Catchup Blogs from NYC Fall Trip

Oct 25th, 2006, 5:45pm
Hey guys,
I'm presently enjoying a vacation in NYC and went to see the
Systema classes in Manhattan.

Apparently the people at fighthouse rent out their space to many
other teachers....
I went to see a class and there was upteen different things
going on besides the Systema (this was stuff not on the schedule
on the web). I counted Ki-Aikido, Wing Chun, BJJ, Muay Thai,
some sort of standup jujitsu, some sort of generic karate, boxing.

I'm watching the systema and along comes what I pegged
as "guys in dirty gi's". (hmm means they are either sloppy
or train hard.. it's not BJJ/judo gi's.. hmm.. whatevah).

I'm busy watching the systema and I notice the guys in
gi's are wearing shin guards and using escrima sticks.

Odd. People in gi's doing something that is.. I dunno.. from
a distance maybe it's some kind of kempo with a dash of
FMA (the dude at the desk says "that's vee-jitsu.. it's not
related to kali".. i'm thinking he's FOS).

Halfway through the class I meander over to the back side
cause i noticed they are doing sinawali (simplified... 1-2-3 hitting..
good stuff that!). Saw the instructor move (he was out of my line
of sight earlier... the Muay Thai circuit was in the way), and this
cat is BADASS.

Obviously has some serious FMA background, mad street intent
etc.

Turns out he's a senior student/successor to Florendo Vistacion.
Name of David James.

OMG!.

I chat, agree to come back, etc.

I do some web searching at the house and it turns out Prof. Vee
studying "paqua" and incorporated "paqua circular stepping"
into his Vee-Arnis-Jitsu. There isn't much info on this
system's details that google can locate however.

I'm getting a private next week with Mr. James.. have him
look at my game and suggest areas for improvements.

I was wondering if anyone else has anything to share about
the intersection between V-A-J and bagua. Any tidbits will
be helpful in asking "leading questions" to hopefully get
some answers from the man.

cheers....
I will report on the "untraditional Arnis hybrid made to survive
in the streets of Brooklyn" a bit later.

This should be FUN FUN FUN



Oct 26th, 2006
Well after participating in a group class a few general conclusions
about this stuff (obviously this is generalizing from a single data
point etc.).

Vee Arnis Jitsu (as taught by Dave James) appears to be a fusion
of RBSD ideas and FMA. No wingchun, silat, or classical gongfu
was apparent in hand or footwork. Both the classes I observed and the
class I participated in began with some calisthenics (100 jacks,
50+ pushups and 3 minutes of crunches) then moved directly into
what I'm calling "confrontational script training".
This "script training" is a form of role playing (not LARPing though...)
where one person takes the role of potential aggressor and
one takes the role of defender.
The potential aggressor begins posturing and verbally abusing
the defender, advancing to chest-to-chest range.
The defender is responsible for putting up a hand barrier (preferably
2 handed) which is basically the same as "The Fence" a la Geoff
Thompson.
It is Mr. James contention that very few people (outside of
a trained MA type) are going to "talk through your hands".
I know I like to think i wouldn't follow this script as the aggressor.
The hands (which are usually lightly touching the aggressor if
he has advanced to meet them) will be slapped away or down
by the agggressor. The hands immediately come back up
to the same position.
One important thing to note.. the V-A-J guys are very insistent
on not going into a bladed guard stance ( a la San Ti) if the "script"
is going to be followed. I had difficulty with this (what? stand squared
off while someone is advancing on me? WTFHuh)
Somewhere betweeen the 2nd and the 4rth time the hands
get slapped down or away.... the Vee-Arnis-Jitsu practioner
"sucker-punchs" the attacker using either a couple of
nasty RBSD style attacks (claw/palm to the face to send the
head back and bring the groin forward, push kick to the groin)
or a cinco teros based emptyhand attack (1-2-3), or a combination
of the two.
This is followed by various sorts of destruction, including
"attack any weapons", "change the focus","don't look at me",
"destroy the knee", "take anything left".

There was no sparring, fancy drills were completely absent.
No tapi-taip, hubud-lubud, tuishou/roushu/chisau, formalized
footwork.
The "jujitsu" portion of the curriculum... while it's obviously
there.. is apparently more emphasized as an aspect of "preservation
of the art" as opposed to "preservation of the ass".

Mr. James stressed the difference between these two goals in MA,
affirmed the primacy of the "ass preservation" over the "art
preservation"... and recommended that 60% minimum of one's
training time should be dedicated to ass preservation.

All in all.. a very interesting evening and well worth the time and
a few bucks to work in with these folks.