Upcoming Workshop

[sikal]

Sorry about the short notice on this.

I will be teaching a workshop on Saturday, March 31st, 2001 from 12:00 PM - 4:00 PM at Lansdale's Self-Defense in Nacogdoches, TX.

The cost is $30.

I'll be covering some basic principles of trapping and disarming from the Filipino martial arts as taught in the system of Sikal.

If you're interested, e-mail me at gurumike@asianfightingarts.com or call me at 936-564-5944.

Regards, Mike

[Harley]

Hello Mike,
I am sorry i won't be able to make the seminar, i had planned on it but my program director did not! lol. She keeps me so busy i don't have time to play
Anyway perhaps in the future we can get together and do some training.
talk to ya later and good luck on the seminar.
Harley

[Scott Harper]

What kind of a system is Sikal? Is it a new hybrid art?

[sikal]

Originally posted by Scott Harper
What kind of a system is Sikal? Is it a new hybrid art?

Depends on how you define "new" :-)

My instructor, Ken Pannell, has trained with quite a few instructors in Kali and Silat. The bulk of the Sikal curriculum is from Guro Dan Inosanto. Guru Ken trained with Guro Dan and was introduced to Pak Herman Suwanda and Pak Paul de Thouars. He focused on Lacoste/Inosanto Blend and got a lot of exposure to Silat from Mande Muda and Bukti Negara. Then he went and trained directly with Pak Herman and Pak Paul to refine his Silat skills further.

That is the foundation of Sikal (and of Guro Dan's Maphilindo, for that matter). From there, Guru Ken continued training with various Kali and Silat instructors (including Diony and Cacoy Canete, Bobby Taboada, Nene Tortal, Willem de Thouars, Victor de Thouars). He has been training exclusively in Kali and Silat for nearly 20 years.

I'm not sure when he began using the term Sikal to express what it was he was doing.

I began training with Guru Ken six years ago and earned my instructorship in '98.

Guru Ken teaches 2 systems in his school. Sikal and Silat Serak (under Pak Vic de Thouars). I am still training in Silat Serak under Guru Ken (I go up about once a month to train with Guru Ken). And, of course, I'll always be his student in Sikal.

When I met Guru Ken, I had been involved in martial arts already for 15 years and had trained in TKD and Okinawan Goju-Ryu (and had dabbled in/been exposed to a handful of other arts). When I saw Sikal, it just suited me better than anything I had previously seen ... and continues to do so :-)

I'm still training, of course. I'm training with Professor Lansdale here in Texas and getting a lot of refinement on my joint locks, for instance. And, of course, my training in Serak continues :-)

Anyway, I've prattled on long enough.

Sorry to hear you can't make it Harley. I'm hoping to make it to your Bahala Na seminar in April. It's not guaranteed yet ... but hopefully.

Regards all, Mike