Exerpted
[i][b]Fight like Filipinos
Martial arts technique boasts use of weapons[/b]
BY CAROLINE PEREZ
FLORIDA TODAY
Grouped in pairs, people are hurling 28-inch sticks at each other on an open, grassy area of Wickham Park. The movement on the soft grass this peaceful Saturday morning is carefully choreographed. Then, one man swings a dagger toward another, who uses his hands to defend himself.
But do not be alarmed. The unbashed combat is among students from the Filipino Combat Arts of Melbourne, the brainchild of Andy Zavalla and Aldon Asher.
Zavalla and Asher founded the group four years ago after discovering there was no one to train under locally.
“My teachers felt it was time for me to (teach) anyway,” Zavalla said about breaking out on his own.
Zavalla and Asher say it is the only martial arts school in Brevard County with an emphasis on the Filipino system, Modern Arnis.
Filipino martial arts date back to Spanish colonization in the Philippines. Some people call the martial arts a different name depending on the time period it was developed or where it is practiced. Kali, Escrima and Arnis are the three common names.[/i]
http://www.floridatoday.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051026/LIFE/510260302/1005