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The IMMERSION Foundation Presents Strands of Strife and Life Vol. II

THE BOOK OF THE

STICK

part 3

A Comprehensive Survey of the World's Stick Arts

edited by Mahipal Lunia / Juha A. Vuori, Ph.D / Mika Harju-Seppänen

THE BOOK OF THE

STIC K

THE BOOK OF THE

STICK A Comprehensive Survey of the World's Stick Arts

part 3

Contributors CONTRIBUTING EDITORS Mahipal Lunia Explorer-in-Residence, The Immersion Foundation Executive Editor, The Immersion Review @theimmersionfoundation

@immersion.foundation

http://www.therenaissancepath.com http://www.theimmersion.foundation

Juha A. Vuori, Ph.D Professor of International Politics, Faculty of Management and Business Tampere University, Finland https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1487-2961

Mika Harju-Seppänen mika.harjuseppanen@gmail.com

PEER REVIEWERS Juha A. Vuori, Ph.D Mika Harju-Seppänen 2 Anonymous Reviewers

PRODUCTION Hana Shin Editor & Production Director Cover image by Jdcollins13 on Wikipedia.com (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silambam#/media/File:Silambam_vector.svg). Cropped from original image. Permission given by Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/legalcode).

The Immersion Review, founded by The Immersion Foundation, is a conduit for penetrating insights in combat and combative behavior. It is a space for the dedicated martial artist, who dares to seek ideas from diverse fighting systems. The Immersion Review is a peer-reviewed journal for the martial arts comprehensivist. FOR EDITORIAL AND ADVERTISING INQUIRIES, PLEASE CONTACT: thereview@theimmersion.foundation

Copyright © 2023 by The Immersion Foundation. All Rights Reserved. First Edition published in 2023 by The Immersion Foundation. http://theimmersion.foundation No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations in critical articles or reviews.

Acknowledgments

We would like to expresss our heartfelt graditutde to all the auhtors who contributed to this book, the anonymous reviewers who offered their time and critical review through the process, and the students of the Mountain View Aiki school who spent countless hours doing the unseen work behind the scenes. We would also like to offer special thanks to Michael Belzer for being thie guiding light on this journey and a bridge connecting The Immersion Foundation to Donn F. Draeger's work and legacy, and Michael J. Ryan, Ph.D for his contributions to the first two issues of the Immersion Review Vol. 1 - Stick Arts.

Left: Sir Richard Francis Burton [Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Francis_Burton / public domain] Right: Donn F. Draeger [Photo courtesy of Michael Belzer]

Dedication

This work is dedicated to the two pioneers and leaders of hoplology: Sir Richard Francis Burton, who founded the field in the 19th century; and Donn F. Draeger, who revived it in the 20th century.

Germany

Portugal United States

Hawaii

at a gla nce TH E B OOK OF T HE ST ICK part 3

Egypt China Burma

The Philippines

Indonesia

New Zealand

Cont ents Secrets of the Lua

Michelle Manu Blunt and Impact Weapons of Hawaiian Lua

Jerry Walker Tapada Staff

William McGrath WEKAF and Dog Brothers: Together at Last!

Nick Merchant Yiquan Staff Energy

Scott Meredith Cuentada: Learning to Prioritize

102

Mark Mikita Swords, Axes, Sticks, and Filipino Fighting Arts

118

Mark Mikita Sumbrada and Cuentada

146

Mark Mikita The Bando Staff: History and Applications; Past and Present Ethan Minor

176

The One and the Many: Hawaiian Tobosa System

194

Michael Mulconery The “Barabara” and Basic Long-Weapon Approach

266

Michael Mulconery Stick Fighting in North Africa

274

Adam H. C. Myrie The Use of Polearms: Joachim Meyer, the 16th-Century Fencing Master

