There's a martial arts school in Louisville,Ky. that I'm looking into called the Louisville Martial Arts Academy. The style of intrest taught is called Sikal and the instructor is Bob Castro. Someone here on MAP mentioned this a while back and I was curious what anyone here knew about Sikal. There's also a school in Lexington,Ky. that I've been checking into recently called Four Seasons Martial Arts. Thier website is WWW.4SMMA.COM. Among other things classes in Sayoc Kali are offered. Does anyone here know much about Sayoc Kali and how it might compare with Sikal? The only sources for Silat or FMA training I've found aside from those exists at this very good JKD school in Cincinnatti,Oh. which is quite a drive although might be necessary. Left the JKD school that I had atttended for many years because instructors and many students there wanted to abandon material not related to sport fighting. No emhasis on weapons or arts not commonly associated with the current MMA trend. Several of us left and have been looking for new schools to train. Because a couple of former classmates went to the LMAA and others went to 4SMMA I've been to both a few times looking at classes. Many of the former JKD students came from the school in Ohio. The choice I made with Krav Maga did'nt turn out to be a good decision. Looking for good advice.
Sayoc Kali is primarily a bladed art from the Phillipines. It focuses on angles of attack, knife templates, stick, etc... Sikal which is probably a combo of Silat with Kali, hence the name Si-Kal, looks like it incorporates some techniques from Silat but I see little indication of any "pure" Silat as far as the cultural aspects go and the use of developing movement which I believe to be key in the development of a Silat player. I hope this helps. I will do some searching for you and see if I can find any other teachers in your area. Salam, Nicholas
Try Mr. Hollingsworth at paulpamhollin@yahoo.com he is a beginning level instructor of Pencak Silat Pertempuran that lives in Kentucky. I do not know much about him personally but I do know Pertempuran is an incredible system of Silat. Salam, Nicholas
Mike Castro used to post here under the username 'Pesilat' is memory serves me correctly... Maybe you can email him through the User List... Good Luck!
Guru Mike Casto (no "r" in his name) is one of the highest ranking Sikal guys under Guru Ken Pannell. Guru Mike is Pesilat on this board. You can check him out and reach him here: http://www.louisvillemartialarts.ne..._escrima_arnis_pentjak_pencak_silat-SIKAL.php He's a doozer of a martial artist and a very good teacher. Guru Ken's school is Asian Fighting Arts, here: http://asianfightingarts.com/home/ Good luck in your search.
Yup. That'd be me ... Mike Casto (very few people ever call me Bob, though ) Come on in and check out a class. The Silat we train comes primarily from the de Thouars lineage and from Mande Muda. We don't dwell a lot on the cultural aspects of "pure" Silat but we are aware of them and do teach them to the extent that they have been taught to us. But since we don't live in that culture this aspect of the training is pretty academic. We consider it important to some degree so people can avoid insulting or disrespecting Indonesian instructors they may train with here in the States or if we travel to the Malay region. I have been very inactive on this board (and on internet discussion boards in general) for the past couple of years but have picked up the habit again recently. Otherwise I would have noticed this thread *much* sooner. Anyway ... the Sikal curriculum starts with FMA. We teach the FMA as a pretty distinct curriculum until the student develops a firm foundation. Then we start introducing the Silat and, to a large extent, we teach the Silat as a distinct entity. The synthesis of Kali and Silat into "Sikal" happens only after the student has developed a solid understanding of each. Mike
Oh - and as far as how Sayoc Kali compares to Sikal. Sayoc Kali is "all blade, all the time." Though now, as I understand it, they encourage (or maybe expect or require, not sure) people to train in Sayoc Fighting System which also does empty hands, stick, etc. I was involved with Sayoc Kali for a time but I decided I already had enough on my plate. My instructor was an Associate Instructor in Sayoc but has had to put his Sayoc training on hold because of finances. Sayoc Kali has the finest progression of blade training I've seen. I wouldn't say it's "better" than everything I've seen - though I have never seen anything I would consider "better" than Sayoc but I've seen some stuff on par. But the training methodology/progression in Sayoc Kali is incredible (or, at least, what I saw was). I know very little about the Sayoc Fighting System (the material beyond their blade work). But some of the senior instructors in the Sayoc organization are very good with the elements (Tuhon Felix, for instance, is a top notch stick fighter). The core of Sikal's FMA is rooted in the Inosanto blend but draws from some other sources, too (including some Sayoc influence). As far as the FMA side of Sikal I would consider it a matter of personal preference as to which is "better" between Sayoc and Sikal. Both are very good (take whatever measure of salt you feel appropriate to compensate for my likely bias ). What really separates Sikal from Sayoc is the Silat side of things in our Sikal. It's impossible to go into much depth in this medium but our basic approach is this. We start with FMA and focus on it until the student has developed a solid foundation in it. Then we start bringing out the Silat and focus on it until the student has developed a solid foundation in it. We teach these elements largely as distinct entities. Once the student has a solid foundation and understanding in both the FMA side and the Silat side then we focus on merging the two - we start to add the "mortar" between the building blocks that really makes "Sikal" a cohesive system and gives it a flavor distinct from systems that are purely FMA or purely Silat. Some people might say this is bad. All I know is that it's a very good, solid system that has reliably developed good, solid martial artists who are able to both teach and apply the material very well. I know that it has worked for me and some of the other senior guys in some real hairy situations. Hope that answered your question. Mike
I met Roy in 1994 in Seattle at Takys Gym But i would like to see how he is Doing? If any one Knows Can they let me no just Tel Roy that Rudy is Trying to get hold of him
