This is a question for people who've never done fma previously or have done very little. I was just wondering why people would choose to study fma here in the Philippines if there are already competent to excellent fma instructors where they live. Even if those instructors might be in another city a few hours away, it would still seem to be more convenient and consistent as a method of instruction rather than flying to the other side of the world to see your teacher for a month or two every few years. I've always found that you learned techniques from your teacher, but you got better through consistent practice with your peers or those better than you to go along with ongoing, continuous correction from your teacher. How would a beginner know who to correct himself after getting home again? I can understand if you're already an established teacher or senior student and you want to experience the culture and training here. But many seem to be complete neophytes who would seem to be better served with schools closer to where they live.
I know this thread if for those who have done a little or no FMA and is asking as to why they venture to the PI. But I have found in my expeariance that those who have little or no knowledge of the FMA who travel to the PI to train do so mainly because they want to be a Chief on not and Indian. They want to tell people they know more than they actually know simply because they trained there, yet the chances are they have someone a short trip away who can give them far more intense and indepth training. Yes if you are expearianced go there and see and expeariance how it is done in the Islands, but you still need regular training and checking when you get back home so go amongst your peers back home and train and exchange expeariance. If you have little or no expeariance, a trip for a couple of weeks will do you no good really because they will not have enough time to give you a solid grounding and correct any mistakes you have. People fail to realise that the FMA has been taught openly in the West for many decades and the amount of tallented instructors outside the PI is quite astounding and in many ways you can receive better training simply because it is regular in your home country than you can by taking a short trip and trying to crash course it. And I have also found with some (no all) people who make this trip with little or no background knowledge, they tend to come back telling everyone they found something new???? And they end up preaching to the already converted. I am sure this is not true of everyone, but shoot the messenger if you like, it tends to happen more often than not... Best regards Pat
That's one of the things I appreciate about Guro Dan Inosanto. He's very open about never having trained in the Philippines. But Stockton, California had no shortage of skilled and experienced eskrimadors. And, increasingly, that's true everywhere. I'm near DC, and I can think of qualified instructors in at least half a dozen FMAs within an hour's drive of here. Quite a few within 10 minutes.
visit the Philippines!!! I know of two or three instances where this occurred, Pat. An entrepreneur visits the Philippines to find an unknown master he can manipulate in giving him an "instructor" certificate, so he can open a school. Said entrepreneur returns to Germany or the UK or the US, promotes his new certification and makes an ass of himself. Other FMAers call him out and report the neophyte's activities to people in the Philippines. Instructorship is revoked, the entrepreneur returns again to the Philippines and finds another "unknown" eskrimador with "uncanny" talents and repeats the process above. 1. Eskrimadors in the Philippines have access to the internet. And do talk. 2. Poor eskrimadors will tend to hand out instructorship certificates to foreigners. Simple economics. With all that said, barring the entrepreneur like the above, please visit the Philippines whether you are elementary or a PhD in FMA. Seek out unknown poverty stricken practitioners and help them out, learn how they live to be able to learn the context of your chosen art. Learn the cultures, of the well to do practitioners as well as those who are down and out. This is the essence of Philippine culture. There is an invisible social hierarchy that defines the Philippines (the haves and the have-nots), which ironically is only equalized by one's skills in Eskrima--how Filipino is that? Don't exploit or exaggerate because the FMA community is very small and people will find out.
We had one of our students go to the Phillipines recently and he trained with Alfredo Carin. I think he would say the trip was worthwhile for a view of the culture and people, but as far as the training goes what he got was an insight into the rawness of FMA in the Phillipines. Alfredo never moved him on too much because he wanted the basics perfected first. A nice refreshing story considering you normally hear of black belts and certificates given out at will.
Being both a teacher and a very serious student of the art I study, I visit Manila every year because that is where the GM of the system, 2 of his sons, and their core group is located--if they were in Zimbabwe, then Id go to Zimbabwe instead. I also spend a few weeks each year in Orlando because another of the GMs sons lives there. When I travel to the Philippines and Orlando, this is not vacation for me. Its not about sight-seeing or visiting all the social hot-spots; thats fun too, but first and foremost in my mind is the training; thats why Im there. So my point is, you shouldnt just go to the Philippines to say youve been there, unless you just want to take a vacation. You should go with specific plans in place to train with certain people/groups that you want to train with, and put in the necessary hours to make a difference in your skill level. With that said, visiting the Philippines with a plan really is important for learning the culture and understanding the origins of the art. Its the "full immersion". Its a very different culture there and there is a lot to learn about that part of the world and why the arts developed in the way they did. I also feel that anyone that is really interested in the roots of their art ought to make some degree of an attempt at learning Tagalog or one of the other regional languages. My Tagalog is horrible, but I try! lol
GM Alfredo is a class act and there is no rush with him. Get it right before you move on and that's what it is all about.
Traveling to the country of origin is always a great experience at least for me. Many times its the intensity of training and seeing it done in the environment and in the culture that spawned it that is real exciting.
The exact same questions and insights that apply to FMA in this thread pretty much apply to most martial arts and styles. Muay Thai is certainly no different. Simon S mentions the rawness of the training in the Philippines. I think it's an important point at some point in the training to actually get to the country of origin and train there for as long as possible. Obviously for consistency and convenience that's never going to replace training at your home location. Consistency counts for a lot in the martial arts as in many ways you are rewriting your movement patterns and rewiring your central nervous system to some extent. So if you have competent instructors in your martial art close by then that's always going to be the prime option. As for FMA though... I honestly can't imagine anyone training it NOT wanting to get over the Philippines and train it. At least for a bit. It's got a lot going for it and just the culture shock and break for the normal day to day would be awesome for anyone that's not been there before. I'd trained a bit of Balintawok here and then saw a bit of the Balintawok there in Philippines. Pretty different. Wish I had more time to train it in either place. To my way of thinking and coming primarily from Muay Thai... heading to Thailand to train is always going to lend a really good sense of purpose mentally and emotionally to training. It was where I first discovered Muay Thai so it's like a homecoming of sorts. A big factor in staying motivated to train. Also, at least for me there is always going to be some small thing that I manage to observe and pick up on that I don't in gyms other places. It may not even be in my sessions... but it could be from watching the others train. And then of course there is always the inspiration of seeing some or 10 year old nak muay absolutely crease a heavy bag with textbook knees and roundhouse. If you can get abroad to train it... then do so. For a whole host of reasons. But if you have good resources in your area... and God knows there are MASSIVE Filipino populatons in many spots in the US... then take advantage of that too. The two need not be mutually exclusive.