298

Roger Norling Traditional Māori Martial Arts

330

Te Waitere Jason Paahi Reclaiming the Magic of the Chinese Staff

376

Scott Park Phillips The Staff in Pentjak Silat Sera

390

Stevan Plinck SCA and Stick Fighting: Crossovers to FMA and Other Arts

404

Paul Porter Prevention of Injuries And Power Output in Stick Fighting Luis Preto

490

Michelle Manu @michelle.manu.50

“BY THE 18TH CENTURY, each major island chiefdom had a Hālau Ku’ialua where was taught the martial arts science blending harmony of the loina wahine a me loina kāne (duality in nature) with mauliola (harmony of life’s principle) and with evenly balanced intellect, spirit, and emotion. As a physical art, the purest form of Ku'ialua comprises the arts of lima hāmama (open-handed techniques), including defensive and offensive strategy, stealth, invisibility, ritual participation, and ceremonial dance. Knowledge surrounding the ‘oihana lapa’au (medicinal profession), ‘oihana limalima (physiotherapy), hahā (diagnostics), ha’iha’i (acupressure and osteopathy), and mea ai (diet) completed the picture. At the onset of the seventeenth century, maximized armed tactics were introduced, augmenting the function of all major weapons, altering the warrior’s fighting style from that time onward.”1

SECRETS OF THE

LUA

Michelle Manu

Jerry Walker

BLUNT AND IMPACT WEAPONS OF HAWAIIAN LUA AN INTERVIEW WITH Jerry Walker

Lua War Clubs NEWA IS A SHORT WAR CLUB made of indigenous hardwood. It is shaped with a bald head handle with a knob or a point at the end. We also have newa with a wooden handle and a stone head looking like an apple, laced on it. It is used with a lot of wrist actions, primarily in a forward stance. If going against other weapons, the primary targets are the forward hand of the opponent, his wrist,

42 | The Book of the Stick

elbow, shoulder, clavicle, scapula, and different parts of the head. One would not attack the spine as much as the base of the skull, or C7 and T1 vertebrae to use the correct anatomical terms. If you smash these, there is a slight forward movement of C7, T1 being erect. With your circular movements, you could also take out the knees, shattering the shin bones, and smashing the top of the foot: metatarsals, phalanges, and so on. With this weapon, you could first hit the sides of the body and the hand, and then flip the weapon, so that it will bounce back and hit the back of the head, a lot of times hitting behind the ear of your opponent to affect his balance and stunning him. A reverse newa is shaped more like a teardrop, with a handle which comes to a point, like a bullet. It can be used for thrusting if needed, but its primary movement pattern is the figure-8 or infinity pattern. With the figure-8 you have a lot of acceleration, and, with flipping your wrist, the weight of the teardrop would smash your target. The targets would be areas above and behind ears, temple area, top of the head, hips, liver, spleen, clavicle, scapula, and also the outer portions of the thighs, just halfway in the soft point, and so on.

These weapons are relatively short, from maybe ten inches up to two feet long. There are also clubs strictly made out of stone and partially shaped. These are mostly quite small, maybe about ten inches long, with a handle and a little round ball at the end. Those are rarer because of the rarity of suitable natural stones. We also have a small stone club, which fits in the hand and is used for high targets such as the clavicle, head, and the floating ribs—any hard targets. The primary weapon used in close quarters was, however, the pahoa, the dagger. These—the newa and pahoa—were the most common weapons used after you got past the ihe, the fighting spear. There are also daggers with a point in one end and a round handle, much like with pointed sticks. These are about 18 inches long and can be used as bludgeoning tools when you hold the pointed end and use it as a short stick. However, that is not as effective as using a newa, because the weight of the weapon is distributed evenly, and thus you do not have the same ability to use whipping and pendulum actions. Even so, it is good against hard targets, breaking bones, and so on.

LUA II

· Jerry Walker | 43

William McGrath @ william.mcgrath.92372

TAPADA STAFF William McGrath

IT WAS DURING THE SUMMER around 1979 or 1980 that my Pekiti-Tirsia teacher, Leo T. Gaje, came back from one of his frequent trips to the Philippines with an interesting staff style he learned during his visit. He called the art Tapada and said he had learned it from an old man in a rural part of his home island of Negros (Sorry, I don’t recall more than this. As a kid living in NYC, I wasn’t much interested in the staff at the time, and these techniques were from a different art than the main one I was training in).

