After thirty years each in Martial Arts, Escrima Concepts, has been progressed by Chief-Instructor Steve Tappin and Master Stephen Kinvig along with their Masters, friends and high-ranking teachers of Escrima Concepts who decided to teach Escrima using concepts rather than just getting caught up in techniques and tradition. We use the word Escrima out of respect for the teachings and guidance of past teachers and cultures that influenced present instructors.
Escrima Concepts is taught in English to simplify the progression of the art.
Western influences have enriched this system so that it has progressed with the Filipino teaching of centuries ago.
Escrima Concepts have removed much of the showy techniques to develop a no-nonsense combat system for today’s society and from this improvement we have provided a lot of freedom and creativity for future instructors to build.
In Escrima Concepts we use all the tools so we could improve on our foundations to which we first introduced. Now some of these instructors, among the first taught in Europe, have evolved the system to a new, progressive, modern and creative combat art that is: ESCRIMA CONCEPTS
Generic Concepts using our Theories
Understanding how the body and weapon works together based on the following five concepts that hold the whole thing together:
• Balance
• Focus
• Speed (Timing and Distance)
• Power
• Transition
Balance: – without balance most things will not work. Are you balanced as you fight – with or without a weapon?
Do you know if you are balanced and can you maintain your balance under pressure as you and your opponent move?
How do you deal with different types of contact using different weapons or unarmed – can you adjust to the unequal balance of weapons?
What is the balance of your welfare: are you ill, tired, stressed, happy, frightened, angry, do you have full use of your body or are you injured and in pain – what is your emotional state of mind?
Balance the environment: what are the weather conditions are you sitting, are you on an incline, are your clothes tight or bulky, are your shoes slippery, etc?
Focus: – the ability to read a situation if you are not aware of danger it will be difficult to assess the danger:
Long focus – assess the surrounding area quickly
Short focus – deal with the immediate problem (Pre-empt and Post Fight Focus).
Be aware at all times by learning to remain calm in chaos.
If you cannot see their hands they are armed.
If they look like they wish to invade your personal area – they mean harm.
If they should not be in an area they may have ill-intentions.
Are they alone – did you notice other people in your environment?
Did you notice help in your environment – buildings with people in, weapons in the street, etc?
The way you may be attacked – do they appear trained or untrained?
Speed, Timing and Distance: – how quick ground is covered between two people or their weapons and who evades or makes the first strike? If you cannot cover a distance or read how fast the attack happens or time the moment of impact – then you will struggle and fight instead of learning to win, some points to consider:
How fast can you or your opponent move (or both of you move together)?
Are they balanced and in control of their speed – do they lose energy?
Can they hurt you – are they armed – are you armed?
What is the distance to cover (if they move, if you move or if you both move)?
If they are faster than you and cover the distance quicker – can you time your attack to win?
Can you attack them first – did you time it right?
Power: – to deal with a person’s individual power and the power of a specific weapon – if you cannot deal with and analyse superior power or take advantage of your own power – then what is the point of using power if you cannot control it?
If you over-hit with an unarmed strike you may lose balance and leave yourself open if you do not connect – this may compromise a situation.
If you over-hit with a weapon you may lose even more balance, become very vulnerable and may compromise a situation.
Power only works if you can control it – anything else is tiring and compromising.
How do you develop power?
Where is the power/energy of a weapon?
How do you balance the power of a man/woman and weapon together?
Can you split the power?
How does energy and power work together and is power and energy the same thing?
Is power dependant on size and strength?
Is power needed?
Transition: – the ability to use a variety of weapons and unarmed techniques to a given situation – if we train only with one weapon then we may not be proficient in using other weapons. Do we have time to learn thousands of techniques with all weapons in a short time frame? If we do not understand basic body and weapon mechanics then our weapons may not have the desired effect when used.
To take the knowledge of weapon and body mechanics and take advantage of how to use them against other weapons
To take the knowledge of weapon and body mechanics and take advantage of how to use them against other people
To understand the weapon and body mechanics and apply the previous four concepts together to establish a sound knowledge of different sizes, weights, strengths and sharpness of weapons right through to an unarmed situation.
The description of our concepts is not designed to go into great detail of theory and alternatives – it is an overview of what can be achieved if required.
The most important factor of these concepts is, that on their own they are only parts of a puzzle – but when you put the concepts together, they become one, and the bigger picture can be seen - only then will you have a trained and adaptable person confident in the use of everyday weapons.
Our practical application is based on simple, proven, honest and direct methods for people to use in training and under stress. Our theory is designed to improve and understand the syllabus, its techniques and drills so an individual can use and adapt our concepts to analyse strategies and also progress to self-discovery when outside of the training environment.
