Hey I just wanted to take the time to say hi. I'm new to the forum and to the MA world in general. Honestly, I'm kinda a reading buff, so I've read and studied a lot of MA theory (particularly in western boxing, combat knife fighting techniques i.e. the stuff that is taught to soldiers on how to knife fight, and FMA, because that is what I am most interested in) more than I've every actually PRACTICED an art. Now I'm in my first year of college and I've been given a great opportunity to learn Doce Pares from an affiliate of PIMA in jersery city: RUFMA, the Rutgers U. FMA club. I'm loving it and plan to continue in it now that I'm (mostly) financially independent (I'm paying for everything in college from the loans to my parking permit to club dues etc. only think I didnt pay for were my dorm items and meal plan and thats it. Mom was always a "sink or swim" type of person haha). So anyway, hi.
Welcome! You're certainly in a good location for Doce Pares. Is this an affiliate of Arnulfo "Dong" Cuesta?
Yes sir! Cuesta is aware of RUFMA and many RUFMA students and instructors train at PIMA in Jersery City. I asked Coach (as our instructor likes to be called, as he has a background in boxing) why our club title was "RUFMA" and not something more specific, since we are primarily learning Doce Pares. He explained to me that it was a politics thing, as other styles/clubs have apparently attempted to absorb or take over RUFMA. We keep it general just "Rutgers University Filipino Martial Arts" in order to bring in teachers from other styles who would otherwise be adverse to teaching a purely Doce Pares club (the way he explained it, it sounded to me like there was some rivalry going on with other FMA clubs in the area, but he didn't specify.) I don't know, perhaps I'm reading into it too much, but Coach told me that we keep it simply as "RUFMA" in order to bring in FMA guys from other clubs, which so far as I've been informed, has only been from Perkiti Tirsia Kali. We also practice panantukan and incorporate it into our stickwok. I don't know if this is common or unique among FMA styles, so I thought I'd mention it.
Well, historically "Doce Pares" was a bit like saying "Filipino martial arts club" anyway, given that the original Doce Pares organization was founded from participating members representing various different styles. Twelve pairs of masters (Doce Pares), as the story goes. In any event, it makes sense. My ranking is in Doce Pares (from close friends of Dong Cuesta, the Patalinghug family), and I've routinely trained alongside Modern Arnis and Inosanto Blend. There's enough commonality between FMA styles to work harmoniously together. And enough differentiation to keep it interesting. Panantukan is a term generally associated with Inosanto Blend (Guro Dan Inosanto's interpretation of FMA). In Doce Pares, in my experience anyway, the terms are generally mano mano (empty hand) and sikaran (kicking). But you could write books on the whacky world of FMA terminology.
Yeah, I see what you are saying. If you want more info, I wrote this little thing over on Bullshido: http://www.bullshido.net/forums/showthread.php?t=121779 Thanks for welcoming me, and for he informative discussion.
I'll pop over there shortly. Thanks! That historical perspective came from an interview I did with GM Cacoy Canete many years ago for publication in Black Belt magazine. Never got published for reasons that aren't important here. But it was a terrific way to get the lowdown on Doce Pares over the years. Competed in Jersey City once, many years ago.
