Monday, October 23, 2006

GRANDMASTER EDRING CASIO CONDUCTS SEMINAR

On a warm and sunny California Sunday on Oct, 22, 2006, Grandmaster Isidro “Edring” Casio conducted a seminar on San Miguel Eskrima at the wrestling facilities of Mt. San Antonio College in the city of Walnut, California near Los Angeles, from ten o’clock in the morning till four in the afternoon, with a lunch break.

GM Edring Casio is an inheritor of the system San Miguel Eskrima founded and developed by the late Cebu master Filemon “Momoy” Canete, originally of the famed Doce Pares organization. A resident of Cebu, Philippines, GM Edring Casio currently resides in San Diego, California and is currently teaching seminars as well as private and group classes in San Miguel Eskrima. Among his former students who used to visit and train with him in Cebu was the popular Ramon Rubia who now heads his own school based in Orange County, California together with his wife Eva Canete.

At the seminar, GM Edring was ably assisted by his senior students and guros under him, namely Albert Mendoza, Steve del Castillo and Jon Teopaco, who acted as ukes (partner/dummy), and provided their own demos as well as very informative supplemental explanations of the techniques.

The first part of the seminar in the morning was devoted to the combat aspects of San Miguel Eskrima. The empty hands portion included a lot of locks, strikes and throws, including shoulder throw, hip throw and the wheel throw (kataguruma). This was followed up by defenses against the knife using the same concepts, principles and techniques as in empty hands.

The second part of the seminar in the afternoon after lunch was devoted to the weapons aspect of San Miguel Eskrima, more specifically double sticks and espada y daga. I found the 24 count sinawali drills challenging, but for me, the best part of the weapons system was the espada y daga, with its fluid and effective sinkoteros drill sets easily convertible into free-style sparring and application.

All in all, it was a very enjoyable experience. The seminar was well-attended, well-run and extremely authentic and informative. GM Edring Casio does indeed bring alive the art of Momoy Canete’s San Miguel Eskrima.


Copyright Jay de Leon 2006

This article and an accompanying photo gallery are available at

www.filipinomartialartsmuseum.com under "Seminars."




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