Note: Tapada is a different art than the better known Tapado from Romeo "Nono" Mamar of Negros. Tapada uses a flexible rattan staff the same overall height as the user, while Tapado uses a stiff hardwood staff that comes up around the height of the user’s elbow. Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to find any information on Tapada through a Google search; but here are the techniques I learned.

The Staff Rattan is a vine and, therefore, tapers over its length. The most pronounced taper is near the base, where the vine exists on the ground. You will need a rattan pole, a bit thicker at the base than the one you would use for onehand use in Pekiti-Tirsia (for my XL size hands, this equals approximately one-and-half inches at the thickest end for a Tapada staff).

The staff should measure the same height as you and have some flex in it when you swing it quickly up and down—maybe not quite as much as a fishing pole but pretty close to it. It’s the spring of a bending rattan staff that adds extra velocity and, therefore, the power to the uppercut portion of your strikes; and these uppercuts are the focus of this system.

Spacing (end)

TAPADA STAFF

· William McGrath | 55

Nick Merchant @nickmerchant

WEKAF AND DOG BROTHERS: TOGETHER AT LAST! Nick Merchant

68 | The Book of the Stick

Putting Your Skills to the Test… IN MARTIAL ARTS, THERE IS an everlasting conflict between theory and reality regarding the effectiveness of fighting techniques. How does one know that a strike or defense will actually work? More times than not, in class or practice, there is a partner who “allows” the technique to happen. It looks effective, especially when years of practice allow the technique to flow with speed

and grace. But what happens when a combatant refuses to let you hit their hand five times in a row without disruption or counter? This is where sparring and fighting come into play. It allows a practitioner to pressure-test their skills against a non-compliant opponent. And when it comes down to fighting, there are two major groups that allow FMA enthusiasts to put their skills to the test: WEKAF and the Dog Brothers.

Scott Meredith @scott.meredith.393

YIQUAN LONG STAFF ENERGY Scott Meredith

THERE ARE AN INFINITE number of ways to strengthen and develop your internal energy power, just as there are an infinite number of ways to bulk up your physical muscles. One interesting group of energy methods uses tools or weapons for training awareness, intensity, and control of internal energy. This article describes a set of long staff drills used for this purpose. I have practiced and taught traditional xingyiquan for decades. I have also briefly but intensely explored many related martial arts, including a modern descendant of xingyiquan called yiquan (意拳),

90 | The Book of the Stick

which is well-known in Japan under the alternative name, taikiken (太氣拳). The core concepts and practices of both the Chinese and Japanese versions of this modern martial art come from the same source and are largely similar. Yet, long staff drills tend to receive less attention in both yiquan and taikiken. I have trained yiquan intensively in Beijing under the tutelage of one of the most senior Chinese masters of the art, Yao Chengguang (姚成光). Master Yao is a superb fighter, and a martial arts genius, comparable in combative power to Bruce Lee. The training program is very

rigorous, including a vast curriculum of special stances, arm and body movement drills, kicks and leg work, push hands, heavy-bag striking, cotton-ball striking, sparring, and much more. For twelve hours a day, seven days a week, for several strenuous months in Beijing, I trained under Master Yao’s

personal guidance, together with his small group of dedicated young students. It was a fascinating experience, but this art is huge and it takes a lifetime to even begin to explore. Here, I can only present one limited and specialized aspect of the program—the long staff drills.

A typical xingyiquan staff training drill, which involves a fast 360-degree full-body spin, ending with a low drop to dragon-step (龍步) and an instantaneous shoot-out of the full length of the staff to barely touch a high, pre-designated tree-leaf target. In xingyiquan, the energy vector originates from the grounded rear leg and lower body (arrow).

