When you hear "stickgrappling" do you think of the Filipino Martial Arts? The Japanese Martial Arts? How about the Irish Martial Arts? What's that you say? You don't think the Irish Martial Arts has any stickgrappling?
Given that we are human and all have 2 arms and 2 legs and generally the same range of motion... it doesn't surprise me that stickfighting from cultures other than the Filipino and Japanese wouldn't have stickgrappling in one form or another.
In honor of St. Patrick's Day, check out Ken Pfrenger's youtube. Ken uses a shillelagh, aka "bata", to do some stick chokes. A shillelagh is a wooden walking stick that can be used as cudgel or club, typically made from a stout knotty stick with a large knob at the top, that is associated with Ireland and Irish folklore. I queried the Bata Yahoogroup about stickgrappling in Irish stickplay and Ken was a gentleman and obliged quickly with a youtube!
A brief bio of Ken:
Ken Pfrenger is a hopologist from Northeast Ohio who has a background in teaching Muay Thai, JKD concepts and the Filipino Martial Arts (FMA). Several years ago his focus changed from the Asian arts to the Western Martial Traditions of Europe and the United States.
He has devoted most of his time researching the Martial Traditions of the various Celtic cultures, from Irish Collar and Elbow wrestling and stickplay to Cornish Close Hugg wrestling. To this end, Ken has served as Director of Cumann Bhata, an organization founded in 2000 to promote the study and research of stickplay common in the Irish Faicseanaíocht (faction fighting) through teaching, seminars, and publication.
He is also one of the founding members of CMARS (Celtic Martial Arts Research Society) and is currently working on a training manual for those who have a further interest in the Irish style of stickplay.
An avid boxing fan since a young age, Ken has been seriously studying the science of manual defence for many years. His focus now is on the techniques and fighting concepts of pugilists from the late 18th to the late 19th centuries.
There goes my first official stickgrappling entry to this blog and I inaugurate it with stickgrappling off the beaten path in the form of chokes with a shillelagh!
More stickgrappling to come. Enjoy!
Derobio Escrima seemed to have several chokes that looked very similar to these, if I remember correctly. Guro Inosanto also demonstrated some of these during a seminar but I don't remember which style or system he attributed them to. I had forgotten most of these since I didn't write them down.(They are very difficult to describe in writing). This video will help in bringing some of them back. Thanks
ReplyDeletehello s.n.s.o.:
ReplyDeletethank you for your comment. ah cool... glad that my post can help out. ultimately my thanks to Ken Pfrenger for the video.
i've heard of Derobio, know very little about it. i study a little DBMA and Arjan Salty Dog aka Arlan Sanford is into Derobio and one of his favorite attacks/techniques has been integrated into DBMA.
very truly yours in the MA,
~sg