I am hoping to be part of the team NZ to go to Orlando next year & I train in the Doce Pares multi-stle system,my question is aimed To all those who have participated in Wekaf tournaments .How does one train up for the Wekaf worlds ? Obviously the understanding of the rules & regulations are a 1st priority. fitness & technique & plenty of sparring would be next. my question is aimed at the fitness & techniques part. As I have a good understanding of the rules & regulations ,as I have read these a few times .And I spar quite often with & without armour & armored up vs. soft stick opponent ,so I have plenty of sparring variations to work with. How do you guys bring your fitness level up to enter at the Wekaf worlds? What techniques/drills / combo’s do you train on & how do you train them ie do you train solo in the air or use a tire or do you utilize a training partner for two man drills like the corto drills ,tapi-tapi drills ,Sinawali drills to help you?Do you do any specific exercise’s for aerobic ,anaerobic ,strength ,cardio ,power ,ectect? Thanks for any info/advice you can give. Cheers Riki Below is my instructor's answer: Regarding training for wekaf tournaments. As energy is used in short fast bursts I recommend lots of cardio work. If you are in running then run and sprint run sprint. Personally I use lots of bag work wearing the armour alternating between fast flurries and continual paced hitting. remembering of course footwork and springing in and out. Siniwali drills most definitely help double stick. Nothing of course beats lots of sparring fully suited with a partner and here if you can have multiple partners it helps as with the same one you become accustomed to their technique quickly. Learning to control your breathing is important so you take in as much oxygen as you can in between bursts of hitting.
I think your instructor has it pretty spot on, you just can't underestimate the importance of the fitness aspect in tournament work, also if you do single and double stick, and if you're in one of the weight catergories that have a lot of fighters you will have a lot of fights over 2 days to reach the finals. First off I would suggest getting some coaching advice on periodisation, you need to find out what your fitness level is now, and guesstimate what you will need in Florida, as you want to be hitting your peak at that point, its all to easy to over do it Work on your basic aerobic fitness levels, roadwork, treadmill, rowing machines, cross trainers, step machines, whatever works best for you, I used to mix loads of different things together Intervals, fartlek, HIIT, whatever you want to call it, basically anaerobic threshold training, something that will help with you recovery times, I found it quite important to start doing sport specific work at this point, and I found bag drills and the hanging tire to be one of the best things to use, Specific power work, hit the bag, hard, in single shots and combinations, especially while advancing, you won't take your opponent out with a heavy shot, but it may shock them, and more impotrantly it shows the judges that you can use them when you want, again,bag and tire drills will work for this, and its also something you can drill with a live opponent Live partner training, do as much of this, with as many different people as you can, but utilise it as training and vary it up, train rounds where you are entirely on the defence, get used to blocking and evading, and learning how to take control of the fight. Get a partner to keep trying to tie up your weapon hand so you can practise untangling yourself. Use each other as stick targets, get used to being hit, the ringing in the helmet can be very distracting, and it will lessen the blink response Thats just a brief overview, I'm sure that if you are on your national squad you will loads of advice from people that have been there and done that Neil
HI neil ,thanks for a very informative reply to my question,It's abit late here ,so i will reread it tommorrow (when i can digest the info better).Thanks again. Cheers Riki
hi Rick! all these people are right but first thing is to know the rules of the game so much for winning and train for the sports techniques and aspects of the game''''' rey13eskrimador
Hi Rick, Having played in just few worlds myself, hopefully I can give you some tips? Firstly, get to know the rules inside out, this does help in adjusting your fighting style. Secondly, don't just try to out hit your opponent with tippy tappy spead hitting, combine this with power shots to places like the body, the legs above the knee, the hands and arms and of course the head. Next play the ranges, learn to fight both long and close so when your opponent trys to close you down, you can play with them or evade, and when they try to move out, follow them, give a quick burst and move to long range. Practice you evasion, footwork and blocking skills. It is very important that you are seen to use both defensive and offensive tactics during a fight. Plenty of fitness training, this is vital, if you are not fit, no matter how good you are you will run out of steam and all your skills will fly out of the window. Spar as many different opponents as you