The above video shows a practice session of an Escrima Filipino stick fighting drill using the Ratan Escrima sticks. This is the first Escrima drill that we practice in the kobudo program I run at The Academy of Traditional Karate. This Escrima drill is composed of five basic strikes along five primary angles of attack.
- High Right Strike/Block
- High Left Strike/Block
- Low Right Strike/Block
- Low Left Strike/Block
- Center Thrust/Vertical Block
When first learning the drill, just practice with the right hand. Then practice with the left hand. Once you can easily do the drill on both sides, you can practice alternating between the right and left sides. After mastering that you can perform the drill while alternating hands and stepping forward and backward. In this moving version, step forward as you work through all five strikes ending with the thrust. Then reverse direction and step backward as your partner works through the file strikes ending with the thrust which you block with a vertical block.
One tip when blocking the thrust is to keep your blocking stick vertical and pointing down when making contact with the thrust. Then bring it around your head flowing into the next strike. Be careful not to tilt the blocking stick flipping it up or you may deflect the thrusting stick right up into your face. Keep the blocking stick vertical, pointing down, until you deflect the thrusting stick off to your side. Then follow through around your head to flow into the next strike.
We videoed this practice session in our backyard on 07/10/22. Stay tuned for our next posts which will include two additional Escrima drills that we also videoed, High/Low and Heaven.
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-Renshi Mike Scaramozzino
