Ka Jay Saludo, Ka Jeff, Tito Jun, Kuya Doug - 02/2006
Sorry for the late update! In early February 2006, the Motor City was host to a monumental international event of epic proportions - the 1st annual Pekiti Tirsia Pitbull Brotherhood Gathering! Four days of intense training, advanced research and development, and solid friendship for the students and teachers of 3 Pekiti Tirsia groups from Detroit, Rochester New York, and Saskatchewan, Canada all under the auspices of Grand Tuhon Leo T. Gaje Jr.
The tone of the weekend was the refinement of Pekiti Tirsia to its highest level. Each instructor presented a unique interpretation of Pekiti knife (Kol Demama Daga, Dagaso Tirsia) and Stick (Contradas) based on his own field studies with Tuhon Gaje. In addition, in keeping with the spirit of "open exchange" each instructor presented a special instructional block of complimentary disciplines:
- Guro Doug Marcaida of Rochester, New York taught a fast and furious knife-fighting module followed by some of the most powerful doble-baston training methods from Kali DeLeon.
- Manong Leon Saludo (aka "Tito Jun") of Saskatchewan presented a bevy of frightening knife applications based on the rare "Vientenueve" knife style of his home province of Batangas.
- Guro Jay Saludo gave an incredible teaching block of HIGHLY UNORTHODOX handgun QCB based on the Batangas style of gunfighting, which addressed carry, draw, target aquisition, and shooting against multile opponents. This was an excellent counter-point to Tuhon Gaje's presentation of the legendary Pekiti Tirsia Gun Seguidas earlier last year. After Guro Jay's portion of the seminar, it was off to the gun range to "field test" some of the principles covered at the seminar, where Detroit Pitbull Damon Mitchell 's outstanding performace with the .40 calibre will be remembered for generations!
- Guro Jeff Davidson introduced the visiting students to some of the finer applications (pecahan) from the Malaysian Art of Silat Kuntau Tekpi, demonstrating SKT's explosive and economical entries, full body locks, and lethal throws.
A full report/photo essay of the weekend events is in preparation along with plans for the next Pitbull family gathering...
Stay Tuned!
