Knife-Defence Workshop

In this workshop we demonstrated several methods from different martial arts.  Below is a brief description of each:

Eskrima was developed in the Philippines by the peasant people during the civil, tribal and world wars.

Translated as “skirmish”, the main weapon is a simple “rattan” stick. Once you have picked up the basics, you can soon turn the most useless of objects such as a rolled up newspaper into an imposing weapon.

Grandmaster Danny Guba & Master Richard Hudson at KickFit

The eskrima classes are graded in “Estilo Libre Eskrima”.  This is Master Richard Hudson’s own system and includes…

• single stick
• double stick
• stick & knife
• double knife
• sword & knife
• nunchakus
• pocket sticks
• empty hand techniques

Knife-Defence Workshop

Pencak Silat is an ancient fighting art mainly associated with Indonesia

Silat is a complex art, which utilises many low stances. For example, the “Sempa” requires the person to place one leg behind the other in a hook stance, bend the knee and go all the way down so that they are sitting on the floor.

Silat practitioners often leave target areas such as the face or torso unguarded in an attempt to entice an opponent into attacking the exposed area. 

They will then use lightning quick attacking movements to destroy the attackers limb.  Often known as a gunting, which means to scissor. These limb destruction techniques can be used as a bridge to move in and attack the more vital areas such as the torso, groin and face.

As well as empty hand techniques, the Silat practitioner also uses a variety of weapons.  These include swords, shields, spears and knives.