can, different sizes and attitudes, light people for speed and big people for power. During some of your sparring bouts concentrate only on defence and in others concentrate only on attack, then concentrate on close range and again then on long range, then combine them all. Get someone who is sparring you to ruff you up and ignore the rules, trust me you will be surprised that some people do actually ignore the rules and if you are not used to dealing with guys like this they can mess your whole game plan up. Go through your head fight senarios against various opponents. And a tip that I used and have others use to great success is this: When you wake up in the morning tell your self "I will win" (not I could win, or I might wim), and before you go to bed every night tell your self "I will win", you may not beleive it at first but once you have told yourself this so many times you will then beleive it, It works. 90% of winning in any sport boils down to self beleif, 10% is fitness and the rest is a combination of skill and LUCK! Try and find a technique or combination that works for you more than most, but never use it too often because the other guy will finally work out what you are doing. Remember if you are looking more skillsfull and look like your dominating the fighting area the judges are watching you and they miss half of what the other guy is doing. If you feel your opponent is not as good as you, never and I mean never drop down to there level, bring your game to a higher level and punish them for wasting your time, this also helps to mess with any future opponents heads when you really punish someone, they start to beleive you will do it to them too and this can give you an advantage before the fight begins. But finally don't get angry if you loose it is after all just a sport, look at it as a learning curve and ask your self why you lost then next time around try to fix it. Happy and painfull training and good luck, don't forget to let me know how you get on. Best regards Pat
Nobody could have written it better than Guro Pat...NOBODY! (Although the other posts were excellent as well ) Rick, seriously, take it from Guro Pat...he's been there, done that with WEKAF. The man knows what he's talking about. Good luck on training for the team! Personally, my fave part is: "...If you feel your opponent is not as good as you, never and I mean never drop down to there level, bring your game to a higher level and punish them for wasting your time, this also helps to mess with any future opponents heads when you really punish someone, they start to beleive you will do it to them too and this can give you an advantage before the fight begins..." Classic
Why thank you, my head is now so big I cant get out of the room that houses my computor The one bit I forgot to metion though is watch out for those guys who can work round the rules and do it every time the referee is not looking. I know I was very good at that myself. As they say, you are only breaking the rules if you get caught, know what I mean And I am so looking forward to playing at the ARPI worlds this year, got that bug again and I intend to have some fun regardless of the outcome. See all you PI Mappers very soon. Best regards Pat
Hello, I'm new to this Forum. After training in Martial Arts for many years, then taking about 20 off for one reason or another, I'm finally back for good, and have found Eskrima. At age 40, having shoulder and wrist surgery almost two years ago, I was out of shape, though have been training 5 days a week since April with a bunch of Philippino Teen-agers, with full-contact WEKAF style sparring two times a week. I'm impressed with Pat OMalley's post, and would say he's right-on. I have been training for the Regionals in Oxnard, CA in a couple of weeks (Maybe I'll see you at Nationals and World). We have a great class and a great time training together, though also train seriously, and hard. On Saturdays, our instructor has us going for 2 to 2 1/2 hours. Here's a typical Saturday: Gather at the School and run 2 miles, ending back at the School. Short Rest, Bow In, then go twice through a circuit of regular push-ups, "triangle" push-ups, "swoop" push-ups, three different types of sit-ups, jump-rope for one-minute intervals, wind-ups (small bar with string tied to it, then tied to a weight. Hold arms out in front, and using wrists, wind up, then wind down), then we put a 50lb heavy bag on our shoulders, run the length of the school, turn and do 10 or more deep squats, then slow lunges back to the other end of the school. Then, we usually do striking drills on the heavy bag, usually to include 30 sec to one minute bursts. Then, we gear up and spar, maybe a half-dozen 1-minute rounds. We will sometimes have one person just do one type of technique for part of the match, defense only, etc., with helpful critiques along the way. Another training tip I find helpful is to bring a cam-corder and tape your matches. When you're watching a match, you can do so with a very critical eye. However, when you're in it, it is much more difficult to see mistakes or missed opportunities with a stick coming at your head. Hope this helps, and I'll see all of you around the forum.
