Arnis, a national martial art of the Philippines.

Hi! This is Miss Bei, and another day, another blog that I would like to share. Have you ever heard about the national martial art of the Philippines? If none, this is the right time and the right blog that you need to read to know about the Philippine martial art or what we called "Arnis".
Also, I would like to share my experiences in playing Arnis.

According to sportsmatik, Arnis is the official national sport and the martial art of the Philippines. It is also known as "Kali" or "Eskrima". These two terms are used for the traditional martial art of the Philippines (“Filipino Martial Arts”, or “FMA”) that focuses on weapon-based fighting with knives, sticks, bladed weapons and some improvised weapons. Arnis is a combat sport to defend oneself from attacks using hand to hand combat, grappling and weapon disarming in weapon-based fights.

These are the equipments use for playing Arnis.

The arnis stick or what we called baston:
Image from: images.app.goo.gl

The sword and dagger or espada y daga:
Image from:
www.lazada.com

and these are the safety gears that is use during the sparring:
Image from:
images.app.goo.gl

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Images are from my Facebook:
Bea Ayumana

When I was a grade 7 Student, at my alma mater Don Hilarion G. Gonzaga Memorial High School, I was convinced by one of the member of the Arnis club. I put my name on the list together with my friends in different class sections. We all think that Arnis is just simple, on that time we never know what Arnis is, we are advised by the Arnis club President that every Saturday is the training session for that martial art. When I got home, I was confused what and how it is performed, so I ask my grandmother about it since my grandmother is the one who raised me since my Mother died, I was surprised by the fact that one of my uncle is an athlete in his time in that same school in where I am studying. My Grandmother told me that, my uncle is a member of the Arnis club, and has the opportunity to play against different schools. I was amazed when my Grandmother took the two "baston" or the Arnis stick of my uncle that was kept at the old cabinet or closet. Then, my Grandmother told me that Arnis is a combative game, it is kinda dangerous but it has a technique on how to play it. I was excited that time that I am entering a martial art that gave me interests.

Then here comes the first Saturday session of the training, what we do first is getting to know each other, they introduce us about this national martial art of the Philippines, they also showcase their skills, teach us how to use the "baston", teaches us how important Arnis is, and of course the discipline in each other and the respect to the "baston", and respect to the seniors. Actually, arnis has its symbol the "pugay" in which we are going to place our right hand to our left chest and bow our head and say "pugay po!",this is a sign of respect to the teammates, especially to the seniors and of course to the trainers, and to those who play Arnis. On that Saturday session I learned a lot about the martial art and also I have build friendship and a family.

Images are from my Facebook:
Bea Ayumana

Every Saturday I was at the school to have a training in Arnis.
When I moved to grade 8, I was selected to be one of the trainees to be an official player of the team, on that time I was officially a student-athlete. Before I forgot to tell you Arnis is composed of 5 girls and 5 boys, and there are categories in each player. The first player is called the pinweight, the second player is called the bantamweight, the third player is called featherweight, the fourth player is called extra-lightweight, and the fifth player is called half-lightweight. It is all depend to our weight in which we are going to place. So I was chosen to be the first player because my weight is suitable for the pinweight category.

On that day, I was cheerful when our coach said that I will be the one to be place in the first player since one of our senior has already graduated. I was excited to go home and tell my Grandmother that I was chosen, and when I got home I told her about everything she was happy that I officially became a student-athlete, but I saw the worry in her eyes, I cannot deny the fact that she is worried about the decisions that I made for myself, because I know she thinks that I might get hurt.

I won't deny that when I was just a trainee, I was always get hit in the arm when we do the "eskrima" or that sparring, it is a combat in which the two players are doing a sparring with a padded stick, but we have a complete body armor when we are sparring, but because I already loved this martial art, my heart is kinda devoted to this, that I was really confident that I can do this because this became my passion. Even though my Grandmother is worried about me, she never let me quit, she support me althrough out my Arnis player journey.

Then it came that we have a city meet, in which we are going to play against the other school in our city, we won the competition, my Grandmother is happy when I got home and tell her that we won the game. We trained and trained until we perfect our "anyo", for your information, according to studocu Arnis Anyo (form) is a demonstration of artistic, choreographed, pre-arranged sets of movements, offensive and defensive techniques using stick, wooden replica of a bladed weapon or metallic un-bladed replica of a weapon. It is the result of one's creativity which utilizes the different skills learned in arnis.

Images are from my Facebook:
Bea Ayumana

When the time that we our now going to play area meet,and we are at Victorias City, Negros Occidental, Philippines, in which we are going to play against different schools in different cities. It is a best experience for me, we are away in our city, we have to stay and sleep in a school classroom for three days for the game, since it is away in our hometown. My Grandmother calls me every night to ask if I'm doing fine and I was teary-eyed when I responded that I was actually fine, because she cannot sleep without me on her side, she really loves me and cares for me. This time, we didn't won the game, but even though we lost it, we have a lot of lessons that we have learned, we meet different people, and we visit a city that is new to us. We go home with a smile in our face even though we lost the game, but we didn't felt like a failure because we know that we did everything and we gave our best.

Images are from my Facebook:
Bea Ayumana

Then when I was in Grade 10, I was selected by the other school to play with them at the area meet, at EB Magalona, Negros Occidental, Philippines. Unfortunately, we didn't win the game, but we're truly happy with the effort that we've given althrough out the game. When I got home my Grandmother wants me to quit playing Arnis, it is because I became so skinny after our game. It it because I lose my weight to that I could reach the weight that is my category. I understand that Grandma was just concerned about my health, but then I didn't quit, because Arnis is my passion.

When I was in grade 11, that time I became the trainer of the students that would represent our school to our city by playing the Arnis. I was so happy on that time because I will be sharing all the knowledge and skills I have that came from my seniors many years ago. Even though I became their trainer, I also became their teammate as I want to play on the division meet. I didn't let my trainee to quit the game, I give my all my effort to teach them and let them love the game.

See my performance here:
Anyo synchronize
Lianne Gee Jimenez

Labanan/Sparring
Bea Camille Sodusta

Arnis gave me a lot of experiences and let me build a friendship and a family as well, that is why I love Arnis.