The beating heart of arnis

FORT SAN PEDRO, Cebu City, Philipines – The atmosphere at the welcome dinner for the 2009 World Eskrima-Arnis Championships Thursday night here was very warm, very brotherly, and very Filipino. The most fearsome stickfighters in this part of the world gathered to renew ties, bring out the best in each other, and most importantly, fight.

“The sport is doing quite well, given the global crisis,” declared Grandmaster Glen Gardiner of Indonesia. “When we hosted the championships in 2007, we had over 100 fighters. Now, we’re not doing too badly with a twenty percent growth.”

Representatives from Indonesia, Australia, New Zealand, Germany, Poland, the US, Italy, England, Canada and the Philippines entered, a total of 130 fighters, all came together also to pay their respects to Supreme Grandmaster Ciriaco “Cacoy” Cañete, who, at 89, is the oldest living arnis master, and still feared by all those infinitely younger.

“This is the new style of eskrima and arnis that we want to see,” Cañete stated firmly. “This is how we want it, by rounds, not stopping the match every time somebody scores a point. That’s boring.”

“Everybody has trained very hard, and I will say that it’s open, wide open this time around,” declared Grandmaster Vince Palumbo of one of the delegations from Australia, which is the overall defending champion. “We know everyone has trained very hard, and other countries like Indonesia have advanced such a long way in a very short time. And we know the Philippines always gives a good fight and knows how to get the crowd into the match. It’s going to be exciting.”

The weigh-ins were held Friday morning at the Cebu Sports Center, site of the fights.

“What is important really is not the winning,” said acting Mayor Mike Rama. “What is important is how you represent yourself, and how we all grow. We hope that, at the end of the day, we strengthen our brotherhood, and bring home good memories of the smiling people of Cebu and the Philippines.”

In 2007, the Philippines finished fourth overall, and is itching for payback in this year’s edition, organized by Doce Pares World Federation, The Department of Tourism and the city government of Cebu.

We just might get it, considering that more than half the entries this year are from the host country. Most Supreme Grandmaster Cacoy says that is not the main goal.

“Of course, everyone wants to do well, and show their skill,” says the founder of the world-famous Doce Pares training center here, and author of definitive books on the art. “What is important is how we carry ourselves, how we behave. We can compete, but more than that, we are brothers in the martial arts. Let us carry ourselves with dignity and respect for each other.”

The sport has evolved greatly in the last few years, growing from simply whaling away at each other to scoring with pinpoint accuracy, and strict sportsmanship. Cañete’s grandson, Chuck, himself a master arnisador, supervised the training of all the judges and officials over the last two, weeks, to ensure a high quality of officiating in the tournament.

SGM Cañete will be leaving for a series of seminars all over the US, from California to Texas to Hawaii, and will be back in September. He is hoping that, in the immediate future, plans of a gathering ot eskrima and arnis masters from all over the world will finally become a reality here in the Philippines. It was also an auspicious day of the tournament to start, the fortieth day after Roland Dantes’ untimely demise.

In an upcoming piece, plans on how to upgrade and standardize stcikfighting, and push it for inclusion in the Asian Games and Olympics.