A very long overdue Thanks to everybody for there replies and my apologies for not getting back sooner, very informative and much appreciated, Due to the worlds being quiet expensive just to get there let alone the registration fee‘s (I see there is already a thread on that),There will be no team from NZ participating at the worlds in Orlando this year. Thanks Neil that was awesome advice, since you replied one of my old training partner has offered his guidance in this area as he is a qualified Personal trainer ,I report to him each week, and he gives me feedback on the exercise I have done and my diet ectect. My goal now is the Philippines 2008 worlds I must admit at the time I knew I should have been concentrating on the above, but I/we tended to just go out and play, we use to be more specific in our sparring and then we just ended up going out and playing ,I have incorporated with your’s and Pat’s advice more specific type sparring format. It has brought our sparring overall up another notch, Thank you Neil & Pat for opening my eye’s again. Thanks Rey & Pat ,yes I know very well to know and understand the rules.The problem is to keep up with the changes lol After reading your reply ,I had a look at some footage of one of your guys fighting at the 96 worlds(i think) and then some footage of 2004 worlds.I understand where you are comming from about power shots to specific parts of the body especially the thighs ,instead of trying to out hit your opponent anywhere.thanks Pat Yes I /we have a tendency to favor corto -medio range, Long range seems to be our weakness, something to work on, Thanks Pat. We do another drill very similar but no defending or attacking with the sticks. I call it “in your face” this is where one person will move around and the other person will be literally in your face. the person moving around is utilizing all three ranges .I will have a play with adding sticks and let you know how I get on. I have my own free qualified personal trainer now. Lol ahh yes ,visualization skills and positive self talk, you have just released the hidden secrets of the masters lol, jokes aside .Thank you for pulling my head in Pat ,I have been to worried about fitness - techniques & strategies ectect ,I had forgotten the mental side ie visualization techniques and believing ( positive self talk ) Thanks Juego ,as I mentioned earlier due to the trip to Orlando being quiet expensive just to get there, there will be no team from NZ participating. But I will be looking forward to the Philippines in 2008 and yes I like Pat’s quote as well Hey stickfightbird , Yes we brought a cam-corder at xmas, and yes they are an excellent tool.And having a cam -corder has helped refine and get rid of bad habbits. Thanks to everyone that has given advice ,much appreciated and again my apologies for taking so long to reply Kind Regards Riki
the best way to learn to fight is to fight! sorry the post does not go on for pages but that is the honest answer. The training and fitness is specific, your body will be conditioned and you will not be overawed by the event because you will be confident in your fighting ability. There was also another thread like this last month so maybe there will be helpful info on that.
Oh if it were that easy, I have to disagree with you on this one Mike simply because if it was just a case of going out and fighting then we would all be champions and no one would loose. All of the training tips if you like play a very important role in being successfull at any major sporting event, yes sparring is probably the most important part of your training, but there is far more to it than that if you intend to become a successfull competitor. I know of several people who sparred and sparred and sparred only to find that they were unsuccessfull when it came to the big day, but once they realised that they had to do more than just spar and that they had to train just like any top athelete there success rate changed, in fact they became world champions, people like Neil McLeod and Glynn Daniels and even my wife Lucy spent the first few years being un-successfull, these people became world champions not just because they sparred, but because they used every training aid at their dispossal including things such as isolated training on individual techniques and methods of sparring, they also worked on their fitness to make sure that factor would not get in the way of them winning or loosing, often you hear good stick players saying they lost simply because they got worn out near the end, I know, it has happened to me in the past too. Also possitive mind setting, which you have to agree has to also be an important part of anyones training. Think of the individual who spars all the time and who then goes out time and time again and keeps getting beat, their mind set very soon becomes negative no matter how much sparring or fighting they do, they need to look at what is going wrong and find a way to fix it, sparring on it's own won't do it, many other aspects to their training have to be put into play. Also who you spar plays a major role in how you compete, imagine you are in your training hall and the whole class is sparring and you are beating everyone, your confidence raises and you begin to feel that yes you are the best, but consider this. What if everyone in that class are actually not that good, you soon get a rude awakening when you step out on to the mat for your competative bout only to find the other guy has trained harder, sparred more and used every other method to ensure he / she will be successfull. It is good to spar all the different people in your class, for this does give you veriaty in your training partner, but the more they spar you, the more they work you out and in the end each player knows the other so well that this can then become detremental to your improvement, there are times when you have to go out side of your own personal box and play with strangers and that is also why you have to use many other methods of enhancing your skills, to give you that edge that others do not have. You have to drill techniques but at the same time find your own style of fighting and which technques do and dont work for you, your attributes have to be trained all the time and sometimes this will mean isolating certain moves, footwork, techniques, fitness etc etc, otherwise you will all go out fighting carbon copies of yourself and then it all comes down to pure luck who does and who does