Over the years, I've seen a few schools of martial arts come and go, and I've had a few teachers,…read morebut few have ever struck me as loving what they do as much as Guro Tony Marcial. The head teacher -"Guro" in his native language,- of the Philippine Martial Arts Institute, a school that's part of the Westlake Martial Arts Center, his style is known as Marcial Tirada Kali, and is defined as follows;
"The Kali system "Marcial Tirada" taught at the Philippine Martial Arts Institute, is a composite of different Kali styles taught primarily in the Pangasinan region of The Philippines.
The primary weapons taught in the Marcial Tirada Kali System are single and double stick, knife and stick & dagger. In the Art of Kali, the practitioner will learn weaponry first. This type of training develops awareness, sensitivity, coordination & quick reflex action.
The Kali practitioner learns the empty hand after he or she has developed an understanding of the concepts of weapon fighting. A practitioner of Kali will be taught all ranges of empty hand fighting."
The classes at the school are taught, currently, on Tuesdays and Saturdays, and are intense, interesting and are taught in a way that encourages learning on the highest level. EVERY class is like a mini-seminar. I've learned a ton, and then some, with each class, and if you want to learn a street effective style, with applications that will make you into a "Bourne" fighter, than I suggest contacting Guro Tony and coming by; you won't regret it. Trust me, after just one class, you'll never look at rattan as just furniture material ever again:)
(Just a note, the classes are great, but I would suggest that anyone younger than early teens might not be suitable for them, due to certain aspects of the training.)