YIQUAN LONG STAFF ENERGY

· Scott Meredith | 91

Mark Mikita @mark.mikita

Mark Mikita with Burton Richardson

I REMEMBER THINKING HOW cool it was going to be to have the skill to do what my teachers said I should be able to do, eventually: to be able not only to disarm every incoming angle but also counter every disarm and counter-disarm attempted against me, all in a real

fight with a tactically intelligent and actively resisting opponent, as opposed to a choreographed drill with a cooperative and habitually acquiescent partner. The only problem was, while my teachers would go on and on about this mythical group of enlightened

Mark Mikita

CUENTADA

LEARNING TO PRIORITIZE 102 | The Book of the Stick

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CUENTADA

· Mark Mikita | 103

*The following article is an edited transcription of the Stickmata Talks interview conducted by Mahipal Lunia as part of The Immersion Foundation's Stickmata Lab (2019).

SWORDS, AXES, STICKS, AND FILIPINO FIGHTING ARTS INTERVIEW #1 WITH Mark Mikita

Starting Martial Arts I WAS THE YOUNGEST OF three boys and my brothers were significantly older than me. I was sort of trailing along them when I was a kid. My dad was constantly trying to figure out if I wanted to play Little League football or something

118 | The Book of the Stick

like that, and I was never interested in any of those things. One day, when I was just a little boy, I saw a martial arts demonstration and that was what I wanted to do. I think, like most parents, my parents thought that, well, he will be interested in this for a week. That was 51 years ago.

I was so crazily dedicated, that they finally just gave up on trying to interest me in anything else, because all I wanted to do was martial arts. It was great, because they were supportive. Yet, I was not like the kid whose parents took him to karate class—I had to do all of it myself, I had to pay for it myself with my allowance. If I did not practice, my dad would question whether or not I was serious. There was an encouragement to, if I was going to take it seriously, actually do what was required, and do the kind of training that would make me into the kind of person that I sought to be. I had that kind of background and support with my folks. It was great. My dad was a lifer in the military and discipline was a thing. In fact, my father fought in the Philippines in World War II. He was extremely impressed by the Filipino guerrillas during the time they were pursuing the Japanese when he landed in 1944 and all the way to the end of the war. When I got past that first couple of weeks of being interested in martial arts, and my dad realized it was serious, he kept saying we need to find you Filipino Martial Arts. Finally, when I was still a little boy, he found a first instructor for me. That is how I began in the Filipino Martial Arts.

That is still almost 50 years ago now. I have had several different instructors since then and I still pursue instructors. This art is so vast in its expression that there are so many different approaches, so many different ways that it can be looked at, not only from the cultural and environmental alterations, but also from individual to individual. I trained with Filipino guys who were pretty sizable and strong, and their art is extremely different from the next guy who might be 4'11'', and 100 pounds soaking wet. I have actually tended to like the smaller guys' art more, because as a guy who is relatively tall—I am 6'3'', about 190 pounds—I do not generally run into people who are much bigger than me, as a norm. Usually I am of the same size or a little taller. The kind of looming fear and background is the day I have to do this for real, and it will be some guy who is 6'11'', some guy who is a giant. I actually like training with people who all they ever train against are giants. I have a teacher who is 4'11''. It is quite a significant difference in size. He had no problem dealing with me because that was what he was used to. He was so good at basically pre-empting everything, because he knew that—being as much bigger as I was than him—

SWORDS, AXES, STICKS & FMA

· Mark Mikita | 119

*The following article is an edited transcription of the Stickmata Talks interview conducted by Mahipal Lunia as part of The Immersion Foundation's Stickmata Lab (2019). To listen to the origianl interview, visit: https://soundcloud.com/theimmersionfoundation/sets/stickmata.

SUMBRADA AND CUENTADA INTERVIEW #2 WITH Mark Mikita

Introducing Sumbrada SUMBRADA IS SOMETIMES called one of the pillars of Filipino Martial Arts (FMA). It can be considered both a drill and an idea. I think that the idea of sumbrada is in many ways the guiding force of it. Many people get stuck in this imprisoning little drill that they were taught as beginners, and not realize that this is a much bigger thing than what they were originally taught.