not win or who has sparred the most. So to say that all you simply have to do is go out and fight, sounds simple enough and makes sense in a way, is actually incorrect, there is more to being successfull at fighting in the WEKAF internationals than just sparring, any of the top players in that format will tell you that. I mean why is it that certain individuals come back time and time again and are successfull time and time again? is it because they just simply spar and fight more than the others, no. Is it because they are more tallented than everyone else? partialy and only in some cases, I know when I was on the circuit it was not because I was more tallented, as I know I have fought more tallented fighters than myself on several occassions and still been successfull. It all boils down to their training at the end of the day, and how they work on different attributes, aspects and individual skills. Can you see what I am getting at. So in effect I feel that the adivce that has been given on this thread is actually very sound and good advise and people who wish to compete at such events can only benefit from using it. Best regards Pat
Howdy MikeDunnage, Thanks for your input I have to disagree with you to a certain extent there Mike. With the skills and strategies that the previous posters have pointed out was what I was after to becoming a stick fighter not a stick basher. I am a novice in stickfighting and I have been just sparring which has had a tendency to end up looking like stick bashing, because the ingredients that was missing was the training on specific and different attributes as mentioned in previous posts the best way to learn to fight is to fight!.is only the best way for Brawlers and stick bashers. In my eyes any way. This I agree with as when you are sparring all the time under the above posters advice utilizing all attributes before sparring you are training sport specific fitness and sparring becomes 2nd nature as such,but you also need that extra fitness and conditioning from out side the sparring format to last the whole match.Im not quiet sure what you mean by overawed.BUt again thank you for your input Mike. Cheers Riki
I didnt see your post there,when i replied Pat.Well said Pat ,Better explanation than mine.I look forward to catching up with you in December
Me too mate, I thought your post was great, especially from a stickfighting novice poit of veiw, you have noticed what was lacking in your sparring and hopefully with the advise of all the individuals hear you will soon see more success. Best of luck mate, it will be nice to actually meet you in the flesh as they say and I am sure we will share a few tinnies when I get over there. Best regards Pat
I would like to just add something that applies to any physical training, dont forget to have plenty of rest and have a good diet and generally look after yourself( and dont overtrain). No point in quality (like from the advise given above) training if you throw it all away with too many late nights and too much beer !
Hi Mike, I think maybe your missing my point here, the advice the others and I were giving was sport specific based on actual experience and success not on scientific study which bases it’s theory’s on what should happen in general on a mass scale, but science can also be wrong. For example, Science has done a comprehensive study on the “Bumblebee” (I know this is a bit off track but bear with me on this) and they have come up with the conclusion that the “Bumblebee” because of its body mass and weight, does not have the ABILITY to fly, but we all know from experience that this fact is wrong. They also said that you need an oxygen environment to have ABILITY to live but later they found life on this planet of ours with the ABILITY to survive in a sulphur based environment and bacteria with the ABILITY to live on asteroids in the depths of space, Because of this they now even have a theory that life began from such an asteroid hitting our own planet and creating life. At one time scientists thought the world was flat but one individual proved them wrong, based on experience. So lets forget the WEKAF format for a minute and take a look at some other sports. Take Boxing for instance, does a boxer just hop in the ring and spar all the time and after a while become a champion, no of course not. They train on the pads to learn combinations, evasion, footwork, ring craft, the skip to learn both footwork and for fitness, they run to increase stamina and endurance, they use weights to strengthen themselves, Yes sparring plays an important role in their training but they realise that there are many aspects of isolated training they have to use in order to gain their "Ability" to become successful at their sport, all of these aspects have to be isolated and learnt in order to create there craft which in turn makes boxing at a higher level a science in it’s self as does any other fighting craft. Are they sports scientists with degrees and diplomas, no, but based on their experiences and training methods they become scientific fighters. Who would be better at telling you how to win a fight, the boxer with experience or the sports scientist with the degree? Do 100 metre sprinters just go down to the track and sprint a 100 metres time and time again, no of course not, they too will use weights, they will also jog on a regular basis, why? Stretching before a race in it's self is an isolated training method, you will often see them practicing solely on how they leave the blocks as a small item such as this can make all the difference between winning and losing a race, isolated training. Does a carpenter learn how to make a chair just by hacking away at a piece of wood, no of course not, they too have to isolate certain aspects of their craft in order to learn how to become a master craftsman, they learn the different techniques on how the chair is made, as with all things in life, sport is no different, you learn from trial and error, practicing techniques to make them become second nature and more importantly, you learn from experience, even those who gain diplomas and degrees at one point have to isolate their study to certain areas before being able to put them together in order to sit their exams so they can pass their diplomas and degrees, you just don’t go out and read a book and keep reading books do you, you learn from actual experience of the individual aspect of your study then you put them together to create your