Sayoc Kali

I recently started a couple of new disciplines: Sayoc Kali and Traditional Archery. I will blog about Archery a bit later. The adoption of both these practices came at the urging of Master RKCs. I know, I know I need more stuff to do but there is something to be said for continually development. For some reason, Kenzie seems less annoyed when a get into a new past-time when O'Connor or Uncle Tamer thinks it would be good for me....something to remember!

Kenzie and I went to Nashville for an HKC, tattoos and hang time with Mrs and Mr Irontamer this past December. Among the fun and food and frivolity, David and I started talking all things martial (not uncommon) especially Filipino Martial Arts. I have very, very little exposure to FMAs. Talk lead to contact (not uncommon) and something clicked. The Sayoc system came up and got the Uncle Tamer devil horns of approval. We "played" a bit more and I was hooked. [One notable occurrence was the utter destruction of my blackberry screen despite being in my coat chest pocket and expensive protective case from a well placed thrust of a training blade.]

When I got back to the sooner state I began a search for instructors and not only found one but found one next door to my previous training location. Jason Epps at Premier Martial Arts. Weird how the universe works...oh yeah he was looking for some Kettlebell info/instruction...yep, weird ;) I will talk about '"arm-twisting" O'Connor had to do on me for the Archery habit in a future post.

A little background on Sayoc [The Following is from the wikipedia article on Sayoc Kali]:

"Sayoc Kali is an edged weapon based style of Filipino Martial Arts. It is a family system, headed by Christopher Sayoc, Sr.. The motto of the style is, "All Blade, All the Time".

The Sayoc family lineage links back to General Licerio Topacio, of Cavite. General Topacio was the military engineer of the Katipunan secret society and was among the first Katipunan members to urge Supremo Andres Bonifacio to wage a revolution against Spain.^[1]

Sayoc Kali is taught as part of the more general Sayoc Fighting System, which includes sword, stick, tomahawk, karambit and whip. Sayoc Kali emphasizes the use of the blade. It includes techniques for single knife, multiple knives, projectiles, and secondary support to firearms. Empty hand training is under the Sayoc Silak curriculum.

Sayoc Kali presents itself as an evolving system. The Sayoc family hosted a number of Filipino Martial Arts masters who travelled to the east coast of the United States during the 1970s and learned Filipino Martial Arts from them. Interaction and training from these Filipino Martial Arts masters gave the Sayoc family the idea of creating Sayoc Kali."