146 | The Book of the Stick

An analogy for sumbrada is volleying a tennis ball back and forth, with the idea of just getting the ball going and to see it coming in. The idea in sumbrada, more important than the drill, is that we are learning to see the stick coming in at us; we have to see it coming from every possible angle. Therefore, if we stick to any kind of a set program, then we are going to only see set attacks coming at us—which is contrary to the whole idea of the drill. So, the drill has to lend itself

back to that idea of learning to see things in a completely random fashion and covering every possible angle, including what we call both the northern and the southern hemispheres and going all the way down to getting the feet at the ankles. Sumbrada is a back-and-forth, although it does not have to be just that: it can be two for two, three for three, five for five—there are innumerable ways that you can modify the exercise around its main idea, just like exercises in the gym. You can compress it, expand

it, or focus it so that you can work on specific ideas. Sumbrada is not just, for example, a six-count pattern, which is a very common variation of it; there are also at least 10-count and 12-count versions. As one keeps checking the limitations that specific attacks create, patterns are going to arise as there are only so many things we can do with our arms and legs. But the idea is to not see patterns; rather, the idea is to be able to utilize patterns towards growth, towards expanding our understanding—we should not be imprisoned in and by the pattern.

Ethan Minor @ethan.minor.58

Ethan Minor

THE BANDO STAFF HISTORY AND APPLICATIONS:

PAST & PRESENT SURVIVAL! SURVIVAL IS THE mother of necessity. The internal drive to survive has been an instinctual imperative for both humans and animals throughout history. Through the gift of instinct, humans have discovered myriad ways to ensure their survival and that of their clan. This quest for survival led humans to utilize the natural resources available to

176 | The Immersion Review

them to their advantage. The staff, which is just a very nice stick, has been an essential tool for survival since early Homo descended from the trees to the savannas. The ubiquitous stick can dig up roots, finish off wounded animals, and threaten those seeking to harm them. The stick underwent a re-purposing and discovery of new purposes as early Homo evolved into

Michael Mulconery @michael.mulconery

THE ONE AND THE MANY:

HAWAIIAN TOBOSA SYSTEM Michael Mulconery

“As one thinks, so does one become. You can do anything if you follow through. You should always have confidence in your abilities. No matter how strong you may be, you cannot break barriers with strength alone. Strength alone is not Kali.” -Grandmaster Raymond Tobosa

Danlan sa Kasag—The Way of the Crab

THIS ARTICLE IS ABOUT ONE thing and many things. The many-things are the history, foundation, and substance of the onething. For no one-thing stands alone, and every-thing comes from something else. The “one-thing,” which is two-things, because they are inseparable, is the journey of the Tobosa brothers and their founding of the Tobosa School of Arnis-Kali-Escrima. Raymond Tobosa, whom we called Batikan and Teofisto (Toby) Tobosa, whom we called Manoy, founded their discipline after many years of study and

selection of systems of combat, which seemed to them to work together well. The Tobosa School of Filipino Fencing, as it was called early on, can also be known as Estilo Casag, Estilong ang Kasag, or Danlan sa Kasag. These terms—Crab Style, Swimming Crab Style, and Way of the Crab—are simply shortened into Casag. It is a Filipino/Hawaiian system that was developed, or we could say, “knit together,” by Raymond and Toby Tobosa in Hawaii, over a number of years.

