It’s been a year since the pandemic forced most of us to seriously look into different ways of doing things, training included. The silver lining, however, is that it also made numerous instructors around the world see the possibilities of using technology to reach potential students in remote places, thus creating great opportunity for both instructors and students.
I didn’t think twice about jumping on such
opportunity to join the 4-week course conducted by Celestino “Tinni” Macachor,
the founder of the Filipino stick fighting system called Estokada De Campo. I
first became aware of him back in 2007 when he co-authored the book titles
Cebuano Eskrima: Beyond the Myth, which caused considerable turmoil with the
FMA community for its factual approach to dispelling many of the myths and tall
tales that were being perpetuated almost as sacred texts over decades.
I am not going to review the book here (although, if
you are an adept of arnis or eskrima, this should be on your list of
mandatory literature), but his writing style appealed to me, and it is also
reflected in his conversational style – open, honest, and straightforward to
the point of bluntness; great sense of humor and a healthy dose of humility…the
exact right recipe to my liking.
Interestingly enough, mang Tinni’s original martial
discipline was (and still is) practical pistol-craft of the IPSC orientation,
but he took eskrima in the late 1980’s, studying in the Eskrima De Campo school
under revered professor Ireneo Olavides, the heir to legendary grandmaster Jose
Caballero, and currently the head of his own organization EDC JDC-IO. Although
having been in the council of elders within that organization, mang Tinni (the
way he prefers to be addressed) decided to step away so that the dislike and
venomous comments that he attracted following the publishing of the
aforementioned book wouldn’t affect the circle of brethren in JDC-IO.
Instead, he went into recluse for a decade, teaching
only selected private students, and then in 2018 launched his own interpretation of combative stick
training methodology, which he named Estokada De Campo (EDC for short).
Macachor’s training and teaching philosophy based on
the functional athletic approach, meant to develop skills that work under the
pressure of sparring against resisting opponents. If you are acquainted with my
earlier blog materials, it won’t come as a surprise that I like it.
For the purposes of the online course (with limited
attendance of 10 students from Europe, USA and the Philippines) mang Tinni put
together a streamlined curriculum, very well thought out – in a logical,
sequential manner, so that each block of instruction leads students smoothly to
the next. This provides for the better understanding and faster assimilation of
the material, i.e. its functional application.
Specifically, the first week covered the
fundamentals of mechanical efficiency regarding the grip on the stick and
execution of basic strikes, which were then put together into several combos
(called BOSS – basic offensive strike series) done from the closed and open
guard positions; the second block of instruction was dedicated to a different
tactical application of striking angles (cirkulo);
the third segment focused on one of the hallmarks of the system – kadlit; while the final session
presented further methods of doble golpes
and Caballero enganyo.
The format of instruction was such that man Tinni
taught during weekly Zoom sessions, and over the following week the
participants would film themselves performing the material, to be analyzed and
corrected within a private discussion group on Facebook. I liked this setting
for several reasons: it gave enough time to the instructor to really explain
and demonstrate in detail the material planned for the given lesson, as well as
to answer any potential questions in real time, while he was able to
subsequently pay close attention to each individual student for coaching tips
and correction. Also, it means all the participants were able to learn from
each other’s examples, as it would be the case in a live setting.
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| Photo: courtesy of Celestino Macachor |
The instructional sessions were conducted with attention
to detail and ample examples and parallels with other types of activities, in order to better
depict the desired effect. In line with his honest nature, mang Tinni never
missed the chance to give credit where it is due, i.e. mentioning the people
who taught him what he knew or had contributed to his understanding of the art.
On top of that, since none of the students in this particular batch were
beginners, he also repeatedly praised our previous instructors for having
instilled certain good habits and attitude. As a side note, it was fairly
impressive to see a gentleman of his age perform the way he did.
Finally, the mark of a true teacher, Macachor
repeatedly noted that the point of training is not to mimic his exact way of
movement, but rather to make the material your own by refining it through
training and testing, so that it would be effective for the end user. This
focus on prioritizing individual students over general curriculum is what will
lead to favorable outcome.
In the case of EDC, after this module of
instruction, in mang Tinni’s words: “It will not make you unbeatable, but you
will be able to competently hold your own in a stick fight”. And let me tell
you - you can take his word for it!
On a side note, I would like to extend my gratitude
to Mr. Steve Del Castillo of the Bunal
Brand, who ably provided the logistics for the whole program, and whom you
may contact to join the next batch of students, starting on April 9.
