our previous matches.  In the end I lost a split decision to place second in Full Contact Bangkaw (staff) Fighting (Men's Light Heavyweight Division).

After my match I accepted my silver medal, threw my equipment into my bag, and literally ran back to the hotel to get my stuff.  The elevator was too slow, so I told the man at the desk to call me a cab as I ran up the stairs to my room.  I came scrambling down a moment later, checked out, and jumped into the waiting taxi.  I think taxi drivers in any country like it when you say you are in a hurry and can you get me there FAST!  It is like an open invitation to see what he can do, and this driver did NOT disappoint!  I hurriedly purchased a ticket with the last of my Hungarian Forints and made it to the platform with a mere 3 minutes to spare before the train rolled up to the station. 

As I took my seat I thought how lucky I was to have made that last train…then I looked out the window and saw the pizza shop at the terminal.  I remembered that I had not eaten since lunch, and not much at that.  As the train pulled away, my stomach rumbled and I suddenly became aware of the many bruises I was now sporting.  It was going to be a long ride back to Budapest, but I was very grateful for the experience and the honor of fighting on the 2014 US Team.

I have been busy preparing for the World Championships in Hungary in just 3 short weeks!  Thank you to everyone who has helped me get this far!  Special thanks to Master Bao Ngo for his expertise and continued commitment to helping me prepare for this big event.    Roll the obligatory training montage...  

I just returned from Cuong Nhu Oriental Martial Arts's International Annual Training Camp in Raleigh, NC.  On Friday I taught a two hour class on staff fighting.  I also fought 24 one-minute rounds with padded staves against 13 different opponents.  Afterwards, I reviewed the videos of my fights with my teacher, Master Bao Ngo.  We talked about some small changes to my footwork and some new drills he wants me to start working on, but, to my great relief, he was very pleased with my progress since our last training session.  I am excited to redouble my efforts gearing up to the World Championships in Hungary at the end of July!

 I just finished up an incredible weekend of training with my Teacher, Master Bao Ngo from Tennessee, who took four days of time away from his family and traveled all the way to Philly just to help me get ready for the World Staff Championships in July.  On Thursday we worked on knife fighting, then we dedicated Friday and Saturday to training the staff. 

It was a very enlightening experience, yet incredibly humbling as well.  We literally tore down my existing staff game and rebuilt it from scratch upon a much stronger foundation.  It is a challenge sometimes to break old habits and rewrite over old programming, but in the end the results are well worth the effort.  Physically my whole body aches, but I am used to the pain.  In fact, I kind of like it, it let's me know I trained my hardest.  I kept an open mind, and now it is in that familiar state of disequilibrium, buzzing with new information and new ideas.  It will still take me several weeks to fully implement everything we worked on, but once I have properly ingrained the new drills and fully assimilated the upgraded strategies, my game is going up a notch.  LEVEL UP!

When I was about 12 years old, I discovered the martial arts watching Kung Fu movies on TV.  Saturday afternoons were more than entertainment for me; they were pure inspiration.  Within little time, I was twirling an old broomstick in the backyard, and so began my lifelong love of the martial arts.  That was over 30 years ago.  Since that time, I have never stopped training.  I have studied karate, kung fu, judo, wing chun, boxing, eskrima, and a plethora of W estern arts as well.  I have always tried to maintain an open mind and continue learning new things, not just in the martial arts but in my everyday life as well.  Today, my primary passion (besides raising my two wonderful kids, Cosmos and Kayla) is to train and teach the martial arts.  It is not just a hobby; it is my path.

Aside from teaching traditional martial arts, I enjoy working with weapons.  I like matching different weapons against each other, and prefer to include kicking, empty-hand striking, and grappling techniques (we call that "house rules").  I have spent my life cross training in different arts to fight effectively at all ranges, from projectile to grappling, on my feet or on the ground, armed or unarmed.  I have also trained in different conditions, including in the rain and outside in the dark, so as to be familiar with fighting in different environments where actual self-defense is most likely to take place.  Such an undertaking is a life-long venture, but one I found to be well worth the effort.  I highly recommend doing what you can to make yourself a well-rounded fighter.

To that end, I am constantly trying to test myself.  I did two Spartan Sprints with my wife (a five mile obstacle course up and down a ski mountain) and I enter a few tournaments every year.  This year I drove to NYC and fought in the WEKAF (World Eskrima Kali Arnis Federation) Northeast Nationals.  I ended up winning gold in knife fighting and short stick (padded division), qualifying me to go to the World Championships in Hungary this Summer.  Even more exciting, it turns out that they will also have staff fighting at World's this year (first time ever outside of the Philippines).  The event is so new in WEKAF that they did not have it listed as a division at the qualifying tournament.  I was very dissapointed, but since there was no qualifying event scheduled at Northeast Nationals, I requested and got approval to also be the U.S. representative for that event in Hungary this summer.  This will be the biggest competition I have ever entered.  I am very excited!