Quality Kali Instructor

[StopHit]

Quality is what makes or breaks a martial art. Filipino Martial Arts has a lot to offer. But without the details, the fighting rational, and culture a martial art is wanting.


I attended a seminar with this teacher and was amazed at the quality, depth and complete expertise of the instruction. I took a lot of the seminar info home with me. Check out this Kali knife seminar if you are in the Reseda California area May 27/28. I highly recommend it.

https://www.cassmagda.com

Who have you trained with that exemplifies these qualities?

StopHit

[Paco]

Tuhon Ray Dionaldo, of FCS Kali. And of course, he stands on the shoulders and gives recognition to his teachers all of whom are exemplary FMA masters
Prof. Remy Presas, GM Leo T Gaje, Tuhons Bo and Chris Sayoc, Guru Dan Inosanto, among others.
When you think about it, a beautiful thing about the FMA IMHO is the absence of a that dog-eat-dog, mass market, "I have to prove something so i have all these belts, titles, trophies, whatever" mentality that permeates other martial arts. I have yet to find an FMA instructor (a qualified one at that) who lacked the qualities you described.

[kruzada]

I trained with Senior Master Samuel "Bambit" Dulay http://www.imafp.com/Board/council.html in 1998 and hosted him for a seminar in NYC last summer.

Master Bambit is one of the most respected Masters of the FMA in the Philippines. He has an immense depth of knowledge and is skilled in both the classical and combative aspects of the FMA.

IMO all serious practitioners of the FMA should consider returning to the motherland, at one point in their training, to immerse themselves in Filipino culture and experience first hand what it is like to live and train in the Philippines.

-Rich Acosta

Quality is what makes or breaks a martial art. Filipino Martial Arts has a lot to offer. But without the details, the fighting rational, and culture a martial art is wanting.


I attended a seminar with this teacher and was amazed at the quality, depth and complete expertise of the instruction. I took a lot of the seminar info home with me. Check out this Kali knife seminar if you are in the Reseda California area May 27/28. I highly recommend it.

https://www.cassmagda.com

Who have you trained with that exemplifies these qualities?

StopHit

[Garland]

My instructor, William Bernales,
his instructor, Guro Inosanto, Guro Dan's moving teaching aide, Guro Joel.
other martial artists that I've met through seminars,
Tuhon's Jerson and Nene Tortal of the Pekiti Tirsia system.

and people I've been lucky enough to be paired up with at seminars as training buddies (I'm sure to their frustration, nobody likes training with somebody who has no clue what is going on)
Guro Jared Wihongi, who's a cool cat, and Guro Ben Fajardo. I met Guro Ben once at a Tortal seminar...I've had the opportunity to train with Jared on a number of occassions.

All of these guys are awesome...and I've been very fortunate to have been able to meet and see these guys perform.

[danjuandesiga]

My instructor Tim Mousel had flown in Rick Faye of Minnesota Kali Group for a weekend seminar one time in Houston around 1996. I really liked the way he taught Kali. The man knows how to MOVE!

[serveinsilence]

Quality varies by orientation. Here in the PI- we judge quality with experience.In the west, as i understand since it is slowly adopted here- quality is judged by the instructors ability to analyze and explain details. I have read somewhere that there are quality teachers, fighters ,etc....Quality also comes from the eye of the beholder so tospeak. A person who dont know jack about Kali ar any Martial arts for that matter, might find quality instruction easier than a person who knows reality, and its applications compared to crock explanations. Dont mean t offend-just my two cents.
Mabuhay !

[DJColdfusion]

Quality varies by orientation. Here in the PI- we judge quality with experience.In the west, as i understand since it is slowly adopted here- quality is judged by the instructors ability to analyze and explain details. I have read somewhere that there are quality teachers, fighters ,etc....Quality also comes from the eye of the beholder so tospeak. A person who dont know jack about Kali ar any Martial arts for that matter, might find quality instruction easier than a person who knows reality, and its applications compared to crock explanations. Dont mean t offend-just my two cents.
Mabuhay !

You're completely right about experience aiding in your ability to perceive a great instructor. At the same time my personal experience has caused me to be increasingly amazed at my "older" instructors and not only their depth of knowledge but in how they explained and made the details aproachable.

I've trained with Wil Bernales, as has Garland, for a very short time (2-months) and I was amazed at the level of knowledge he has. I have a friend who is a Dog Brother and I've trained with one other Dog Brother and thier skills are different than Will's (not better just different). Mike Brewer, who posted earlier on this thread, dismisses his own abilities but I see him as a mix between the classic Inosanto/Lacoste technique librarian like Rick Tucci (who is flat-out incredible) and the retro-caveman-esque warriors like Shawn Young of the Dog Brothers (who scares me . . . and that's not easy to do). Take the chance to train with Mike if you get it.

[thekuntawman]

"quality is in the eyes of the beholder"

i agree. some people like a teacher who can explain every part of a technique or strategy. some people like the teacher who is good at applying that technique.

i like hands on teacher, one who teaches by doing, and that is how i teach also. i dont like too much talking and explaining, more showing. when i get the strategy down, i can work on it over and over until i make sense out of it. and its more better for me to see it in action for me to be convinced, than for me to just accept that it works like this or that.

this reason, i prefer the fighter-trainer over the teacher-theory. but you have teachers who can fight and cant teach you to fight, and you have teachers who cant fight but they can teach you to fight.

one of my favorite teachers who i only spent a couple years learning from is billy bryant. billy is one who can fight good, he doesnt spend much time talking about it, but everything he taught, he will show it to you first, then teach it to you without a lot of explanation. billy would fight in a karate way, arnis style, boxing, you name it. much easier to believe in a technique when you see it used against you first.