Third UKKFF Escrima Concepts Workshop, 23rd July 2006
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On a very hot Sunday 23rd July 2006, around 25 students of the UK Kung-Fu Federation descended upon Kingston Arena Sports for a day of Escrima training and a first look at historical weapons. We were joined by EC instructor Big Paul Leslie & some of his students from North London, plus a host of other EC instructors from far & wide, including Denmark's Head EC Instructor Nic K-Osei, and of course the overall Escrima Concepts Head Instructor, Master Steve Tappin. It was also great to welcome back the usual suspects of Wayne Tappin, Shaun Bolwell & John Griffiths too, who always do such a good job of introducing new beginners to the system with their patience & friendly approach to teaching. Despite the heat, everyone was excited and ready to continue their journey, especially as today we were getting our first taste of more traditional weaponry & starting to see how the concepts of stick fighting can easily be applied to edged weapons too.
As usual, those students who were taking their first lesson in Escrima were put in a separate group under the direction of Shaun & John, who began introducing them to the first of the five strikes & the top of the defensive box. Everything feels completely strange when first picking up a weapon, and naturally the adrenalin is flowing as your partner swings the first hits toward you. However everything is kept easy, slow & controlled at first, and as our beginners start to relax & have fun you can see their movements visibly improving, their confidence growing. After a few hours & loads of drills later, we have another set of students who understand a few basics, ready to build in the coming months.
For the rest of the group it was perhaps their 2nd or 3rd time at our workshops, plus regular attendance at the weekly practice sessions. This meant they could warm up with a few simple drills then move straight on to the next stage in their development. Under the direction of Master Steve, Wayne, Paul Leslie & Nic K-Osei everyone began improving their basic box & strikes, moving on to double-stick Sinawali drills, and then into the first of some basic sparring drills to improve timing, balance & footwork. Once again it was apparent that the weekly practice was paying off, as students were moving much more fluidly, showing improvement in all areas studied to date.
Before the workshop began, Master Steve had laid out an large selection of historical weaponry along one wall of the venue for everyone to have a look at, and ultimately get a feeling for during the day. (This represented about 5% of his own personal arsenal, and a big thank-you must go to our hard-working colleague Daryl for 4 hours spent in a hot, dusty loft trying to retrieve just the right pieces from the collection!) This created a buzz to be sure! Six students were taken from the main group and introduced to Rapier & Dagger, with Master Steve giving a short demo on their characteristics, then a simple defence/counter drill to start the body moving. Another small group were started on Broadswords, and yet another group were given exercises for Sword & Buckler. In addition to the two Escrima groups, this meant we had five groups of students, each working with different weapons, yet all sharing the same concepts. After 20 minutes or so on each weapon, the groups rotated allowing everyone to get a taste of using items with different weights, different balance, and different strategies too.
We had added an extra hour to the session to cater for the historical weapons, and by the end most of us were sweating buckets - not only from the heat (it was almost 30° in the venue) but also from the unfamiliar feel of using heavy swords. It was wonderful to see Master Steve moving massive weapons effortlessly, demonstrating amazing control with the entire length of the blade and handling them as if they were palm-sticks! You start to appreciate just how much technique is involved when you wake up the next day with every muscle in your back protesting - weapons really do teach YOU how to move, not the other way around!
This event marked a beginning for the UKKFF in traditional weapons, and we will be adding more seminars & workshops for the future for those students interested in continuing their studies in this area. We are also looking forward to hosting John & Johnathan Waller from the European Historical Combat Guild at a later date too, so as always watch this space. Thanks to all the instructors for their time & effort, and of course to all the students for getting so involved. See you on the next one...
- Author: Lee Heron
- Sources: None
