Kali, err say that again?

Got through warmup yesterday and a quick run through the first 24 self defense technique, a run that reminded me that I need to work on them more. Man was I mixed up on some of those, even though I know all of them, or I used to know all of them...

Once through these, our instructor told us we'd do some kobudo and that Daniel, his usual assistant and 3rd dan black belt, would be the instructor for the night. I was expecting him to tell us to go get a bo, but know, he pointed to some sticks on the floor, kind of like strong cut off broomsticks, maybe a couple feet long, maybe a bit longer. He told us what we would be working on was called kali. I have found many places talking about kali on the web and it's also called stick fighting, or escrima. Not so sure it falls inton kobudo, or at least it doen't fit the okinawan kobudo line, as the kali are a philipino weapon.

He took us through a few different strikes, some very interesting stuff. You actually hit with the stick as if you had a blade attached to it, mostly doing motions in continuity, in the shape of an eight. We went throuhg the downward 8 (with right hand, from right should to left thigh, go up and round to left ear and strike downward from left shoulder to right thigh, repeat the round movement), then the upward 8 (reverse the motions, from left thigh to right shoulder, go round and tow right thigh and strike back up to left ear). That last one could look a bit like hitting a tennis ball with a racket, either brushing it forward or with a backhand. The effect with a blade would be a slicing of the blade, going upward or downward, depending on which way you go.

We went on with a bit more, including some blocks and counterstrikes then we went to actually hit the things together. Weeee!!! :) We actually did a few self defense techniques that did make a lot of sense. Some say finding a broom to use as a bo is easy, but think about it, it would be even easier to find a two foot long stick to block then strike an attacker. Block, strike to the wrist, chamber the second stick (yeah, we had two in our hands at one point, how scary) and strike again. I loved it! :)

FM