HAWAIIAN TOBOSA SYSTEM

· Michael Mulconery | 195

THE "BARABARA" AND BASIC LONG-WEAPON APPROACH

Michael Mulconery

THE CEBUANO TERM, barabara, primarily means “staff ” but interestingly, it is also translated as “backing up—blocking, or clogging up,” as in “something that stops the flow of something else.” Barabara primarily uses a 42-inch stick or staff, but a 36-inch cane is also used at times. It has qualities applicable to the use of a spear and many of the principles can be applied to longer impact weapons such as a 60-inch or 72-inch staff or spear. To whatever degree it may have been, Batikan learned the Barabara system from the kali grandmaster, Feliciano Magsanide (19001983). Magsanide worked in the sugarcane fields and had lived in Lahaina Maui, Kauai, and finally on Oahu at Waipahu (Batikan’s hometown). It appears that he later moved to the Kalihi-Palama area of Honolulu, which is about a 19-minute drive from where Batikan then lived in Pearl City. Batikan related that Grandmaster Magsanide trained many of the full contact escrima fighters for the Honolulu civic auditorium fights

that took place in the 1930s and 1940s. He said that Great-Grandmaster Floro Villabrille was well acquainted with Magsanide’s approach and, in fact, that they were good friends. Casag (to the best of my estimation) has only bits and pieces of the Barabara system—really only some tactical approaches and practical applications. The reason for this is probably that Batikan did not want the unique qualities of the long-stick methods to become a distractor for the core principles of Casag. Additionally, it may simply be that Batikan died before he was able to demonstrate and articulate much of this system to us. At any rate, I do not interject these methods into training until students are advanced enough to sufficiently understand the application of Casag principles and methods as they apply to multiple types of weapons. As was his way, much of what Batikan related about people and their approach to training or their particular systems was mostly done during times of “story talk” but

BARABARA & LONG WEAPONS

· Michael Mulconery | 267

Adam H. C. Myrie @ahc.myrie.7

STICK FIGHTING IN NORTH AFRICA THE FUNDAMENTALS OF COMBAT

Adam H. C. Myrie

IT WOULD BE AN UNDERstatement to say that there are a plethora of martial arts the world over that almost every culture possesses a fighting system. Through dance, dueling, self-defense, or warfare, swords, knives, spears, axes, cudgels, and even bare hands and feet are tools for inflicting or simulating violence. The stick is one tool in the vast array of options available to the aspiring and practiced martial artist that is almost universal across all systems. A simple, usually straight piece of wood in varying dimensions acts as a weapon or a safer analog for other weapon systems. The stick is among the most versatile training tools for weapon-based martial arts, as the limits of what it can represent are bound only by the practitioner’s imagination. The stick is ubiquitous in North Africa, where over 5,000 years’ worth of traditions involve using the stick to train for other weapons of war, settle personal grievances, and carry into battle. Two of the most well-known and ancient forms of stick fighting in North Africa are tahtib and el matreg. As mentioned above, from Egypt and through the Maghreb, these two ancient arts have served in all three ca-

pacities. Among the tombs dating back to the days of the pharaohs are wall paintings representing different forms of Egyptian stick fighting. Tahtib, or Egyptian stick fighting, served as one of the three core disciplines in ancient military training. Here in this article, we will cover the use of Egyptian and Maghrebi stick fighting as training tools for other weapon systems through exploring their history, basic techniques, and current place in the modern world. A Point about Sources Before delving further into the topic at hand, there is an elephant in the room to be addressed: sources. While Africa’s continent’s history and martial traditions are ancient, these communities did not rely on the written word to transmit knowledge to future generations. While North Africa has an admirable record of keeping written accounts through scrolls, manuscripts, and stone tablets, this was not the principal method to transmit this type of knowledge. Oral history is still an essential aspect of culture throughout the continent through direct lineages of training, poetry, historical epics, song, and dance. Written accounts

NORTH AFRICAN STICK FIGHTING

· Adam H. C. Myrie | 275

Roger Norling @roger.norling.7

THE USE OF POLEARMS:

JOACHIM MEYER, THE 16TH-CENTURY FENCING MASTER Roger Norling

JOACHIM MEYER WAS BORN in 1537 in Basel of today’s Switzerland. His father, Jakob, was likely a papermaker and a cutler and may have moved to nearby Straßburg sometime before 1560. Joachim Meyer was noted as a burger and cutler in Straßburg in 1560 when he married a widow named Appolonia Ruhlman. In his short, 34-year life, he became a renowned fencing master, teaching burgers, dukes, and princes and authoring five or six extensive fencing treatises, three