Ability to sit your exams and pass them. The person who fails the exam, does this mean they are stupid because they failed or was it more the fact that they did not study their craft properly? Now back to the WEKAF format, lets say you find yourself only going forward and stick bashing, you notice this, but every time you try to adjust you find yourself dropping back in to the stick bashing mode because this is all you know from personal experience and it has become second nature, what do you do? Do you just keep getting back in their and keep bashing away or do you isolate the area you are weak at and you drill that until it becomes second nature, then go back in and try to apply it to your sparring, of course you do. In other words you spend different rounds only going on the defensive, using retreating and evasive manoeuvres and techniques, you spend other rounds working your attacking skills, you build up your endurance because you know you will lose vital fight energy just sitting around being nervous waiting for your name to be called and running is a great way for building endurance, for if you don’t utilise these areas in your training these you will fail. What if your blocking is weak, how do you improve it, by just sparring, no by isolating that weak area and training it until it becomes stronger, gaining more and more experience which in turn will increase your ‘Ability’ to block your opponent. Stamina and endurance plays a major role in the WEKAF format, regardless of what anyone says and this too will make the difference between winning and losing, for we all know the WEKAF bout is not just confined to 4 rounds, if you are at an event you can play in up to 16 to 24 rounds in any one day, it is after all a knockout system, each division starts with around 16 players who fight it out for that one gold medal, you could be facing all of your fights in one day, and what if you are also in another fight category such as double stick or even the Sayaw (Forms) event, all of these take energy from you and drain your endurance, so fighting lots of rounds helps you also to pace yourself throughout the days events. Saying it is the difference in Ability is what makes Champions is again a statement that on first glance makes sense, but how do you learn that ‘Ability’ by just sparring? I have fought people who have had better ability and technique than me and I have still won, why? Maybe my fitness was better on the day, maybe my mind was stronger, and maybe I just wanted it more. And on the other side of the coin I have lost against individual’s fare and square that I know did not have the same ability as I had, why? Because I was not as fit as them? Or I worked on one area and did not on another? Was it just because it was not my lucky day? Or was it because they had sparred more than me? After all I had trained for these events and I had sparred thousands of rounds by this stage, not only doing 15 to 20 rounds at a time, but on other days sticking only to 3 or 4 rounds, sometimes even blitzing for just one or 2, it was certainly not my Ability that let me down on occasions like this, it was other factors that were noticed and redressed and on returning to fight the same individual at a later date I was more successful because I isolated my training to overcome my weak area. If it was just a question of 'Ability' then how do you explain a person who has only being doing the sport for a couple of years, going out and beating a veteran player who has far superior technique and ability? It happens, I have seen it many times over the years, maybe they were just naturals, but I don't think so, when I first started I fought many individuals who had better abilities and more experience than me in the stick fighting arena, but I remained undefeated for over 5 years, why was that? Did I pay the judges, was I flavour of the month, or did I study the art and science of the sport and isolate my training specifically for that sport? We all know that the art of FMA is far removed from the actual sport, the two are based on the same theories but in reality they are different beasts. If it is all based purely on Ability then surely there would be no need in entering as all the long term fighters such as myself who have over the years built up their ability and experience would win all the time, and we both know this is not true, because I have lost against people and I know I have been more able in this format than them, but they on the day have done one thing that I had not, they trained better, they isolated their training to cover every area in order to ensure success. It is very rare that you find someone who has a natural ability in any sport and even then they still have to train all the aspect of their sport, it is more the fact that the individual has honed those skills to increase their abilities in certain areas that were lacking in the first place, That is how it is done. I know, I have done it and I have trained others who have done it. I teach and coach individuals who are handicaped who accroding to science and medical experts should not be able to perform the tasks they do, e.g. co-ordinate their hands and leg, yet they go out and WIN world Sayaw (Froms) events, an event that requires hand, leg and eye co-ordination,so why is that? Because I isolated his training, I taught him that there were certain things that he had to do, he had to make them become second nature and when he was not sure what to do next, he would automatically fall in to the isolated techinques he had worked so hard to remember (even remembering was a major factor of his handicap), Am I a sports scientist or was he just lucky to be better than the able bodied individuals on the day, well if he was he became luckier everytime he competed. So all the science in the world, although it can help and give you new methods of improving your training, is no substitute for experience. Best regards Pat
Very good post Pat, really informative and for my money right on the mark. My only comment is... This was based on the assumption that Bees wings functioned the same way as birds (up and down to generate lift), a further study was done when the high speed photography became available, turns out Bees wings actually make a figure of 8 shape, giving them characteristics more akin to a helicopter. Knowing this, it was shown that Bumblebees actually do obey the 'laws' of physics as we know them We now return you to your regular viewing
