Innovation of Arnis Sparring Stick

 

Innovation in Arnis Sparring Sticks

 

 

One of the characteristics of sports arnis is the use of padded sticks, this is a fighting tool that is used in free sparring, usually made of a thin rattan stick inserted into a synthetic material to serve as a cushion, and covered with synthetic fabric. This is the innovation in arnis that started a type of arnis training, Sports Arnis.

 

A free sparring in arnis using padded sticks

Why and how did the existence of padded sticks begin? The main reason is to make arnis a martial art of Filipinos that uses a stick, a sword, and empty hands as a sport. Arnis began to be officially introduced to the public in the 1970s when the government needed Filipino cultures to be used in developing a concept of Filipino nationalism, any indigenous type and form of culture from different parts of the country was needed to symbolize the national characteristics of the Philippines. Arnis is a martial art that will stimulate Filipino culture. It began to be taught in martial arts clubs in cities and even in public institutions such as public schools and the country's security forces.

Arnis is a martial art that features the characteristics of fighting with a stick, but in the context of martial arts learning, fighting with a stick is extremely dangerous and can injure or kill anyone who fights with it. Hence the need for arnis training equipment and protective gear. Kendo, which is a Japanese fencing sport in which its players use protective gears or Bogu, and shinai or bamboo swords, inspired the people who pioneered the introduction of freestyle sparring in arnis, which led to the development of the current padded sticks and protective gears in sports arnis.

 

Traditional Arnis Without Armor

 

Traditional arnis is a form of arnis training that is based on the methods of teaching and practicing arnis by a renowned master. In this type of training, the typical method is the muestracion or demonstration of the master's skill that his student will imitate. Some masters have an abecedario or basics that will be done first before advancing to the next level of training. There are some paired drills or sangga-patama where there is an attacker and defender assigned, and the training has a theme or set. Some traditional styles have free sparring in the form of long-distance or largo mano. But there is todo juego that can result in fatal consequences for the practitioner. A real example of traditional arnis sparring is the arnis in the province of Laguna such as in Luban, Paete, Pakil, and Magdalena.

 

 

Arnis in Paete Laguna uses real rattan sticks in free sparring

Starting Freestyle Sparring in Arnis

             Because there were no protective gears in the early decades of the popularization of arnis to conduct freestyle sparring or a type of combat in which the player freely uses their knowledge of attack and defense against a sparring partner who resists and fights, most types of sparring practices end up in one-step pre-arranged sparring demonstrations or the development of flow drills. One-step pre-arranged sparring that has an assigned attacker and what attack he will deliver is countered by the defender with what was taught to him, and paired flow drills are far from real combat, so those who practice arnis have the feeling that one-step pre-arranged sparring and paired flow drills are lacking.

 

Before padded stick was invented, arnis practice revolved in a pre-arranged form of sparring.

Let us remember that in the decade of the 70s, innovations began to occur in the then well-known martial arts such as karate and taekwondo in the Philippines. This trend includes the arnis groups, in particular, the Modern Arnis group, which pioneered the introduction of arnis to many educational institutions in the country. GM Ernesto Presas is one of the important personalities in arnis who has greatly contributed to the existence of the padded stick, he is a multi-martial arts practitioner with knowledge of Kendo, and in his ARJUKEN club he has several sets of Kendo Bogu. There have been attempts to conduct freestyle sparring of arnis using Kendo Bogu and real rattan sticks, but it hurts when hit, because the Kendo Bogu cannot absorb the impact of the blow with rattan sticks, and it is a great waste if the Bogu is damaged due to the hits of rattan sticks, at that time there was no internet to order online from Japan. If you wanted to have a Kendo Bogu, you still had to go to Japan to buy it.

 

Kendo and baseball gear insipred the invention of arnis gears

Based on the experience and observation of the author of this essay, and also according to the narratives of GM Rene Tongson, the padded stick was invented from the desire to conduct freestyle sparring with protection for the players. The protective gear in baseball gave GM Ernie Presas and GM Rene Tongson how to innovate it. The padded stick started with a regular arnis rattan stick wrapped in a rubber tube used in air conditioning, the current protective gears came from the use of kendo face guards, baseball chest protectors, and shin guards themselves used in baseball.

Later, the padded stick made of the wrapped rattan stick with a rubber tube was made by the tailors in Raon, to Mang Rollon who was known as a tailor of martial arts uniforms in Quiapo Manila. He wrapped it with cloth, and there…..the beginning of the existence of padded sticks.

An early type of padded stick

The padded stick they innovated was first used in a Modern Arnis seminar in Australia in 1986 and formally used in the 1st Arnis World Championship in 1989 held at the University of Sto. Thomas (UST), it was participated by arnisadores from the Modern Arnis groups and other non-modern arnis groups and foreigners from various countries.

 

Various Improvisations

 

Padded sticks at that time were not commercialized and could not be bought just anywhere, it required customization and funding to have Mang Rollon make them. So, there were several materials used or improvised to conduct freestyle sparring. There was the use of rolled newspaper to be used in sparring without protectors, but it was painful, the thinner the newspaper rolled, the lighter and easier it was to break, and the thicker the more painful it was. There was also the use of an empty 1.5-liter soft drink bottle as a substitute for the padded stick. Later, it was also necessary to have padded sticks made, and many people were making them in Raon, those tailors are close to each other so copying the product is inevitable. Until there were commercialized padded sticks that were sold in sports shops.

 

Pool Noodle as Arnis Sparring Stick

In addition to teaching arnis as physical education, it is also sometimes necessary to teach competitive arnis, but the problem with this is that it requires padded sticks and protective gear that are commercialized. Therefore, a limitation in teaching arnis as PE is that it only focuses on fundamentals such as stances, sinawali drills, forms, and basic offensive and defensive techniques. But at the college physical education level, it is better to add some practices of sports arnis so that students can better understand the important and practical parts of what they have learned. Sports arnis also has a different meaning than typical arnis training that is limited to studying its artistic nature.

Around 2012, the author began using pool noodles as a sparring tool for PE students. The idea to use the swimming noodle as an alternative to the padded stick started in 2007 when the author needed a padded stick and arnis protective gear to be used by his foreign students whom he taught arnis in the Middle East because there were none in the Middle East at that time, pool noodles were available and cut into 28 inches in length to be used in sparring by the students even without protective gears. Alas, what a great idea, safe sparring and no need for protective gears, it is not that dangerous compared to the commercialized padded sticks.

 

Cavite State University students using pool noodles

Until now, we continue to use, the pool noodle as a tool for arnis-free sparring by students. Some say that it is not good to use it compared to padded sticks, these comments are from arnis players. There is indeed no fear of pain, but it is safer if those who do the free sparring are typical students in PE and not arnisador or varsity athletes in arnis. But this gives them the experience of competing with fellow students to win by scoring points through attack or counter-attack. They will experience the excitement, the determination, the correct decision-making in carrying out attacks, and counter-attacks. Especially the social skills that will be developed in them such as self-control so that they can stop themselves from the wrong techniques they will do, responsibility for what they need to do according to the plan of their coach, and empathy that gives recognition to the emotions of their opponent and what they will feel if they do not consider hitting the opponent.

 

The use of pool noodles as sparring sticks in arnis is only intended to be an educational tool for students, not to replace the value of padded sticks in sports arnis.

 

Joel D. Anajao

January 17,2025