Portrait of Joachim Meyer, from Gründtliche Beschreibung der . . . Kunst des Fechtens (1570), public domain. [Courtesy of Wiktenauer by HEMA Alliance]

JOACHIM MEYER & POLEARMS

· Roger Norling | 299

Te Waitere Jason Paahi @paahij

330 | The Book of the Stick

TRADITIONAL

MĀORI MARTIAL ARTS Te Waitere Jason Paahi Taura Pouwhakarae UmuTawhearangi

MAU RĀKAU IS WELL-KNOWN as a Māori stick fighting art. However, its scope is much wider than just fighting with a stick. Mau Rākau means “to wield a weapon” and is a general term referring to the skilled use of weapons. Mau Rākau covers a whole range of close-combat weapons and contains within it holistically much more than “just” fighting. Tra-

TRADITIONAL MĀORI ARTS

· Te Waitere Jason Paahi | 331

Scott Park Phillips @scott.p.phillips.7

RECLAIMING THE MAGIC OF THE

CHINESE STAFF Scott Park Phillips

THE FIGHTING STICK IS THE magical weapon of Sun Wukong, the wild-enchanted monkey of China’s religious theater tradition, worshipped and adored by people of all ages. Sun Wukong is an Indian yoga master much like Hanuman and a Buddhist initiate, who achieves enlightenment, and whose name implies opposites—a

dumb-vain personality and a sage emptiness. He is the model of an Iron Body Master, a form of training that makes the body impenetrable and indestructible. Sun Wukong’s staff is the weapon of the fighting Chan Buddhist monks of Shaolin Monastery. Shaolin was an austere religious institution with a large orphanage and

MONKEY STAFF & THEATER

· Scott Park Phillips | 377

Stevan Plinck @mahagurustevanplinck

THE STAFF IN

PENTJAK SILAT SERA Stevan Plinck THROUGHOUT HUMANKIND’S existence, before the invention of writing, all human cultures have utilized some version of the staff. Staves are—along with rocks—our first tools, the earliest weapons past bare hands and feet. And they are just as effective today as they were ten thousand years ago. Being whacked on the head with a heavy stick will do as much damage to a skull now as it did when

PENTJAK SILAT SERA

· Stevan Plinck | 391

Paul Porter paul.porter.944023

404 | The Book of the Stick

SCA & STICK FIGHTING CROSSOVERS TO FMA AND OTHER ARTS Paul Porter

THE SCA HAS A DIFFERENT approach to fighting, and we pursue it in a particular way: armored. We use heavy weapons that are fairly long, and much longer, in some cases. We need to have our weapons move very fast, and hit very hard. I’ve developed a number of techniques and tactics that make them do exactly that, and others that improve movement, perception, and sneakiness. I think a number of them can cross over to FMA and other stick/sword arts. Here is a preview.

SCA & STICK FIGHTING

· Paul Porter | 405

Luis Preto @luis.preto.50

PREVENTION OF INJURIES AND POWER OUTPUT IN STICK-FIGHTING Luis Preto

GIVEN THE NATURE OF stick-fighting, in the sense that landing powerful strikes on the body of the opponent is the central success criterion, traumatic injuries resulting from such events can only be prevented by expertly avoiding being hit altogether. Nevertheless, one’s body may also succumb to other injuries, such as soft-tissue injuries, because of the specific accelerative and decelerative forces that the motions of this activity place on the body of its performers.

Injuries in Stick-Fighting Depending on the ruleset followed when competing in stick-fighting, striking only or a combination of striking and grappling is permitted. Considering that the essence of weapon combat is to maximize striking effectiveness so that physically smaller or weaker individuals can avoid grappling altogether, the injury profile about to be presented will focus on striking-related soft-tissue injuries. Those competing in a mixed striking and grappling setting should look to complement this analysis of striking-related soft-tissue injuries with the research available on injury prevention strategies within grappling settings.

INJURY PREVENTION / POWER OUTPUT

· Luis Preto | 491